Why do auctions extend their time when people keep bidding? Its very irritating.

[WarlockJack]

Long story short, I never win any items on the auction house by Bidding on them unless there is zero interest.

Every time I find an item on the auction house that's going to end soon, this is what happens:

30 minutes left: I bid.
You are outbid.
I bid again.
Now the auction has 30mins to 2 hours left.
I'm outbid.
I bid again.
Now the auction has 2 hours to 12 hours left.
...wtf...
...Now I'm not going to be playing when the auction ends.
Next day, I log in and I've lost the auction. Surprise Surprise.

Why on earth do they extend the auction deadline when there is ANY sort of half-assed bidding war? That seems like a VERY poor design.

[chowchig]

To avoid basically nullify bid sniping.

That's when someone waits until there is like 30 seconds on an item, and bids on it. It'll be most likely, that that person won't have enough time to even enter another bid before it ends.

[Windfury]

For the obvious reason - it potentially takes more gold out of the economy.

Auctions are a type of gold sink through the AH cut taken out of the final bid. By extending the auction when they know somebody wants it they give space for higher bidders, and bidding wars to occur, thereby driving the prices up to the maximum possible and also removing the most gold possible from the economy.

[WarlockJack]

However they already don't tell you the exact time auctions end which nullifies sniping. 2-12 hours isn't exactly specific. There's no way to know exactly when something is ending unless you specifically put up the auction.

The way they've set this up, bidding is basically junk. I waited all day for an item and I bid on it tonight. Now because a few other people are interested... its going to end when I'm asleep.

[Auxis]

aren't auctions like this IRL?

Auction starts, someone bids, do I hear ___?, going once, going twice, someone bids higher, do I hear ___?, someone bids higher, etc.

And the auction keeps going until the most money is spent.

I don't know how bidding works in WoW, I know BO's. Say you put something up for 50g bid, and it gets to 75g at the end, do you get the 75g (minus the AH fee)?

[Windfury]

However they already don't tell you the exact time auctions end which nullifies sniping. 2-12 hours isn't exactly specific. There's no way to know exactly when something is ending unless you specifically put up the auction.

The way they've set this up, bidding is basically junk. I waited all day for an item and I bid on it tonight. Now because a few other people are interested... its going to end when I'm asleep.

It only extends it by about 5 minutes per bid afaik.

Or you could just bid higher than other people are likely to be willing to go. Missing the ending is only really an issue if you're trying to scrape by on minimum bids, if you really want it surely you're prepared to go higher? if you're not then maybe you just don't want it as much as other people do, and so they'll win it. As they should tbh.

[Stuffs]

It only extends it by about 5 minutes per bid afaik.

Naw, it resets to avoid sniping as people said. You can still snipe before server maintenence last I checked but thats about it

[WarlockJack]

aren't auctions like this IRL?

Auction starts, someone bids, do I hear ___?, going once, going twice, someone bids higher, do I hear ___?, someone bids higher, etc.

And the auction keeps going until the most money is spent.

I don't know how bidding works in WoW, I know BO's. Say you put something up for 50g bid, and it gets to 75g at the end, do you get the 75g (minus the AH fee)?

Not really, because in real life, after people stop bidding; you immediately win. But in wow, if several people bid... the auction gets extended by hours.

Or you could just bid higher than other people are likely to be willing to go. Missing the ending is only really an issue if you're trying to scrape by on minimum bids, if you really want it surely you're prepared to go higher? if you're not then maybe you just don't want it as much as other people do, and so they'll win it. As they should tbh.

Unless you have some magical number that is "higher than other people are willing to bid", I have no idea what that would be. If someone outbids me because I'm not around anymore, I have no chance to defend my bid. I shouldn't have to punch in 100000000g every time I want something.

That's the situation that happens to a LOT of people repeatedly. I bet most people who win auctions are the ones who play in the off-hours when most people aren't around. Most people who bid on popular items never get the item... its just the lucky person who shows up when nobody is around; not the person willing to bid the most.

[Scunosi]

Not really, because in real life, after people stop bidding; you immediately win. But in wow, if several people bid... the auction gets extended by hours.

They don't reset the time, but they do keep giving a few seconds after every bid to see if anyone's still interested. At the end of a bid they'll wait (as far as I've seen anyway) almost 10 seconds or so just to make sure no one else is going to bid.
You'll see plenty of guys on the reality shows that toss in a last minute bid just to make the other guy have to pay more to get what he wants.

[Tribunal]

It's commonly referred to as a "snipe guard". Often used in online auctions where you can see the exact ending time, so that someone can't just camp/have a better internet connection/etc.

They're usually pretty useless/just an excuse for the auctioneer to exhaust demand. Works well with a high demand, limited supply product... for common goods they're more of an annoyance.

And especially in WoW, where you can't see the exact ending of the auction? Over-the-top. I honestly didn't even know WoW had it (rarely use bids) but yeah, that just reinforces my decision to not mess around with bids.

[Ragedaug]

Why on earth do they extend the auction deadline when there is ANY sort of half-assed bidding war? That seems like a VERY poor design.

I think it's already been answered a few times, but the simple answer is "to allow someone time to counter bid". Same as if you bid on something that had 2 hours left, and no one's bidding and just before the auction ends, someone bids and snipes the auction. This way, when the sniper bids, you have time to counter. Same as real life auctions.

- - - Updated - - -

Not really, because in real life, after people stop bidding; you immediately win. But in wow, if several people bid... the auction gets extended by hours.

You can't draw a direct comparison. To do it your way, they would have to set Auction Hours...ie, the Auction House is only open from 7 PM to 9 PM Server times. So all the AH players could show up and actively bid against each other. Because it is an online auction house, you can't have some guy yelling "going once, going twice" when every auction is about to end. However, while we can't draw a direct comparison, there are enough similarities in place to give other bidders time to counter.

[WarlockJack]

Real life auctions give you a few seconds to react. Wow gives you hours to react. My point is that it is too extreme. It adds so much time that it doesn't protect the interested bidder... it kicks the bidder out of the auction because he is no longer around to watch the auction any more.

[Auxis]

Real life auctions give you a few seconds to react. Wow gives you hours to react. My point is that it is too extreme. It adds so much time that it doesn't protect the interested bidder... it kicks the bidder out of the auction because he is no longer around to watch the auction any more.

So people who can only play when you aren't playing (because you might be sleeping or have to do something else) shouldn't be allowed a chance to bid on something that your bidding on?

[Iskra22]

The auction is extended by a really short time each time you bid. This whole "I bid and someone outbid me and now it'll end hours and hours later" thing is not an actual thing that happens.

If you want the winner of the auction to be the one willing to spend the most (the whole point of an auction), then you have to give people a chance to outbid others. Imagine this system wasn't in place, you bid on something, think you're going to win, then 1.3 seconds before you win, you're outbid and you lose. That sounds like a much better system, yes indeedy.

And it doesn't matter if auctions dont show the exact time. Its pretty trivial for those who hardcore camp the AH to have an addon to scan items and note exactly when something goes "short" and countdown 30 minutes from that point on.

[Ragedaug]

Real life auctions give you a few seconds to react. Wow gives you hours to react. My point is that it is too extreme. It adds so much time that it doesn't protect the interested bidder... it kicks the bidder out of the auction because he is no longer around to watch the auction any more.

That's the nature of the beast. Much better then setting a deadline and letting snipers win everything at a bargain. Where's the protection for the seller using your method? Or is it to heck with the seller, only the bidder deserves protection?

[WarlockJack]

So people who can only play when you aren't playing (because you might be sleeping or have to do something else) shouldn't be allowed a chance to bid on something that your bidding on?

Not when the auction was supposed to end several hours ago. They have their own auctions that they wont be able to win because they'll be asleep. -_-

That's the nature of the beast. Much better then setting a deadline and letting snipers win everything at a bargain. Where's the protection for the seller using your method? Or is it to heck with the seller, only the bidder deserves protection?

Oh please... dont be so extreme... Obviously increasing the auction by a few minutes instead of a couple hours would fix the issue.

I'd also like to point out that I'm an eBay power seller with over 3000 positive feedback and I'm successful with my auctions in WoW... so its not like I'm not familiar with selling.

I love how all forum posts lead to everyone getting more and more aggressive with their comments.

[Amerissis]

I love how all forum posts lead to everyone getting more and more aggressive with their comments.

That might be because the basis of your post is simply a lie (auctions get extended by minutes, not hours) and you conveniently refuse to address that point.

[WarlockJack]

I'm not refusing anything and I'm not a liar. You're very aggressive for being poorly informed. Here is my proof:

I was bidding on an auction tonight. I stayed up late to watch it for exactly this purpose.

With "less than 30 minutes" left, I bid at 10:12. I was outbid 2 times in less than 20 seconds.

It was extended from ending at approximately 10:42ish (which would've been the max assuming 30 mins) to 12:30 at which point I was outbid once more.

I went ahead and became the high bidder again. Nobody else bid. It then ended at exactly 1am.

If you think that's minutes and not hours... you like using LOTS of minutes.

With minimal bidding, that auction was extended a minimum of 2 hours and 20 minutes.


...on a brighter note; I actually won something. lol

[WarlockJack]

exactly this. prevents sniping software from cheating an auction win and follows the "going once, going twice" etiquette

Except for the fact that wow auctions tack on way too much time, as in my previous post. Real auctions do not do that. The last bidder doesn't have to sit around for a couple hours waiting to see if he won when there should have been less than 30 mins left and nobody else is bidding.

[FuxieDK]

For the obvious reason - it potentially takes more gold out of the economy.

Auctions are a type of gold sink through the AH cut taken out of the final bid. By extending the auction when they know somebody wants it they give space for higher bidders, and bidding wars to occur, thereby driving the prices up to the maximum possible and also removing the most gold possible from the economy.

Bidding on AH doesn't take gold out of the economy.. The cut is too small to matter..