Extended Bidding automatically extends the end time of an item by 3 minutes when it receives a bid during the final 3 minutes. This allows bidders to relax during the end of an auction knowing they'll have time to enter a new bid if they're outbid in the final 3 minutes, making it easier to maintain their lead on one or more items.

How does Extended Bidding work?

If an item receives a bid during the final 3 minutes of the auction, the item end time will be extended to allow for 3 additional minutes of bidding. This process repeats until no new bids are received during the final 3 minutes of the item bidding window or the auction has been extended for a maximum of 30 minutes beyond the original end time. When an auction is extended, you'll see Extended Bidding messages displayed throughout the auction with a link for easily viewing all of the extended items.

Here's an example of how the end time of an item may be extended in an auction which is set up to end at 8:00 PM:

In this example, Mary was selected as the winning bidder at 8:08 PM because no more bids were entered after her bid at 8:05 PM. If additional bids had been entered, the item end time would've continued being extended for up to a maximum of 30 minutes beyond the original end time of 8:00 PM. This means this item could've been extended to as late as 8:30 PM.

How can I tell if an item can be extended?

All items which can be extended will have a message above the bidding box which indicates the item allows for extended bidding. After the auction ends, only items which were extended will have a message indicating the item end time had been extended.