The largest online seller of trading cards is testing a new policy that could be among the most impactful changes to the platform in years for buyers, sellers and even third-party applications.
So far, collector sentiment is mixed.
In a stunning move earlier this week, eBay quietly announced via a notice on its buying guide the company would soon be testing a new feature where bids placed in the final 2 minutes of an auction trigger an additional 2-minute extended bidding period.
An extended bidding period would better align eBay’s auction format with that of most high-end auction houses, but it would be a major change to the platform that has largely featured hard closes at designated times.
To date, the only information provided by eBay on the service is it will be tested with select trading cards on the platform. It’s currently unclear whether extended bidding will only impact cards at certain price points, or whether the extensions will be limited or indefinite as long as the auction receives action.
In a poll of collectors by cllct on Monday, 65% of the more than 500 responses responded “No” when asked if they would like to see eBay move forward with an extended bidding feature.
Among the complaints from collectors against an extended bidding period would be the massive impact it could have on “bid sniping,” a common practice in which prospective buyers place their maximum bid in the final moments of an auction. When properly executed, bid sniping allows buyers to place a winning bid with competitors unable to react.
The culture of bid sniping has even evolved to include third-party applications, which will, often for a fee, place the customer’s maximum bid in the final moments. In addition to ensuring bids are placed correctly in the final moments, bid sniping services allow customers to be absent during the process.
An extended bidding period would likely heavily impact how bid-sniping services work, and without changes to how they operate, potentially render them useless.
According to Mario Vodopivec, owner of bid-sniping service Gixen, it’s too early to tell how his company will be impacted.
“This, of course, if implemented, might affect sniping platforms, but I believe we will remain in business,” Vodopivec said in a statement to cllct. “Sniping would still be useful, possibly slightly less so than today, but useful nevertheless.
"Bidding strategy when sniping may be somewhat different. Until it's implemented it's hard to know exactly what effect this change is going to have.”
Another bid-sniping service, eSnipe, has already made changes to stay engaged with the auction if it enters extended bidding by placing bids within each extension. According to eSnipe’s website, the service has won more than 100 million auctions for customers, and owner Tom Campbell believes his company is even more valuable now than it was before.
“At eSnipe, we are 100% committed to supporting eBay's new extended auction format,” Campbell said in a statement to cllct. “We've been following eBay's updates closely and have already made several changes in our system to prepare for this new chapter in eBay bidding. Our mission has always been to help eBay users save time and get the best deals, and that doesn't change with extended bidding.”
Beyond bid-sniping culture, buyers and sellers would be heavily impacted by changing secondary-market dynamics. High-end marketplaces use extended bidding to promote additional action at the end of auctions, and that process has sometimes delivered millions of dollars in extended bidding for the most coveted items.
For eBay, adding extended bidding to traditional auctions would be an expansion of the “soft-close” format from the eBay Live service. Soft-close auctions have an additional 5 seconds added when bids are placed in the final 5 seconds.
From a seller’s perspective, eBay has a responsibility to help realize the best prices possible, and from a raw sales standpoint, the platform has been the best in the industry.
According to data tool Card Ladder, June was the highest month on record for online card sales with more than $305 million in total transactions. Of that total, more than $245 million was spent on eBay.
For dcsports87, one of the largest consignors of trading cards on eBay, business could be impacted in a positive direction. According to vice president Tory Hermens, the company currently lists about 60,000 auctions per week on the platform.
“I think on those higher-end items, this is absolutely a win across the board,” Hermens told cllct. “I think it's less meaningful on maybe the mid- to low-end cards, where there's just not as much need for an additional window for prospective buyers. … But allowing them that opportunity is certainly a win for us as a seller.”
The nuances of any extended bidding period, should it be made permanent, will be critical for the buyer experience. The sentiment in the collecting community so far has been that extended bidding periods make sense for more expensive items, but could become frustrating for low-dollar purchases.
How often the mechanism triggers is also a key detail, with extended bidding periods for the hobby’s most coveted items sometimes lasting for hours at high-end marketplaces. The 2-minute extension eBay plans to test is much shorter than the traditional 15- or 30-minute extensions other marketplaces use, though it may need tinkering after testing.
According to Hermens, the community should wait and see before passing additional judgement.
“Let’s go through this process of eBay testing in the early days of this,” Hermens said. “They’re going to understand the impacts, sellers are going to participate in that test and get to see how it affects items. I think there’s going to be a lot of learnings there, and from that, we’ll really understand how it plays out.”
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.