Why our lots refuse to close on time

Sniping is placing a bid in the last few seconds specifically so that nobody has time to respond. On a hard-close auction it works, which is exactly the problem: the winner is not the person who valued the object most, it is the person with the best connection and the least sleep.

What a soft close does

Every lot here has a three-minute soft close. If a bid lands in the final three minutes, the closing time moves out by three minutes from the moment of that bid. Another bid in the new window extends it again. The lot closes when three full minutes pass with nobody bidding.

There is no cap on the number of extensions. A contested lot in our August sale extended eleven times and closed forty minutes after its published time. That is the system working.

What it means for you

• You never need to be at your desk at the closing minute. If you are outbid, you will have at least three minutes to respond.
• A published closing time is the earliest a lot can close, never the latest.
• Leaving a maximum bid early costs you nothing. The system bids on your behalf in increments and stops at your maximum.
• If you see a lot extend, somebody else wants it as much as you do. That is information, not an insult.

Why three minutes and not ten

Ten-minute extensions turn a contested lot into a two-hour siege and drive away everybody who has a life. Ninety seconds is not long enough to notice a phone notification and get to a keyboard. Three minutes is the shortest window that reliably gives a real person a real chance, and we would rather defend that number than pretend it was arrived at scientifically.