How Smart Extend (Anti-Sniping) Works

Ever had a buyer swoop in at the very last second and steal an item with a bid nobody had time to answer? That's called sniping. Smart Extend is our built-in soft close that stops it — instead of items snapping shut hard at one fixed second, a last-minute bid automatically gives that item a little more time. Serious buyers get a fair shot, and your items sell for what they're really worth.

Sniping, and the "soft close" that stops it

Sniping is when a bidder waits until the final seconds of an auction to place their bid, on purpose, so no one else has time to respond. The item closes before other buyers can bid back, and it often sells for less than it would have. It's frustrating for your buyers and it can cost you money.

The fix is what auctions call a soft close: instead of an item slamming shut at one hard deadline, a last-minute bid nudges the closing time out a little. If you don't love the idea of items harshly closing at one exact second, this is for you. Smart Extend is that soft close, built right into your drops — when a late bid arrives, bidding on that item reopens for a short window so everyone else gets a chance to respond. Fairer for your buyers, and better final prices for you.

How to turn it on

Smart Extend lives in your Sales Assistant settings. It's off until you switch it on, so nothing changes on your drops until you decide you want it.

1. Open your Sales Assistant settings

   Head to your Sales Assistant settings page, where you set your drop defaults.

2. Turn on "Smart Extend (Anti-Sniping)"

   Flip the toggle on. (It's off by default.)

3. Set your two windows

   Choose your trigger window — a bid in the last 5, 15, or 30 minutes counts as last-minute — and how long to extend by when one lands: 10, 15, or 30 minutes. (15 minutes is a good middle ground for the extension.)

4. Save

   That's it. Smart Extend now applies automatically to your future drops.

What happens during a drop

Once Smart Extend is on, you don't have to do anything during your drop — the Sales Assistant handles it all. Here's the play-by-play when a last-minute bid lands:

1. A late bid comes in

   Someone places a valid bid within the final 5 minutes of an item's closing time.

2. That one item extends

   Its closing time pushes out by the amount you chose (say, 15 minutes). On your dashboard the item shows an "Extended ⏱" badge with a live countdown to the new close time.

3. Everyone gets told

   The Sales Assistant automatically posts your Smart Extend comment — a public reply on that item's post, e.g. "⏱ Bidding extended! A new bid just came in — this item is now closing at [new time]." Every bidder sees it, so they know they still have a shot. (You can reword this comment in settings.)

4. The item closes for real

   When the extended time runs out (or it hits the 24-hour ceiling), bidding closes and the winner is set — exactly like a normal close.

How checkout works when an item extends

The short answer: your buyer's wins still come through in one clean checkout. Smart Extend never splits a buyer's winning bids into a separate link for every item — it waits for their extended item to close, then sends everything together. Nice and simple.

There are just two things to know, depending on your Buy It Now invoice setting:

If your Buy It Now invoices go out at the end of the drop

Everything lands in a single checkout when the drop wraps up — the buyer's Buy It Now items and all their winning bids, together in one link. If one of their items went into extended bidding, the whole order simply waits for it to close first. (This is the "send later" option — here's what the Pay Later setting does if you haven't turned it on.)

If your Buy It Now invoices go out immediately

When someone hits Buy It Now, that checkout sends right away. Then, once the drop ends, all of their winning bids come through together in one checkout — and if one of those items was in extended bidding, that final checkout just waits until it closes.

Good to know

• Buy It Now doesn't trigger an extension. A Buy It Now ends that item instantly — only last-minute bids on auction items extend anything. (When a buyer's Buy It Now and bidding wins get sent depends on your invoice setting — see the checkout examples above.)
• Only real bids extend an item. Comments that aren't valid bids won't trigger anything.
• There's always a ceiling. An item can never stay open more than 24 hours past your drop's original close time.

Common questions