What is eBay Countdown?
eBay Countdown is a brand new way to track and win items on eBay. Countdown provides buyers with a competitive edge with instant item updates for current bid and time remaining, easy interface to monitor items in My eBay buying and a fast and easy bidding interface. Countdown also provides a way to search for last minute deals. Best of all, no download is required to use eBay Countdown. Countdown is a completely optional tool and users can always access their items via the eBay web site as well.

How do I get access to eBay Countdown?
To access, eBay Countdown, please click here. If you are already a beta user, make sure to add eBay Countdown as a bookmark/favorite or desktop shortcut so that eBay Countdown is 1 click away.

What does BETA version mean?
eBay Countdown is currently in BETA phase on the live eBay.com site. For those unfamiliar with BETA, this means the product is in its first phase and is being previewed to a group of users to gain feedback before we finalize the official product. During BETA, user feedback is incredibly useful to help us shape the features and design. We strive to have the highest quality during BETA, but also recognize that since the product is quite new, we may run into bugs. The good news is that we fix issues as soon as we find them! So if you run into any issues, please check out the product again later and there's a high probability the issue will be fixed.

Does eBay Countdown require a download?
No download is required to use eBay Countdown. eBay Countdown is a flash application that lives inside a web page. All you need to have is a web browser with Adobe Flash Player 8 or higher. You can utilize eBay Countdown on all recent versions of Internet Explorer, FireFox/Mozilla, Safari, Netscape and AOL Explorer. Most computers have Flash Player 8 installed. Adobe reports that over 96% of computers have Flash Player 8 or higher. If your PC does not have Flash Player 8 or higher, you can download it here.
eBay Countdown does provide installable shortcuts for easy access to Countdown from your desktop and within your Windows startup.

How do I return to eBay Countdown?
eBay Countdown can be accessed at the following URL
http://countdown.ebay.com/start.jsp

eBay Countdown can also be saved for easy access with the following Options:

I’m having problems accessing eBay Countdown – I keep getting a blank gray screen or a disconnect message.
There are a few reasons as to why you may experience problems connecting to eBay Countdown. The most common reason is related to firewalls/proxies. If your internet access or office network has a firewall or proxy that blocks access to certain types of web pages, you may experience connection problems. Please check with your network administrator or your ISP to see if certain sites or ports are blocked.

Another reason may be if your browser does not have or support Adobe Flash 8 or higher. To download Adobe Flash Player 8 or higher, please go here. Lastly, please try clearing cookies and restarting your browser.

I cannot get past the introduction screen where I select settings. What’s wrong?
eBay Countdown is designed for screen resolutions of 1024 x 768 pixels or higher. If you cannot view the full screen, please check your display settings. To do this, go to
START MENU > CONTROL PANEL > DISPLAY > SETTINGS TAB and then select a higher screen resolution

Why doesn’t Countdown work with Opera?
If you are experiencing problems accessing Countdown thru the Opera browser, it may be due to a setting in Opera called “browser identification”.

Please try the following steps:

How do I bid?
There are 2 ways to bid:
1. Enter your bid amount in the box and press "Place Bid"
-or-
2. Click the "Minimum Bid" button to bid the minimum amount above the current bid. If you have already bid on the item, you have the option to opt-out of viewing the confirm screen before your bid is submitted. The bid confirm screen will provide you instructions on how to do so utilizing One click bidding.   Note: if you have never bid on the item before, you will always be required to view the confirm screen before submitting your 1st bid

How does one click bidding work and how can I access it?
The fastest way to bid on eBay Countdown is One click bidding. One click bidding is ONLY available for items you have already placed at least 1 bid on previously. It is intended to make repeat bidding much easier and faster.

When you place a repeat bid on item for the 1st time thru Countdown, you will see an check box option for One click bidding. By checking this box, you will enable One click bidding. This means you will NOT see the “Review your bid” screen for future repeat bids on any given item. To change this setting, go to the Options screen by clicking on Options in the lower left hand corner of the display.

How do I find the number of bids for a specific item?
Go to the Bid History view for the item. At the top of the bid history view, there will be a count of bids and bidders. You can also place your mouse over each bidder to see the count of bids and the time of last bid for each bidder.

How accurate is the countdown clock and high bid information?
The time left as indicated in the clock display may be slightly inaccurate.  Price does not reflect shipping insurance or tax. Click to "View Item" to see more details in the Item Listing page.

How do I turn off the sound?
You can turn off sound by clicking on Options and unchecking the Sound box -or- click on the sound icon at the top to turn it off.

Can I change the timing of when alerts are delivered?
You can select the time of delivery for items ending alerts from as high as 4 hours remaining until end of auction to as little as 5 minutes. Go to Options and select the Basics tab.

Can I turn off alerts?
You can turn off the item ending alert and/or the outbid alert. Go to Options and select the Basics tab.

How do I change my character/avatar or my high bidder message in the bid history chart?
eBay Countdown offers you the option to select a character/avatar and a high bidder message that display in the Bid History area of eBay Countdown. You can also choose to not view characters/avatars and high bidder messages. These selections are available in the Options screen in the Display tab.

Can I remove or modify the ticker at the bottom of the screen?
The ticker can be removed or added back easily. Click on the X in the right hand portion of the ticker to remove it. You can also choose to set it to Play (continuously scrolling) or Pause. If you remove it, you can add it back. Just go to Options and select the Display tab.

Can I change the size of the eBay Countdown screen?
At present, eBay Countdown is offered in 1 screen size. We are currently working on providing an optional screen size that will be much larger. Please check back soon for more information!

I don’t see all my items from My eBay. Where are they?
eBay Countdown includes all ACTIVE items in your My eBay Buying list. This includes active items you are bidding on and watched items. Closed items are removed from the eBay Countdown display shortly after they end. Certain types of items may not show up, including classified ads, best offer, second chance offer and Live Auction format items. Sometimes, eBay Countdown may delay updating its list. You can click on the refresh button to request eBay Countdown to update the list.

I don’t see all my favorite searches in the ticker. Where are they?
At present, you can only view a limited number of your favorite searches in eBay Countdown. Go to the Options screen and click on the Content tab to select which favorite searches will be included in the ticker.

How do I remove the Windows Startup shortcut? (to prevent Countdown from starting automatically)
If you have chosen to save eBay Countdown to your Windows Startup folder and wish to remove it, you will need to go into the startup folder and delete the shortcut. The shortcut file will be named eBay Countdown.url

If these options do not work, search your PC for the file named eBay Countdown.url and delete it.

Does eBay Countdown provide any seller features?
At present, eBay Countdown does not provide specific seller features. However, you can watch your items for sale via eBay Countdown by adding your listed items to your watch list.

What is the Deals feature and how does it work?
This feature is coming soon!

eBay Countdown provides a way to search for the latest deals within eBay.com. Select the ‘Deals’ tab within eBay Countdown, and enter a keyword, category (optional) and price limit (optional). eBay Countdown will conduct a search of all items listed on eBay.com, using the following criteria:

Can I access Countdown via eBay Toolbar or My eBay?
Yes, Countdown has access links you can add to toolbar and the new My eBay

To access Countdown from eBay Toolbar, go to Options, Customize tab, then select the Countdown button to add to your toolbar

To access Countdown from My eBay, you will need to utilize the new My eBay (aka Next Generation My eBay). If you don’t already use the new My eBay, look for the link in the upper right corner of My eBay. The new My eBay offers shortcuts to provide 1 click access to your favorite eBay pages. Within the shortcuts area, select edit and add eBay Countdown to your shortcut list.

Did you find the answer to your question? If not, please contact our customer support team.

Want to voice your opinion? Email us with your suggestions countdownbeta@ebay.com.