What I don't have

So I was bidding on the really cool 18th century Persian buckler shield on Ebay.de. Really cool (did I already say that?), made of copper (maybe) with tiny engravings all across the face. Some rust along the edges, but a real shield that may have blocked an arrow or javilin to save some blokes life. Or the shield may have been too small and and the soldier mistimed the projectile and he could have been over come by a case of too much wood to the heart. So anyway I'm bidding on this shield, and in the beginning I can take it or leave it. I put in my high bid of 115 Euros and am prepared to wait it out. If I win great, if not that's OK too.

So the auction ends at 4:15 and I get home from work at 4:10. Happily, bidding on my shield has been stuck at 70 Euros all day. So I sit down and watch the bidding count down, like waiting for the ball to drop on New Years Eve in NYC. I refresh every minute. 4. 3. 2. 1 minute left. Everything is holding out. I'm feeling pretty good. 30 seconds left, and I'm now refreshing every 2 seconds. Looks like clear sailing. After all, it's 11:15 pm in Germany. Anyone else wanting this shield has clearly gone to bed. I'm now feeling a sense of ownership of my shield. 10 seconds. 5 seconds.

Current bid 116 Euros.

Some bastard came in and sniped me! I quickly tried to get in a 200 Euro bid- well above my own preset limit of 115- but it was too late. I felt like I had been robbed. I had already aquired a sense of ownership with it. It was my bloody shield! So anyway I propose a new rule to Ebay that anytime a bid is entered on an auction with less than one minute remaining, the auction be extended by one minute.