Ok, so I have been trying to get a recipe for the past couple of days, but I only play once per day. So I can pop in a bid, then I get to come back the next evening and see that I was outbid, and the auction will be gone now, forcing me to pick a new LONG or VERY LONG from the list and pray again.

Last night I actually did manage to get online before the auction I was in expired, so I raised the bid, but it turns out the other guy was also online and we had a nice little bidding war going on. It was mildly enjoyable, but I sure didn't want to sit there for 40 minutes or longer just bidding back and forth with him. Even after I raised the price above the other recipes available for bid (on longer timers of course) he still outbid me. So finally, not having any idea how long this might continue, I moved on, placed a bid on something else and did a few levels in the Clockworks.

If there was just a timer, then I could actually try to log in briefly in the hour before a bid closes to ensure that I am up in the running to win. Without that knowledge, I am basically resigned to using the BUY NOW option I suppose.

Yes, this could lead to "snipers" but that is quite a common thing in any auction system, and I doubt we are avoiding it with the current setup anyway (for all I know I have lost each bid right at the closing time of the auctions so far, or they could have all been BUY NOW choices, dunno).

It would also be nice to have an Ebay style "Max Bid for Auto-raise" setup. The Max bid would be instantly removed from your current crowns, and if you win the auction you get the item and whatever spare crowns weren't needed to maintain your rank as highest bidder. Otherwise, anyone bidding will have to beat out your max listing price, or be instantly outbid even while you are offline.

Removing the BUY NOW option from any item which has a bid placed on it would also be a common feature of auction systems that would be very nice. If you get in a bidding war and prices escalate beyond the listed BUY NOW, it is disappointing to have things instantly end (I rather enjoy the bidding war, as eventually it gets to the point of seeing how high you can bid the other guy up before dropping it on them)