is the Audiogon auction clock accurate?

You misunderstand my post. I totally understand sniping and am not complaining that I was outbid, I was just explaining the circumstances surrounding the situation, perhaps you hadn’t read down that far. I don’t need an atomic clock, but one that is in the same time zone should be provided by the auction site. The system is clearly broken. But I have no ax to grind.. My post as a new member was to try and ascertain what may have happened that could reconcile with my personal experience. Two longstanding members  basically confirmed what happened so I’m taking that at face value, confirmation bias or no. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

Your experience should be noted by sellers on an auction as well as the bidders, if I was using the auction to sell a piece of gear I would certainly want the high bidder to win the auction.

The high bidder did ostensibly win the auction. it just wasn’t me. Fail for the seller: s/he would have gotten a higher price if the system had worked ( I was pretty determined to get this piece of gear). Fail for the buyer: If I don’t know when the gavel comes down, who the winner is, or how much was paid, it’s more of a carny game than an auction. That said, I’m not hating on Audiogon. I didn’t get ripped-off or lose any money. I’m just a newbie who asked for a reality check from current members, which I received- one member who concedes the system is sub-optimal but it worked in his favor, ( and it honestly might have worked in mine if i had handled my bidding differently) and one who has washed his hands of it. I appreciate them taking time to share their experiences Maybe I’m an outlier, but as a first-time experience it has left a bad impression. But now that I "know the deal" I can draw my own conclusions and act accordingly.
But yes, it’s a disservice to both buyers and sellers.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the site. There were a few rough edges I had to work around when I first started bidding on auctions. Now, everything works perfectly for me. I'm glad you found a solution to the problem as well.