eBay can alert you about an auction ending or when you are outbid on an item. You can receive alerts by Instant Messenger.

You can subscribe to instant messenger alerts in My eBay and start receiving notifications when you've been outbid or when a listing has ended. If you enable these alerts, you’ll see the words “You were outbid on” or “end” followed by a short description, item number, and bid amount. For example: You were outbid on “1823 Maratha Coin"(#3536992432). Price Rs.101.50, ends 25/02/2008.

If you receive an alert, you can then respond to the alert and bid again. Instant messenger alerts are sent to a chat window on your computer.