"but its a much more equitable way to run an auction."

It a difefrent way, but I don't know how you can argue that it is "more equitable."

The point that the people who call for extended time auctions on Ebay miss, is that the structure of Ebay proxy bidding makes much less sense if you extend the auction when there is a last minute bid. Ebay encourages people to make there highest bid by proxy, but the auction house auction structure actually encourages last minute smallest possible increase bidding not maximum proce proxy bidding.

Further because Ebay is a worldwide auction site with bidders from all over and different time zones, if it really is to a persons advantage to have the auction extended when they get outbid so that they can bid again it ios only an advantage to those people in the time zone where the bidding is convenient. Therefore the idea that it is "More equitable" is false it is "less equitable" in that sense.