I think eBay is afraid to mess with the bid closing process. I would not be surprised if they aren't still running the bid evaluation code that was written way back when the guy set it up to buy and sell Pez items. One of the other early auction houses - UBid - did use the 5 minute extensions - I thought it worked great. I suspect eBay can never change anything so fundamental to their process - too much upset for the community.