System designHardsd-p104

Subject ConsistencyLevel Senior~45 minCommon in Databases & SQL interviewsIndustries Technology, Software development

Question

Design an online auction system (like eBay) where users bid on items over a timed auction, including the flurry of last-second bids ('sniping').

What a strong answer looks like

Clarify scale and constraints first. Propose a clean component breakdown, then go deep on the hard parts — data model, bottlenecks, consistency, failure modes — and name the trade-offs you are making.

Learn the concepts

Narrate your design

Loading whiteboard…

Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.