Burned on my snipe by an ebay "system error"

[RockMyAmadeus]

Thats what you get for using a lame program to do your bidding instead of actually manually doing it. Personally I wished Ebay would block all sniping programs.

 

Sniping programs are good for buyers, good for sellers, and good for eBay. Not only would it be beyond ridiculous to "block" sniping programs, it wouldn't be possible. The eBay servers read the bids the same way they read manual bids. Sure, eBay can block bids that come from "www.esnipe.com", but what about www.esnipe6.com and www.esnipe8726.com, and www.e-s8322.tlo.com...?

 

Then, you'd get into situations where people can only bid from certain pre-approved computers (which these insufficiently_thoughtful_persons at eBay already have in place for sellers), and people won't tolerate that.

 

The more they try to "control" people, the more will slip out of their hands.

 

The sniping sites claim that eBay is using a random manual verification which will defeat any sniping engine. I have never seen the manual verification when logging in, so I can't confirm it is true.

 

http://www.gavelsnipe.com/faq.php?anchor=2#2

 

eBay has security measures in place to detect weak passwords. This security measure can cause your snipe to fail because the eBay log in process is interrupted by the weak password notification. Click here for tips on creating a secure eBay password.

 

eBay randomly uses captcha verification codes. These codes require human intervention to proceed with the sign-in/bidding process. Captcha verification codes will cause a snipe to fail because GavelSnipe is unable to sign in and bid.

 

I know esnipe tries to mitigate this (and the dangers of eBay downtime or overloading) by doing a 10-minute checkup on the listing.

 

If I try to conceive of a system that made manual verification effective at detecting or slowing attempts at brute-force password cracking, I would use some characteristics of the history of the IP addresses of successful logins. So if an account has a history of logging in from one address, and then you get an attempt from another, I might choose to put up the manual verification. Then, once deciding to issue that challenge, it stays on until the challenge is met or a non-trivial amount of time has passed, so repeated attempts will not defeat it. Sniper Engine Epic Fail.

 

If anyone knows of a sniping program or website an iron clad "we pay you if we fail" guarantee, let me know.

 

All very true, but there's one thing that defeats that: bidders will not tolerate being asked to "manually verify" every time they want to place a bid (either by re-entering their password, or just "confirming that you really want to bid") thereby creating yet ANOTHER step in the process, especially if they have to do something like type in their password or some other verification.

 

eBay tried something like that in 2004, 2005, where they tested an "extra step", and they took it off rather quickly after complaints flooded in. And, of course, esnipe compensated for the extra step by fixing their code. After all, it wasn't secret.

 

Back in the olden days, you used to be able to "one click bid" (like you can now if you've already bid once), but they added the intermediate step when too many people were retracting their bids because of entry errors.

 

I know of this manual verification you're talking about, and it does happen...my (unsubstantiated) opinion is that this only happens for new or "problem" accounts. I saw it once when I had a new account I was building up. The fact that it hasn't occurred on my two established bidding accounts....and this is through thousands of esnipe bids....lends credence to my belief.

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

I never said the system was fine, nor did I say that using a snipe service is foolproof. If it fails, thems the breaks.

 

I find it completely implausible that sellers would use a snipe service to shill their own auctions, when they don't know how things will pan out at the end.

 

I have also never heard of sellers whining about sniping or snipe services.

 

Furthermore, ebay was and has always been predicated on bidding, despite the recent trend towards BINS. By claiming that the site is "broken" due to the existence of this core activity is absurd. The system will never please everyone, so to claim that your dissatisfaction with bidding and snipers is equable to its complete breakdown is barmy.

 

 

(thumbs u Spot on.

 

(sorry for getting your name wrong, I was just repeating what whisp typed. My bad.)

[Flee-Marquette]

 

Furthermore, ebay was and has always been predicated on bidding, despite the recent trend towards BINS. By claiming that the site is "broken" due to the existence of this core activity is absurd. The system will never please everyone, so to claim that your dissatisfaction with bidding and snipers is equable to its complete breakdown is barmy.

 

(....googling barmy)

[goldust40]

 

I never said the system was fine, nor did I say that using a snipe service is foolproof. If it fails, thems the breaks.

 

I find it completely implausible that sellers would use a snipe service to shill their own auctions, when they don't know how things will pan out at the end.

 

I have also never heard of sellers whining about sniping or snipe services.

 

Furthermore, ebay was and has always been predicated on bidding, despite the recent trend towards BINS. By claiming that the site is "broken" due to the existence of this core activity is absurd. The system will never please everyone, so to claim that your dissatisfaction with bidding and snipers is equable to its complete breakdown is barmy.

 

 

(thumbs u Spot on.

 

(sorry for getting your name wrong, I was just repeating what whisp typed. My bad.)

 

No problem, and nothing wrong with being verbose either.

[goldust40]

 

Furthermore, ebay was and has always been predicated on bidding, despite the recent trend towards BINS. By claiming that the site is "broken" due to the existence of this core activity is absurd. The system will never please everyone, so to claim that your dissatisfaction with bidding and snipers is equable to its complete breakdown is barmy.

 

(....googling barmy)

 

Barmy is old (and quite polite) English slang for mad.

[Comicopolis]

Barmy Army

[goldust40]

Barmy Army

 

I haven't googled it, but I remember reading in an old history book about 1st World War volunteer servicemen using that expression to explain why they joined.

[SolitaireOne]

Nah, personally the new bidder interface is slow IMO. In its efforts to seem 'live' w/ the countdown, the final 30sec. seems to take forever...

 

I've almost missed a few manual snipes of my own this week.

 

[slym2none]

Nah, personally the new bidder interface is slow IMO. In its efforts to seem 'live' w/ the countdown, the final 30sec. seems to take forever...

 

I've almost missed a few manual snipes of my own this week.

 

 

Do you keep two windows open? I always have my snipe bid at the last "stage" of placing a bid, and another window open just watching the auction itself, hitting refresh every so often to count down the time.

 

 

 

-slym

[RockMyAmadeus]

Nah, personally the new bidder interface is slow IMO. In its efforts to seem 'live' w/ the countdown, the final 30sec. seems to take forever...

 

I've almost missed a few manual snipes of my own this week.

 

 

Do you keep two windows open? I always have my snipe bid at the last "stage" of placing a bid, and another window open just watching the auction itself, hitting refresh every so often to count down the time.

 

 

 

-slym

 

I am eating caramel apple sugar babies while reading your posts....

 

Mmmmm....