Quick Start to Bidwatcher

1. Overview

2. For the Impatient

3. Configure Bidwatcher

Enter User ID:

Your eBay username, this field is required to do anything useful with Bidwatcher.

Enter Password:

Your eBay password. You only need to enter this if you plan to use the bidding, sniping, or email lookup facilities in Bidwatcher. Since this password is saved on disk, paranoids can leave this field blank.

Path to Web Browser:

This is the path to your browser of choice (I use 'xterm -e lynx'), by default it is set to netscape.

Path to Email Client:

The path to your email client. By default it is set to 'xterm -e pine'

Track my eBay Listings:

If this box is checked, Bidwatcher will automatically track auctions that you have listed on ebay.

Track current bids:

If this is checked, Bidwatcher will track all active auctions that you have bid on, whether or not you are the current high bidder.

Check auctions on startup:

If this option is checked, Bidwatcher will updated your current bids/listings and update all auctions immediately when the program is started, otherwise it will begin updates on it's regular cycle.

Automatically delete ended auctions:

Bidwatcher will delete ended auctions that have ended over a day ago. Some people want to make sure they see the results of the auction before it is deleted, so this option is offered.

Snipe Timer:

The number of seconds before an auction ends that your snipe bid will be executed.

Be aware that there will always be some delays in the network and processing delays on Ebay's end. Even slight problems with the network or problems with ebay will make last second bids unreliable. Time synchronization problems with Ebay's clock can also cause problems.

I strongly recommend not using anything less than 5 seconds, I personally use 12 seconds. The goal of sniping is to keep other people from reacting to your bid, and anything around 15 seconds will accomplish that goal.

Start out with the default of 20 seconds, and after you have had a few successful snipes, check to see when Ebay registered your snipes in the bidding history. This will give you a feel for the typical lag. Then, you can crank it down, but make sure you leave enough time to handle the unusual lags. On a busy Sunday night, processing a bid sometimes takes a couple of seconds, so bidwatcher doesn't give up on the first snipe for 2-4 seconds. It will then try again, but if you set the snipe timer too short, there may be no time left.

3. What's Going On?

Bidwatcher will check the status of an auction periodically. The closer the auction is to ending, the more often it will be updated. If you have Bidwatcher configured to auto-deleted auctions and the auction has ended over a day ago, it will be deleted from the list,

On startup, and once every couple of there after, bidwatcher will check what time Ebay thinks it is to insure accurate snip times. At the same time, it also checks to see if you have bid on anything outside of bidwatcher, and monitors those auctions also.

On the list that Bidwatch displays of auctions that you have selected to watch, the color of the line depends on when the auction ends. A green line says that the auction won't end for more than 4 hours from now. A red line says that the auction hasn't ended yet, but will end within the next 4 hours. A blue line means that the auction has ended.

Each line contains the following information, from left to right:

1. The Bid status icon is a small colored dot that indicates the bid status of the auction

   Black dot	You have never bid on this item, you are just watching it.
   Green dot	You are currently the high bidder of this auction
   Blue dot	You have bid on this auction, but you are not the high bidder. If a snipe fails for any reason, you will get a blue dot. Check the logs for errors.
   Red arrow	You have selected to snipe this auction.
   Red dot	You are the the seller of this auction

2. The Ebay auction number.
3. The current bid value with the number of bids in parentheses. If the number of bids ends with an 'R', it means that the reserve has not been met.
4. The auction amount of time left before the auction ends.
5. The auction title.

4. Bidding History and Error Logs

The first log file is called "~/.bidwatcher/logMM_YY.txt" and it contains a list of every auction you have asked bidwatcher to monitor. Besides the ebay auction number and the auction title, it also contains who the high bidder was and how high the item was bid up to.

The second log file is called "~/.bidwatcher/snipeMM_YY.txt", and it contains information about your snipes. Besides the ebay auction number and the auction title, it also contains what your snipe value was set for (not just what the auction ended at), and also a description of how the snipe went.

If you are having problems with snipes failing, it is a good idea to look in the snipe log file and see what the error message says.

5. Bidding / Sniping

WARNING - placing a bid here is the same as pressing the 'confirm bid' button at ebay, and your are entering a binding commitment per their rules. I've made every effort to make sure this works reliably - but if you are worried that Bidwatcher will handle this incorrectly by all means don't use it!

A few words on bidding

After you have figured out how much an item is worth to you, put that amount in as your proxy bid or your snipe amount. Ask yourself, "if this item sold to someone else for a dollar more, would I be upset?" If the answer is yes, then you haven't bid your true maximum. The item always goes to the person who said they wanted it the most (by them entering a larger bid amount). Too many people make the mistake of bidding what they want to pay for something rather than what they are willing to pay. After they lose the auction, they say "but I would have been willing bid a little more", to which you should reply "well, why didn't you?".

Some people feel they need to know what other people are willing to pay for something in order to determine how much they are willing to pay. This is a very dangerous attitude. Some sellers will "shill" an auction up by placing bids with a second ebay name to goad the sucker into continuing to bid on the item. (Sometimes they user several ebay names.) People are often willing to pay "just a little more", but if they haven't thought about what their real maximum bid is, then they can be tricked into paying much more than they should.

Many people also bid round numbers such as $10.00. In the case of a tie, the first bidder wins. To prevent this from happening, always throw in a few extra cents, or even a few extra dollars. If you think something is worth $150 to you, bid $153.78, or some such random number.

Of course, you should also check the sellers feedback carefully. A lot can be learned by even some of the possitive feedbacks. Check to see if the seller is primarily a buyer or not. It is much easier to get positive feedback as a buyer than as a seller.

Read the description carefully and note what the shipping charges will be. Some sellers hide a lot of their profit in large "handling fees". Ask questions, and if you don't get an answer, or something just looks wrong about the auction, don't bid. There will almost aways be another, better described item being sold by a better seller sometime in the near future.

A few words on sniping

• Many adults act like 4 year old kids and want whatever it is that other people have. If you bid early, you will attract attention to the auction and there will be some people who will bid just because you bid. This causes the price to go up.
• Some people when they are out bid will feel "hurt" or feel like they are "losing" and will let their emotions get away from them. They will then bid up an auction past what they would rationally pay for the item if they would relax and think about it. By sniping, you prevent yourself from being drawn into a bidding war, and you do not give the other bidders a chance to start a bidding war.

  Bidding is not a game, with winners and losers. You should Bid on something in order to get what you want, when you want it, and for a price that you think is reasonable. If someone else is desperate and is willing to pay more than you, let them have it. Another one will come along.

• If you bid early, you run the risk of becoming a "free finder and appraisal service" for other people. If you are knowledgeable about the stuff you are bidding on, never over bid, and only bid on "good stuff", other people will notice and will watch what you are bidding on. If you bid early, you tell everyone that this is a good item, and if they outbid you, they know that they haven't over paid for the item, or at least not by very much.
• By sniping, you prevent the seller from shilling your bid up.

• If anything bad happens, a snipe might not be placed and you could lose the item. This includes network problems, problems with ebay (they are known for crashing or become very slow), problems with synchronizing the time with Ebay, or bugs in bidwatcher.

  If you really, absolutely, positively, HAVE to have something, don't snipe.

• If you are the first person to bid, or are the current high bidder, then other people will look at the auction and realize that they will have to outbid you to get the item.

  If you can easily get an item for $15, and the current bid is $14, then it probably isn't worth bidding because you can't outbid the current bidder without overpaying. This gives a very slight advantage to being the first bidder.