Is anyone else having problems with GavelSnipe today? The last several auctions it has not executed my snipe and then the item goes away. i.e. it is not listed on wins, losses, or history. The couple I have noted say "INTERNET BIDDING CLOSED" where it usually would say "USER WAS OUTBID" or similar.
Yea but the software may have a delay so it doesn't get the bids in at your specified time. I've seen it, like you put to enter bid 5 seconds to auction close, but it lags or something and the bids don't go. That's why some "snipers" use multiple software and/or enter it to place multiple bids.
Remember, the Internet is NOT instantaneous. Plus sniping with seconds left is like doing a max bid. There's no way you could follow up even if you wanted to; not enough time left. And I don't snipe. I put my max bid in early and let things go as they may.
All it takes is a little hiccup in a router between the sniping site and eBay (and there could be dozens of routers between the sites). By the time a critical data packet get re-routed, auction is over. There is a huge variation in how long it takes data packets to travel between sites. Most of the time we don't notice because it's less than a second. But at times, it could be in the multiple seconds range. You can get a real view of this by going to the Windows command line, and type: ping www.ebay.com. I just tried it, and in four tries, the time to eBay and back ranged from 45 to 456 milliseconds! BTW, I don't use sniping sites because you have to give them free access to your eBay account. If one of them is hacked, the hackers may just do mischief for the fun of it (change your password, payment methods, etc.). However, if they also have a fraudulent way to pay (like a stolen credit card number or PayPal password), they can change your address to one that suits them, then order lots of stuff using stolen payment info to pay. When the real owner of the credit card denies the charges, next fall-back is you. You might not wind-up paying in the end, but sorting it out could be a nightmare. You will be the first suspect in the credit card fraud too! Cal
True - you disclosed your userid/password to a 3rd party, game over per the eBay TOS. Ping is a poor measure anyway ... it uses a different protocol, and is often handled much earlier in the protocol stack. There used to be a tcp level 'ping' but the port from Linux never worked well. Best is to use the debugging console (F12 from many browser) to see the network processing time.
I was only illustrating the big variation in transit time. A I was only illustrating the variation in transit times. As you correctly point out, the actual times depend on the protocol. Cal
