Ebay - I've Lost My Advantage!

[aido]

Just noticed in the recent eBay redesign that the clock is now a ticking clock down to exactly when the auction ends.

I used to cheat a bit as it never did this so as long as you synchronised your computers time to a decent NTP source you'd be exactly in sync with their servers as they also are kept in sync via NTP and you could just place a bid with 2 seconds left on the clock if you had the bid window ready!

I won loads of auctions with that but now they've got the ticking timer that's that advantage out the window for sniping :(

[Fargo]

i just use two machine, have my bid ready in one, and keep F5 ing on the other..

[aido]

i just use two machine, have my bid ready in one, and keep F5 ing on the other..

That does work - easier to just double click the clock and watch it ticking away - I'm a lazy knacker :D

[sparkystav]

Ay eBay seems to be changing quite a bit at the moment.

So good bits and some that take some getting used to.

[aido]

Yeah, I think last time they changed it I was confused for a while, looks like a tidier layout now though, a lot more up to date as well!

[Saraj]

to bid within second you should use goofbay, i use it all the time and the site bids for you to a second before it ends. lol a very easy way to win stuff and very effective.

I bought alloys for my old is200 on eBay for 130 standard set of 4 with decent alloys by bidding in the last 2 seconds.

give it a go

[Steviewevie]

Just noticed in the recent eBay redesign that the clock is now a ticking clock down to exactly when the auction ends.

Is that something you have to opt into, e.g. eBay sends you a message to ask if you want to try the new design ? I don't see that myself.

to bid within second you should use goofbay, i use it all the time and the site bids for you to a second before it ends. lol a very easy way to win stuff and very effective.

Sounds interesting. But doesn't that mean you have to give them your eBay password ? Sounds rather insecure to me, though perhaps I'm misunderstanding.

[aido]

I'm not sure to be fair Steve, it just changed on me yesterday but there is a link to opt out?

As for the Goofbay thing you would need to give them your credentials - security risk indeed as you have no idea how it is stored at their end!

[aido]

This is how it looks now:

[Saraj]

agreed that it could be a sercurity risk, ive been using them over a year now and no problems yet !

[aido]

Yeah worst case you end up bidding on or selling a couple of items that aren't yours and you just get in touch with eBay and get your account back if someone gets in and changes your details.

Guess the most important thing is make sure your Paypal details are a different email and password if possible as they can't get into that then if the worst ever does happen :)

[Saraj]

yeah thats the way ive set up my password for paypal is different, so not much harm would be done if someone else decided to start using my account,

i did have it before where someone hacked my account and sold stuff on my account, and changed the paypal address to theres.

however these days if you try to sell something on your eBay account on a different computer then what you normally use it ask for verfication by phone call to a landline.

so security is improving plus i like the new style as it counts down and shows bids going up without having to press the refresh button

[aido]

In the last few minutes it seems to refresh itself as Firefox was going barmy on one I was watching earlier :D

That phone system is pretty good though, had to change my card details as a new one came through and like you say it comes up with a pin, the phone rings, and asks you for the pin then hang up and refresh the page - all pretty impressive stuff!

[Saraj]

if eBay asked me for ideas on improvings its sercurity, i would not be able to come up with ideas, but there just keep coming up with stuff which makes our life easier.

the new p&p charge rule is one of the best things there changed, stop sellers overcharging on p&p

[aido]

the new p&p charge rule is one of the best things there changed, stop sellers overcharging on p&p

Not heard about that one mate, about time they sorted that out though :)