I understand there was a power outage a couple of days or so ago and AS went down....ok fair enough, 2 snipes lost, oh well

Maintenance Thursday as it's the quiet period... one auction lost, snipe was not placed, ok fair enough no biggie.

Today I placed a snipe with an hour or so left to go on an auction and umm guess what...... snipe was not placed, why it was not placed I have no clue as I can't even get the site to load.

I have only been using this software for one month but as soon as I can get the site to load I am requesting a refund of my balance on both my ebay id's (my buying and selling) and taking my business elsewhere.

I feel stupid because I recommended this site to two family members and a couple of my buyers and I was asked today if the site was reliable and i had to be honest and say NO!!!!!

I have four more snipes placed today on 4 items I would really like to win so I shall stay home and snipe the old fashioned way as I have no faith AS will be back up and running in time.

What is wrong with AS today? why are snipes not being placed? and why will the site not load? (I tried using Firefox on my Mac and IE on my compaq)so I know it is not my end.

Is anyone else having these problems with AS?

I guess I should have waited 3 more minutes before making my post as that was when the update came in.


I really hope AS does get something more reliable sorted out and soon!



Posted June 29, 2008 08:17 AM
Hi Community,

As many of you have probably already noticed, the Auction Sniper website is currently down. The colocation where our servers are hosted is experiencing another power related technical problem that has caused the Auction Sniper website and services to be unavailable again. According to our most recent communication with them, unfortunately, it sounds like it may be a few more hours before power can be restored.

Any snipes that are scheduled to be placed when the site is down will not be launched so, if you have any snipes that are scheduled to be launched soon, I recommend bidding on those items manually through the eBay website. Our colocation has been very good to us for a number of years now but, since this is the second time this week something like this has happened, we're probably going to be moving the site to a new colocation within the next couple weeks.

We apologize for any inconveniences this issue is causing; I'll be posting further updates to this thread when additional information becomes available. Thanks for understanding.

-Mike

The following posts seem to be contradictory:

quote:

Originally posted by luzdemivida (in 2 other threads):
I am also interested in recommendations for other snipe services.

quote:

Originally posted by luzdemivida:
There are many other snipe services available. I'm still trying to figure out which are best.

Hi Community,

Update - I am pleased to report that the issue mentioned in this thread has just been resolved, so the Auction Sniper website and services are available once again. We're currently planning on moving our systems to a new colocation next Tuesday in order to minimize the chances of this happening again, and I'll post a thread in the "News" section when I have more details on that move. Your patience and understanding have been appreciated during this difficult time.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our customer support team by completing the web form on the following page: http://support.auctionsniper.com/

-Mike

I have had the same problems and have followed all of the instructions....now I am told I may have to wait 24 hours to get the site reconfigured to my computer...I think AS has to be much more definitive than what has currently been said...if you cannot guarantee reliable snipe services, then be truthful about it. You are going to lose a lot of customers with what you have been saying over the last week.

I'm sticking with Auction Sniper. This is the first item I've lost in three years due to system failure. I did lose two others due to advanced timing on Sunday evening, but that was explained as due to heavy traffic. That's compared to over 300 successful snipes. That's a 99% success rate in my book. Give them a break. Sue

Lucky ole you. I've lost 3 items in the past few days because the snipes weren't placed - all went for peanuts. I wish AS would be honest enough to give the reason as "We screwed up" instead of "Did not win".


The impact of AS being down is catastrophic for its users. We don't know when/if it's going to break, therefore we can't trust it. It's clearly not set up as fail-safe like most business systems. If we can't trust it, then we might as well bid manually.

The reliability of any service has 2 factors - the amount of down-time and the impact of down-time. The latter, in my experience, has been more than 1% but, whatever it is, the impact is total. 3 free snipes (about $1) is hardly compensation for losing bids this way.

There are other sniping software packages out there so I'm looking.

quote:

Originally posted by JLR:
Can anyone recommend a good alternative snipping site?

Why would anyone want to do that on an AS forum?

AS is having a temporary glitch - you either accept it or go elsewhere but please be realistic and accept AS for what it is - a piece of software that can avoid a bidding war but doesn't guarantee success. And occasionally it has an off day...

R2

quote:

Originally posted by JLR:
Can anyone recommend a good alternative snipping site?

If you’re not being theatrical, but are sincerely looking for an alternative, don’t you think you could be a little more creative in locating other services besides using AS’ resources to find a competitor?

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:

quote:

Originally posted by JLR:
Can anyone recommend a good alternative snipping site?

If you’re not being theatrical, but are sincerely looking for an alternative, don’t you think you could be a little more creative in locating other services besides using AS’ resources to find a competitor?

I would like to know too, I know E-Bay has their own now, I have been using AS for couple of years now and it has been really good, spent several hundred dollars in sniping fees.

But when the customer service does not bother to answer to your question, makes you think, do they want my money, well I guess not. SO DO TELL ME, WHAT OTHER SITES ARE OUT THERE.

Edit, I just looked it up $670 spent so far And I do not get reply back, even if my question was little sarcastic, business must be good.

quote:

Originally posted by JLR:
Is there a particular reason why an e-mail can't be sent to people who have snipes ready to be placed? I've been reading posts by sniper support saying the web site is working when, in fact, it is still not working.

Can anyone recommend a good alternative snipping site?

Pretty please.

quote:

Originally posted by NUTFINN:
Pretty please.

OK. Since you put it like that. According to those that are in the know, you'll want to use this service. And, tell them I sent you.


Happy sniping

Typical. You give a person what they want, then before you know it, they attach an AND to it. Next there will be a BUT. There’s just no satisfying some people.

Although, it’s refreshing to see a (not one but two) “pretty please”.

quote:

Is there a particular reason why an e-mail can't be sent to people who have snipes ready to be placed? I've been reading posts by sniper support saying the web site is working when, in fact, it is still not working.

Does "Rick," who seems to try to answer everybody, work for AS?

AS finally got around to trying to place my bid when the auction was over hours ago.

quote:

Does "Rick," who seems to try to answer everybody, work for AS?

AS would need to lower their employment standards. Although, a recommendation from JLR or NUTFINN would be most helpful.

If you want to find another site, just Google Auction Sniper.com. I didn't check right now, but normally other sponsored sites pop up on that page. Power problems can affect any server, especially in CA. You are not guaranteed of finding 100% reliable power anywhere especially going into the summer. My husband works for a utility contractor and they are building substations and transmission lines as fast as they can. Blame deregulation for the current sad state of affairs on the electrical grid. Sue

Hello-

I missed 6 auctions today of a rare item because of the failure of AS. I do not understand why there was no built in redundancy to cope with the present problem, (unless you all were trying to save money). This is unacceptable-Sorry guys and gals-but I'm gone for good. Mike P.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike P.:
I missed 6 auctions today of a rare item because of the failure of AS.

This is going to sound like I’m skeptical, but “6 auctions today of a rare item” sounds like a contradiction?

Rosenthal linear silverplate. 6 sets of dinner knives, dinner forks, fish forks, various spoons and serving items-last seen on Ebay 2 years ago and long out of production.

Any other questions?????

Mike P

quote:

Originally posted by Mike P.:
Any other questions?????

One more - does the following still apply?

quote:

Originally posted by Mike P.:
but I'm gone for good.