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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 Frown

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?
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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 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 Smile And I do not get reply back, even if my question was little sarcastic, business must be good.
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.
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
I was wondering when you'd find time for me. Like the good old days.



quote:
Originally posted by kimmothy:
rick, why are you such an asshole?
I'm an a acquired taste. They (don't ask me who "they" are) say a$$holes are like opinions - everyone has one and they all stink.



quote:
Originally posted by kimmothy:
why don't you do the planet a favor and put a bullet in your head.....
Now be honest – didn’t that make you feel better?
I just read all the other threads and now have more questions than answers. I snipe thru the link directly, therefore never went to the site or the board to look for Mike's explanations. Why can't they just send out a blanket email to all active accounts when the site goes down? It seems so simple to me, a techno idiot. Sure would save a lot of teeth gnashing. Sue
I agree that they need a better way to alert people when this happens. If I were sitting at my computer reading the forums, chances are, I would already know the service was down from not being able to access My Snipes. I don't use AuctionSniper to bid for me so I can sit at my computer checking AS and Ebay anyway, I set those snipes so I can go off and do other things, far away from my computer Wink

What would really be nice would be text message alerts sent to my cell phone, or at least some kind of email (although a text message would get my attention MUCH quicker, and I bet that would apply to most everyone).

At the very least, I think users need to be compensated somehow for missed snipes and snipes that were placed way early. It doesn't seem right to pay for the service if it is sniping early, and I've had that cost me more money than my entire AuctionSniper balance... Even worse is when the snipe is not placed at all. Not only does this completely kill any trust that users have in the service, but it also can cost people priceless items that they really wanted. Saying to manually bid on items you really want is basically just like saying the service is unreliable and should not be trusted. I want every item I bid on, that's why I'm bidding Smile

I guess one solution would be to just use more than one sniping service so that you have two snipes being placed for every item. The downside is that you'd probably get charged by both services every time you won something. Better than not winning the item at all I guess.
quote:
Originally posted by HRINSPAIN:
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.


You want some cheese with that?
Okay folks, I understand the frustration of loosing bids/auctions all too well due to this technical problem AS has been having. Eek When I found out about it I went straight to several other auction nippers and found that none offer insurance. To me that is very important. Why? because sometimes the seller doesn't have all that good of feedback ratings, or they don't offer insurance or whatever the reason be; Auction Snipers insurance is a no brainer, it has saved me peace of mind and also $ when a seller wants to charge more than the USPS and I insure it on my own...kind of blows their bubble of rip off don't ya think?
So yes this technical problem has cost me some wins and even cost me a higher bid because I basically bid against myself Whoops! But as I stated AS is better than the rest so I myself will stay with AS forever. However, I do wish they would send out email notices when a problem occurs as well as get new collocations or whatever that is! And to that kimothy Roll Eyes who theatened Dave, shame on you, can't you learn to temper your temper? Goodness gracious people like you make this world a horrid place to live in. The world is basically a nice place if you'd only open your heart and see the good in people. As the old saying goes: "Smile and the world Smiles with you"...so on and so on! Wink Razz
Dear pfft & everyone else who is getting really pee'oh'd about Sniper site being down. Frown

Please exercise patience, Big Grin this doesn't happen very often and while it does I understand how it can be frustrating. It is a maintenance issue and you all should know that sometimes things fail and it can take some time to locate and fix the problem. This is no reason to threaten to go to some other bid sniping because Auction Sniper is the best and easiest I have used and they care about their customers and will help you with any problems without fail. Just write them in the proper format and see. Razz
So please be patient with them and stay with them. If you need to snipe a bid while system is down. Go to another free sniper site that will allow you a free trial and use them for the time being so that you can win your item.
Then you will see why patience with Auction Sniper is well worth it. Big Grin And NO I am not being paid by Auction Sniper...I just happen to have been in your same boat once before and I tried others and I love Auction Sniper best of all and will NEVER go to another snip site! I will sit back and wait. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Best Angel Wishes to everyone!

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