quote:
If AS adjusts snipe times for busy periods, why all the advice by users to increase snipe time to 15 seconds (from 8) on Sundays?
Because eBay is so erratic that sometimes even our adjustments arent enough. Say eBay is running 8 seconds slow so we adjust by 8 seconds, but then when we place those snipes more people are using eBay and they slowed even more and now they are running 13 seconds slow. At that point 5 second lead time snipes are in jeopardy and any lead times less than 5 would likely show up as "not in time."
We only adjust your snipe so that we still try and get it in at the lead time you specified. We dont take into account flucuations in eBays speed in processing snipes that may change from second to second and thus still cause your snipe to be late. Bigger lead times help cover that end for you.
i.e. if eBay is 20 seconds slow and you have a 15 second lead time even your gracious lead time wouldnt have saved you. But our adjustment by 20 seconds will have. So we do save many many snipes by our adjustments. But when there are big swings in eBays speed in handling a snipe we send then a snipe can be missed if it has a small lead time.
We do a pretty good job. Even last night, eBays busiest night this year only 1 in 200 snipes was "Not in time." And I can tell you that a TON of people still use 1,2,3, and 4 second lead times. Mostly 1 and 2 were the ones losing.