Agree, the shop example isn't exactly equal but you do lose an opportunity to win if AS doesn't work, which is the service they are selling and the reason they exist.
The previous statement concerning more competition should have been worded, you would think AS would try to pacify their customers more since they do have competition.
I don't use anything else so I don't know if the other auction sniping services suffered the same or what kind of downtime they may have experienced.
Damimal