- AS doesn’t allow snipes to be changed/cancelled during the last 5 minutes of an auction. Since each snipe is loaded onto 4+ servers, I would assume that part of that 5-minute limit is to insure that the snipes reach each server. Also, AS needs to allocate part of the 5 minutes to determine ebay’s current (which is a moving target) response time. It would seem to me, that the things that AS does before the actual snipe is placed, would prevent any changes to the bid amount, and a corresponding change to each of the servers.
- There’s a legitimate concern that has been voiced by AS before adding a new feature, and that is what level of complexity will be added for other users, both new and old. There was a recent example of this when an old time user of AS accidentally put an auction on their “My Watches” page instead of “My Snipes” page, which resulted in a nice “watch” but a poor “snipe”. Every enhancement that AS makes could cause someone else a problem. It has been suggested that an “Advanced Features” be added to the setup, but even that could cause problems for users that don’t fully understanding each feature’s impact.
- The increment/proxy features of ebay cause problems for more than a few new users. It took me a while to figure out, and perhaps others have had a similar experience. It’s not uncommon for someone (such as the first post on this thread) to ask why their $10.01 snipe didn’t get placed when the closing price is $10.00. Another example is the “View Confirmation” button on “My Snipes”, which provides the message received from ebay when a snipe fails, but that many people don’t understand, nor do they use to get a further description of why their snipe failed. Adding an automatic-increment feature might add even more confusion to users that are still struggling to understand how ebay *and* AS function.
- Somewhat of a repeat, but should AS add some automatic bid increase feature, there’s a decent possibility that it would open up a completely new, and more heated, series of complaints from users asking, “Why in the **** did you increase my snipe?” Already there are some that post on the forum claiming that AS placed a snipe on an auction that the user says they didn’t request a snipe (none have been able to provide evidence that this wasn’t a user error). And, some have posted that AS arbitrarily increased (no evidence was provided) the snipe amount because, “It’s in AS’ best interest to place a winning snipe, no matter what.”
- Seems (generality) that usually (generality) snipes are placed in the last couple of minutes of an auction. Some people will place a manual snipe 3 or 4 minutes out. They are quasi-snipers (pseudo psnipers), as they should be trying for 20 seconds or less, but, at least they are a step above proxy bidders. The more traditional snipes come in at the last x seconds. I don’t see how AS, in the last few seconds of an auction, could be monitoring the price, changing the snipes in multiple servers, and compensating for ebay’s response time with any degree of accuracy – even to the satisfaction of an experienced user. And, to a non-experienced user, how difficult would that be to explain?
True, but the rub occurs when multiple customers, who are both right, disagree with each other.quote:"The customer is alway right according to their understanding of the truth and it is the only thing they want to discuss at the time"
Questions for John:
- Do you remember where you got that cat toy?
- Does it come in different colors and lengths?
- Does it help to put some catnip or tuna juice on it?
- How do you keep it in place?
- Do you keep your cat’s claws trimmed?
- Does your cat ever sit on the toy?