A majority of the links on the page don't have underlines, some do but not ones like, move, cancel, modify, delete, add comment, auction name, auction number etc....that's very UNintuitive. Very rarely to sites EVER turn off underlines, particularly for new people, it makes it hard to see what you can do vs. just a title, unless you roll over all the words to see if there's an active link. I'm on an iMac running 0s 8.6 on Netscape 4.6.
Also, you should setup your system so that when a user logs in the "current price" of any item updates automatically, why in the world would ANYONE want to look at a static price, makes no sense. And if you have it update when the user logs in, that's fine, if it makes the log in time longer due to the update then either make it a preference so the user can turn it on or off and/or make it so that your web servers update the code every hour or more frequent if your server can handle it, in the off time that the page isn't being viewed have resident code that runs through all user accounts that updates the prices so at least they are ALMOST current. I read through other posts after I wrote this and you said it's about 30,000 extra hits per day if it's when each person logs in...how much computing power does this take? If it's more than you can spare, would something like distributed assists help? If you could build a resident or hidden java script that if the user agree's, when they are logged on the web and the script senses that there is no activity for web surfing (from people on cable modems or even dial ups who went on a bathroom break) then the script could talk to your computers, get 5 or 10 requests and then hit the ebay servers for you and return the results to your server as a flat file, so the host computer does the processing and your computer gets a shorter hit and a flat file? Or what you could do is look at the server stats, decide when you have the most available time, perhaps a couple times a day and have the server update the then current price on all user auctions during the low points? or for a more advanced, stand alone app see http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ or http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ OR what you could do is in the web page of the user, embed a java code that will cause their local computer to hit the ebay server and refresh their page then it's the user computer doing the work. You could set it so that after the user has logged into AS and the page has loaded THEN the code activates from the user computer and updates a field on the page with the current price, refreshing at X rate.
I know I'm curious about stats from your site in terms of wins; seconds to final bed by snipers on avg; best times to snipe; most snipped items or categories; number of sniper users comments implemented; sniper demographics; total users; most winning snipers; best times to snipe auctions (between 2am and 9am example) etc stuff that can help snipers look for auctions that they are more likely to win based on past wins, for auctions where there are multiple items for sale like say PS2 or Barbie or whatever where there are hundreds of the same auction.
It would also be nice if you could put a live java time clock that closely matches the Ebay time clock so you can watch the time FROM ebay but FROM auctionsniper.com. And the next step that's even better is if you could figure out how to get the auctions on your site to also have the counter that counts as well live, so you don't have to refresh to see the end time, incase the page is open for say 1/2 hour while the owner is surfing other windows they can flip back to the static page and at least have an IDEA of how much time is left till and auction closes, incase they want to watch it close right then and there (probably not so common).
Also you should include a user link for "Continuous Improvement Ideas for the site" rather than having to go to the forum...or perhaps the link takes the user right to the forum incase they don't know about it. Also, break up the forum so suggestions is it's own category so people can see that you respond, without having to search for topics to see if they've already been mentioned.
Also, the link for referals is BURIED I can rarely find it when I want to and only find it because of the changing text on the main watch page in the upper right corner. Put a link on the tabs across the top that very clearly say "REFFERAL". Also on that page include the code for THAT user to simply copy and paste into their auctions so they get referal credit. Also provide possible user icons that they could use as ideas or reference. Make the code dynamic so it updates depending on who is logged in. rather than ....cgi?referral If you want more users, don't make it difficult by hidding it in the FAQ or Forum areas put it in the open.
It would be nice if you could pull the link info from MY EBAY for the user feedback and include it in your page so when you see that you won and auction and paid and recieved the item, later on the user can go back to your site, find that auction and easily click on the user feedback link like in my ebay.
Also, stealing an idea from Pay Pal you should also consider having a script that will pole the user account to see what auctions are yet unpaid, see pay pal's process.
Setup the preference or profile so user can set html or java interface of AS. Set the default as which ever is easier on your servers and let people know that.
With a lot of these suggestions not all users will want them, you should set up a profile page where people can turn them on and off. And if you have users that don't regularly log in due to remember me, then you could have the options activate when the user refreshes the page. There's lots of options.
Regardless, this site is still awesome, kudos to the founders.
In the about, how about some company info. Is your company private or public and how long has it been around and how is it doing financially (good, avg, bad, still waiting), how many employees, expansion, looking for investors, pending legal action etc?
Cheers,
Christopher
PS I'm a continuous improvement expert, so it's an occupational hazard to keep an eye out for improvements everywhere
- Christopher›