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bidwatcher 1.3.17-1
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Quick Start to Bidwatcher</title>
  </head>

  <body>
    <h1>Quick Start to Bidwatcher</h1>

    <table  border=0 width="100%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
      <td align=right valign=bottom TEXT="#000000" bgcolor="#e0e0e0">
        <font size=6><b>Quick<br>Start Guide</font></b></td>
    </table>

    <table height=15 border=0 width="100%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>
      <td align=left bgcolor="#1c5095" valign="bottom">
        <font size="-5" color="#ffffff">
          A quick guide to using Bidwatcher</font></td>
    </table>

    <br><br>
    <center>

      <table width="90%">
        <td>
          <center><h4><font color="#ff0000">(this is a work in progress)</font></h4></center>
          <h3>1. Overview</h3>

          This is a brief guide to using Bidwatcher.  It is assumed
          that the program is properly installed and you have a valid
          account with eBay.  For information on installing Bidwatcher
          refer to the INSTALL file that came with your distribution.

          <p>
          <br>
          <h3>2. For the Impatient</h3>

          Start the program and open the configuration window (press
          the button that looks like a drivers license).  At a minimum
          you'll at least want to enter your eBay username here.  If
          you plan on using the bidding or email lookup features
          you'll also need to provide your eBay password.  See the
          'Configure Bidwatcher' section below for more on what to do
          here.  Once this is done, and you're connected to the
          Internet, you are ready to roll.  Bidwatcher will pull a
          list of all items you have outstanding bids on and your ebay
          listings.  This list of "watched auctions" will be updated
          with varying frequency depending on the time left in the
          auction (auctions with less time remaining are updated more
          often).  Right-clicking an item on the list produces pop-up
          menu of operations you can perform.  For a description of
          all the programs functionality, read on.

          <p>
          <br>
          <h3>3. Configure Bidwatcher</h3>

          For Bidwatcher to do something beyond displaying the current
          time in San Francisco, you need to configure it to do
          something.  Pressing the configuration button (the one that
          looks like a drivers license) should produce the
          configuration window with the following fields:

          <dl>
            <dt><b>Enter User ID:</b>
            <dd> Your eBay username, this
            field is required to do anything useful with Bidwatcher.

            <dt><b>Enter Password:</b>
            <dd> Your eBay password.  You only need to enter this if
              you plan to use the bidding, sniping, or email lookup
              facilities in Bidwatcher.  Since this password is saved on
              disk, paranoids can leave this field blank.

            <dt><b>Path to Web Browser:</b>
            <dd> This is the path to your browser of choice (I use
            'xterm&nbsp;-e&nbsp;lynx'), by default it is set to netscape.
            
            <dt><b>Path to Email Client:</b>
            <dd> The path to your email client.  By default it is set
              to 'xterm&nbsp;-e&nbsp;pine'

            <dt><b>Track my eBay Listings:</b>
            <dd> If this box is checked, Bidwatcher will automatically
            track auctions that you have listed on ebay.

            <dt><b>Track current bids:</b>
            <dd> If this is checked, Bidwatcher will track all active
            auctions that you have bid on, whether or not you are the
            current high bidder.

            <dt><b>Check auctions on startup:</b>
            <dd> If this option is checked, Bidwatcher will updated your
            current bids/listings and update all auctions immediately
            when the program is started, otherwise it will begin
            updates on it's regular cycle.

            <dt><b>Automatically delete ended auctions:</b>
            <dd>Bidwatcher will delete ended auctions that have ended
            over a day ago.  Some people want to make sure they see
            the results of the auction before it is deleted, so this
            option is offered.

            <dt><b>Snipe Timer:</b>
            <dd> The number of seconds before an auction ends that
            your snipe bid will be executed.
              <p>
                Be aware that there will always be some delays in the
                network and processing delays on Ebay's end.  Even
                slight problems with the network or problems with ebay
                will make last second bids unreliable.  Time
                synchronization problems with Ebay's clock can also
                cause problems.
              <p>
                I strongly recommend not using anything less than 5
                seconds, I personally use 12 seconds.  The goal of
                sniping is to keep other people from reacting to your
                bid, and anything around 15 seconds will accomplish
                that goal.
              <p>
                Start out with the default of 20 seconds, and after
                you have had a few successful snipes, check to see
                when Ebay registered your snipes in the bidding
                history.  This will give you a feel for the
                <b>typical</b> lag.  Then, you can crank it down, but
                make sure you leave enough time to handle the unusual
                lags. On a busy Sunday night, processing a bid
                sometimes takes a couple of seconds, so bidwatcher
                doesn't give up on the first snipe for 2-4 seconds.
                It will then try again, but if you set the snipe timer
                too short, there may be no time left.
          </dl>

          <p>
          <br>
          <h3>3. What's Going On?</h3>

          Once Bidwatcher is properly configured, it more or less runs
          on 'autopilot', updating bid information on your auction
          list and executing any snipes you may have set up.


          <p>
            Bidwatcher will check the status of an auction
            periodically.  The closer the auction is to ending, the
            more often it will be updated.  If you have Bidwatcher
            configured to auto-deleted auctions and the auction has
            ended over a day ago, it will be deleted from the list,

          <p>
            On startup, and once every couple of there after,
            bidwatcher will check what time Ebay thinks it is to
            insure accurate snip times.  At the same time, it also
            checks to see if you have bid on anything outside of
            bidwatcher, and monitors those auctions also.

          <p>
            On the list that Bidwatch displays of auctions that you
            have selected to watch, the color of the line depends on
            when the auction ends.  A <font color="#00ff00">green
            line</font> says that the auction won't end for more than
            4 hours from now.  A <font color="#ff0000">red line</font>
            says that the auction hasn't ended yet, but will end
            within the next 4 hours.  A <font color="#0000ff">blue
            line</font> means that the auction has ended.

          <p>
            Each line contains the following information, from left to 
            right:

          <ol>
            <li>The Bid status icon is a small colored dot that
            indicates the bid status of the auction
          <table>
            <tr>
              <td>Black dot</td>
              <td>You have never bid on this item, you are just
                watching it.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td><font color="#00ff00">Green dot</font></td>
              <td>You are currently the high bidder of this
              auction</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td><font color="#0000ff">Blue dot</font></td>
              <td>You have bid on this auction, but you are <b>not</b> the
                high bidder.  If a snipe fails for any reason, you
                will get a blue dot.  Check the <a href="#logs">logs</a> for errors.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td><font color="#ff0000">Red arrow</font></td>
              <td>You have selected to snipe this auction.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td><font color="#ff0000">Red dot</font></td>
              <td>You are the the seller of this auction</td>
            </tr>
          </table>
          </li>
          <li>
            The Ebay auction number.
          </li>
          <li>
            The current bid value with the number of bids in
            parentheses.  If the number of bids ends with an 'R', it
            means that the reserve has not been met.
          </li>
          <li>
            The auction amount of time left before the auction ends.
          </li>
          <li>
            The auction title.
          </li>
          </ol>
          <p>
          <br>
          <h3><a name="logs">4. Bidding History and Error Logs</a></h3>

          Bidwatcher creates two different log files about the
          auctions that you have watched.  These logs can be found in
          a directory called "~/.bidwatcher" in your home directory.
          The month and the year are attached as part of the file name 
          to keep the logs a managable size.
          <p>
            The first log file is called "~/.bidwatcher/logMM_YY.txt"
            and it contains a list of every auction you have asked
            bidwatcher to monitor.  Besides the ebay auction number
            and the auction title, it also contains who the high bidder was
            and how high the item was bid up to.
          <p>
            The second log file is called
            "~/.bidwatcher/snipeMM_YY.txt", and it contains
            information about your snipes.  Besides the ebay auction number
            and the auction title, it also contains what your snipe
            value was set for (not just what the auction ended at),
            and also a description of how the snipe went.
          <p>
            If you are having problems with snipes failing, it is a
            good idea to look in the snipe log file and see what the
            error message says.

          <p>
          <br>
          <h3>5. Bidding / Sniping</h3>

          Right clicking an item on the auction list and choosing 'bid
          / set up snipe' opens the bid window.  From here you can set
          up a snipe (a bid that is executed a prescribed number of
          seconds before the auction ends), or bid on the item
          immediately.  The window shows some information on the
          auction, and a countdown timer that shows the time remaining
          in real time.
          <P>
          <b>WARNING</b> - placing a bid here is the same as
          pressing the 'confirm bid' button at ebay, and your are
          entering a binding commitment per their rules.  I've made
          every effort to make sure this works reliably - but if you
          are worried that Bidwatcher will handle this incorrectly by
          all means don't use it!

          <p>
          <h4>A few words on bidding</h4>

          Before you place a bid on something, it is very important
          for you to think about how much you should pay for an item.
          Check out past auctions for similar items.  Do a web search
          to find similar items in retail outlets.  Search for similar
          items that are still out there.  It is very rare for
          anything to show up only once on ebay, usually another
          similar item comes alone in just a few days (or sooner).
          <p>
            After you have figured out how much an item is worth <b>to
            you</b>, put that amount in as your proxy bid or your
            snipe amount.  Ask yourself, "if this item sold to someone
            else for a dollar more, would I be upset?"  If the answer
            is yes, then you haven't bid your true maximum.  The item
            always goes to the person who said they wanted it the most
            (by them entering a larger bid amount).  Too many people
            make the mistake of bidding what they <b>want</b> to pay
            for something rather than what they are <b>willing</b> to
            pay.  After they lose the auction, they say "but I would
            have been willing bid a little more", to which you should
            reply "well, why didn't you?".
          <p>
            Some people feel they need to know what <b>other
            people</b> are willing to pay for something in order to
            determine how much <b>they</b> are willing to pay.  This
            is a very dangerous attitude.  Some sellers will "shill"
            an auction up by placing bids with a second ebay name to
            goad the sucker into continuing to bid on the item.
            (Sometimes they user several ebay names.)  People are
            often willing to pay "just a little more", but if they
            haven't thought about what their real maximum bid is, then
            they can be tricked into paying much more than they
            should.
          <p>
            Many people also bid round numbers such as $10.00.  In
            the case of a tie, the first bidder wins.  To prevent this
            from happening, always throw in a few extra cents, or even
            a few extra dollars.  If you think something is worth $150
            to you, bid $153.78, or some such random number.
          <p>
            Of course, you should also check the sellers feedback
            carefully.  A lot can be learned by even some of the
            possitive feedbacks.  Check to see if the seller is
            primarily a buyer or not.  It is much easier to get
            positive feedback as a buyer than as a seller.
          <p>
            Read the description carefully and note what the shipping
            charges will be.  Some sellers hide a lot of their profit
            in large "handling fees".  Ask questions, and if you don't 
            get an answer, or something just looks wrong about the
            auction, don't bid.  There will almost aways be another,
            better described item being sold by a better seller
            sometime in the near future.

          <p>
          <h4>A few words on sniping</h4>

          A snipe is a bid set up to execute a few moments before the
          end of an auction. Sniping has several advantages, namely:
          <ul>
            <li>
              Many adults act like 4 year old kids and want whatever 
              it is that other people have.  If you bid early, you
              will attract attention to the auction and there will be
              some people who will bid just because you bid.  This
              causes the price to go up.
            </li>
          <p>
          <li>
            Some people when they are out bid will feel "hurt" or feel
            like they are "losing" and will let their emotions get
            away from them.  They will then bid up an auction past
            what they would rationally pay for the item if they would
            relax and think about it.  By sniping, you prevent
            yourself from being drawn into a bidding war, and you do
            not give the other bidders a chance to start a bidding
            war.
            <p>
              Bidding is not a game, with winners and losers.  You
              should Bid on something in order to get what you want,
              when you want it, and for a price that you think is
              reasonable.  If someone else is desperate and is willing
              to pay more than you, let them have it.  Another one
              will come along.
          </li>
          <p>
          <li>
            If you bid early, you run the risk of becoming a "free
            finder and appraisal service" for other people.  If you
            are knowledgeable about the stuff you are bidding on,
            never over bid, and only bid on "good stuff", other
            people will notice and will watch what you are bidding
            on.  If you bid early, you tell everyone that this is a
            good item, and if they outbid you, they know that they
            haven't over paid for the item, or at least not by very
            much.
          </li>
          <p>
          <li>
            By sniping, you prevent the seller from shilling your bid up.
          </li>
        </ul>
          There are also some disadvantages to sniping:
          <ul>
            <li>
              If anything bad happens, a snipe might not be placed and
              you could lose the item.  This includes network
              problems, problems with ebay (they are known for
              crashing or become very slow), problems with
              synchronizing the time with Ebay, or bugs in bidwatcher.
              <p>
                If you really, absolutely, positively, HAVE to have
                something, don't snipe.
            </li>
            <p>
            <li>
              If you are the first person to bid, or are the current
              high bidder, then other people will look at the auction
              and realize that they will have to outbid you to get the 
              item.
              <p>
                If you can easily get an item for $15, and the
                current bid is $14, then it probably isn't worth bidding 
                because you can't outbid the current bidder without
                overpaying.  This gives a very slight advantage to being 
                the first bidder.
            </li>
          </ul>

        </td>
      </table>      
    </center>
    <p>
      <br>
      <hr>
      Credits: <font size=-1> This document was originally written by Trent 
        McNair, but has been heavily modified by Wayne Schlitt.</font>
    <br>
    <hr>
    <address><a href="mailto:wayne@midwestcs.com">Wayne Schlitt</a></address>
<!-- Created: Sat Feb 26 00:51:50 CST 2000 -->
<!-- hhmts start -->
Last modified: Fri Apr 14 09:42:54 CDT 2000
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  </body>
</html>