Question
I've learned about a new search engine tool for eBay that's supposed to make searching for items on eBay much easier. Quite frankly, I don't see it.
First, here's a link to the tool:
The-Winning-Bid.com
I tried a simple search, "large print Stephen King".
After inputting the search into The-Winning-Bid.com, I opened up another brower window, brought up the eBay home page, input my search term onto the home page, chose Books from the category drop-down box, and my search results came up instantly. There were 4 auction items and 9 store items.
Then I checked on The-Winning-Bid.com results. They weren't even up yet! When they finally did come up, only the 4 auction items came up. The search totally ignores eBay store items!
I'll take a pass on this tool.
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Lol
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I found it worked as fast as eBay and the arrangement of the display is better than the one eBay uses...to me anyway. I chose 50 items per page and it seems they fit more items with pictures on the screen and require far less scrolling than the standard eBay page where everything is stacked vertically.
However, you have to scroll back to the top to find the link to the next page. When I clicked on an item, it opened in a different window which I found preferable. I also liked being able to see more info when I rolled my mouse over the item I was interested in. I will try it a few more times to see which I prefer in the long run.
Different strokes and all that.
Larry
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I suppose so, Larry. I neglected to mention in my OP that I'm on cable, so I don't know why I got such a lag with the tool.
Just keep in mind that you're only getting auction results, not store results.
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Originally Posted by BJGrolle
I suppose so, Larry. I neglected to mention in my OP that I'm on cable, so I don't know why I got such a lag with the tool.
Just keep in mind that you're only getting auction results, not store results.
My searches produced over a hundred auctions each, so eBay would not normally show any store items with them. From what I have seen, they only add them to the results when the results are skimpy for regular auctions. Nevertheless, you do raise an important point since I really like those store results when the search only returns a few paltry items.
Larry
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I think the cutoff is 20 items or less. Then you'll get store results.
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Integer, under contact info, why don't you provide an email address? If someone has further questions before they want to purchase, do you expect them to send you a letter?
The software looks very nice. To me, the big drawback would be in having to leave the computer on for the sniping program to work.
I assume that your software also doesn't bring up the stores items, since there is no bidding involved in those.
Store items are such a big part of eBay now, that I personally wouldn't use any search tool that didn't include them.
The big plus is that your basic version is cheap enough, that the customer will save money over time vs. using a web-based sniping program that charges per bid won.
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The software looks very nice. To me, the big drawback would be in having to leave the computer on for the sniping program to work.
Thank you! Yes, you are right that you would have to leave the computer on. What is good as of right now: you can leave the monitor off, and after the last bid is placed, WinSnipe will put your computer into hybernate mode or suspend mode as you specify in the Battery Settings in the Control Panel of Windows, saving electricity.
Store items are such a big part of eBay now, that I personally wouldn't use any search tool that didn't include them.
That is an excellent suggestion about store items. I guess a lot of change seems to be happening in this area, where it used to be about bidding software and bidding last, but now, it is more important to simply have a good -search- and find the right items in the first place than to bid at the last second. Well, anyway, we want to do both well.
My post about my software was deleted by Jim, which I admire, and I know he works hard on this site. It's just that there is always discussion on here about Wagglepop or some other company that ends up failing, with thousands of posts about those. My software is not hype, it actually exists, unlike Wagglepop. And it actually takes on eBay more than Wagglepop ever could, because we are trying to provide searches from OTHER auction sites, therefore giving the USER the control to buy from whichever site has the best product. Of course, eBay has almost all of the items right now, but long-term, this is going to become more and more important.
And of course, while I was working on WinSnipe 2006, you didn't see me posting here advertising it? No. we *finished* it, and only now I suggested WinSnipe as an alternative.
The big plus is that your basic version is cheap enough, that the customer will save money over time vs. using a web-based sniping program that charges per bid won.
Yes, the nice thing is that, in the worst case, all that happens is that you do not win the item. So, for almost all of the items, you could use WinSnipe, but for an item you are unsure if you will remember to leave the computer on, or an item you REALLY need but are worried, you could set WinSnipe on it *and* pay .50 cents to have one of the other auction services bid on it. That way, one or the other will get it your bid in for sure. The good news is that we have always felt that we would provide a solution that works offline as well, just like the services, but without charging every time like they do. However, that would take some of the excitement away, maybe?