Topic: That's SO beta! / beta 3 - minor bug, but irritating

The “Current” column only shows the current bid amount. “Total” shows current bid + shipping. They work fine for me in all tabs so I’d check that the one you want (“Total”) is the one displayed. If you have “Total” displayed then it’s likely to be a synchronisation issue. JBw does not update auctions in real-time. It syncs at startup with increasingly frequently updates as the end date/time approaches. You can force the issue by selecting the “Servers” -> “Update Auctions” menu item.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Missing column separators

http://jbidwatcher.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8…

I saw it on Mac OS X 10.4. If you are seeing it on a different OS (or version) then it would be helpful if you could update the bug listing with the OS you use. Thanks.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Mac: Why When I Close Its Window...?

The easiest way to get around this is to just hide the application (command-H; “Hide JBidWatcher” from the main JBidWatcher menu; “Hide” from the dock’s contextual menu). This keeps it out of the way while you do other things. With Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard you could also just “park” the application window in one of your unused Spaces.

An alternative solution that I’ve used is to create a second user account. Login as the other user, run JBW and then login as your normal user (but don’t logout the other user in the process). The second account’s applications will run as normal and you can’t accidentally interact with it. This is rather clunky though and the only reason I’ve ever done it is to allow me to use JBW with multiple eBay accounts.

Topic: That's SO beta! / How do you capitalise jbidwatcher?

I’ve seen multiple capitalised versions of the word “jbidwatcher” throughout the official site, this forum and the application itself. The most common are JBidwatcher and JBidWatcher. JBidWatcher makes more sense to me (official site uses this for main headings) but JBidwatcher is probably more prevalent (official site uses it in normal text). Which is the correct version?

Yours, Mr Pedantic.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Task bar icon disappearing

I’m 99% sure this is a bug in Windows because I’ve seen this with other applications – particularly Microsoft Outlook. When an application exits (or is killed by the OS) it should have it’s icon removed from the system tray but sometimes that doesn’t happen. This is confusing because it makes it look accessible when it’s not. Moving the mouse over the system tray causes the OS to refresh the tray contents and no longer display it.

So the real question is: why has JBW stopped running? You can check the various JBW/OS logs to see if there’s a problem but to be honest I’d probably start by asking your hubby if he’s deliberately closing it down because “you’re not using the computer any more”... :)

Topic: JBidwatcher Development / How do you debug the JBW2 database?

Hi Morgan,

I’ve thoroughly confused myself because I forgot that you’d implemented a database backend for JBW2. Consequently my naive attempts at moving files in and out of ~/.jbidwatcher is having no effect on the auctions being tracked! How do you debug the MySQL database component? This is an even more optimistic question: is the schema documented anywhere? :) Thanks.

Topic: JBidwatcher Development / Feature Request: Different Views

I have to say I really don’t like that complex background. Continuous variable shading simply makes it harder to pick out details. There may be more empty space because the row heights are larger but I don’t see the need to fill it with anything. The usual two-tone, alternating row banding works just as effectively and you get used to the extra space after a while. Indeed the extra whitespace is no worse than eBay’s search listings and reverting to a non-thumbnail list looks very cramped. At the end of the day, I think it’s more to do with user perception at the time of transition rather than being a real problem.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Moving Current Auctions and snipes to another computer?

You just need to copy over two files to the other Macintosh to preserve your settings/auctions. Because the files are in a hidden directory, the easiest thing to do is:

On both machines

• open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app

• type: ln -s ~/.jbidwatcher ~/jbidwatcher

• quit

• copy jbidwatcher/JBidWatch.cfg and jbidwatcher/auctions.xml from your home machine to the other Macintosh via email, CD or whatever

• (remember to do the Terminal actions above, on the new machine too)

• place the copied files in the jbidwatcher folder in your home directory

JBW should now be good to go.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / my max bid in eBay is x and my snipe bid in jBid is y...

It’s impossible to bid against yourself – all that will happen is that your maximum bid will be raised. Remember it’s the person with the second highest bid who determines the final price (their bid plus one bid increment); the maximum bid only determines who ends up paying that money. If you have already bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay then there is no point sniping on it too.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / some questions

1) The source code is freely available so you can check it yourself if you are concerned about this. I’m sure it doesn’t do this so ensure you run binaries you download directly from jbidwatcher.com or compile your own version to be absolutely sure.

2) You can never know until the auction has ended since no-one knows what anyone else will bid at the last minute. JBW can only tell you that the snipe you have set up is greater than the current bid and will be accepted by eBay.

2a) It won’t suggest a best time to bid as that’s something that down to a user’s preferred bidding style based on their experience with their internet connection stability; its speed and what element of risk the user is willing to accept that a bid will not go through in time. (10 seconds is fine for me.) JBW will track the time difference between eBay and your computer to try to ensure that whatever the snipe time you’ve set up is when it actually bids.

2b) No. Bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item. You are more likely to win the item if there are additional bids at the end and way the winning bid is calculated by eBay means you will always win by the current bid increment, not your full bid amount. i.e. if you bid 100 and someone else bids 40 you will pay 41, not 100.

2c) You don’t have to be at a computer to place the snipe; JBW is more accurate and won’t forget to snipe. You can track more than 100 items on your watch list. Those are the main advantages for me but JBW has a lot of other features that people use to improve their overall bidding experience.

2d) I know of no statistics. JBW has always performed well for me. The only glitches have been when eBay has changed their text on their site which broke JBW’s parsing (this usually gets fixed very quickly though as it will affect all users simultaneously).

2e) Always bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item. That’s the golden rule. This is not a guarantee – you will still lose items to people who are willing to bid more – that’s life. Wait for a similar item to be listed and try again.

2f/2h) I chose JBW over other software and bidding sites because:
i) free
ii) cross-platform (I use Mac OS X);
iii) source code is available (if there was a bug or feature that annoyed me I could fix it);
iv) under active development so bugs are being fixed and new features released
iv) it runs on my personal computer so I had fewer privacy issues to worry about
v) quicker interface when sorting etc. because it’s local rather than being a web service
vi) no annoying advertising or suggestions to upgrade to a “pro” package with additional charges

Try it. It’s free. If you don’t like it you can move on to something else easily. JBW has made my eBay experience so much easier and I’m sure it will for you too.

Topic: JBidwatcher Development / Feature Request: Multiple ID's

I get around this by having JBW run under multiple user accounts. It’s pretty rare that I need to do this though so this may not be as convenient for you.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / stupid question: will JBW snipe when you already have high bid?

Yes, JBW will still snipe even if you are the current high bidder.

Topic: JBidwatcher Tips and Tricks / JBW and auction disputes

Historically things have been pretty rosy for me on eBay. Everything I’ve paid for is what the seller said it was and there were no issues. However, I’ve recently had to submit an auction dispute claim on an item that never turned up – fortunately it didn’t cost much and I paid by PayPal so I should get my money back. Anyway, an interesting thing came up when I initiated the process.

I live in the UK, as does the seller. eBay.co.uk is my local site and that’s what I browse to find new listings etc., so that’s where I submitted the dispute form. However, the next page informed me that I needed to submit the form on eBay.com because that’s where the item was sold – or rather, that’s the site where JBW submitted the winning bid. Now I don’t think that makes any difference to the process but it might cause some confusion somewhere down the line since the transaction looks like: buyer (UK) -> eBay.com (US) -> seller (UK). Since both the UK and the US speak English, eBay emailed communications should be readable by both parties. However, the same might not be true for transactions made in Germany or France say.

I hope that you don’t have to go through this process yourself but it’s something to bear in mind.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / 1.0.2. down?

320147358423 was added correctly when I tried it. Just to be sure, you’re running 1.0.2 and both “Regularly check for new versions” and “Allow live configuration updates” are checked in the configuration dialog box, correct?

Topic: Announcements / [Release] JBidwatcher 1.0.2 is now available!

As Morgan stated earlier: “If you’re having trouble with 1.0.2, go to the ‘File’ menu, and choose ‘Check for Updates’.” Restarting JBW will also cause it to automatically retrieve the update (assuming you have ticked the “Allow live configuration updates” option).

Topic: Announcements / [Release] JBidwatcher 1.0.2 is now available!

Yes they’ve changed their title format again. JBW will need its properties file updated. If you have CVS you can recompile a working version by including this fix . It’s a simple configuration change so I would expect Morgan to release an automatic update later today.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / 1.0.2. down?

Yes they’ve changed their title format again. JBW will need its properties file updated. If you have CVS you can recompile a working version by including this fix . It’s a simple configuration change so I would expect Morgan to release an automatic update later today.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Snipes keep failing

That sounds like the time synchronisation issue to me. There are two things you can do:

1) build your own JBW from the CVS source code which includes the fix

2) manually set your computer’s clock to eBay official time until 1.0.2pre7 is released (NB: eBay official time may bear very little relation to what the rest of the world thinks the time is so may cause weird issues with email/file timestamps)

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Jbid "time left" 1 hour earlier than ebay

eBay changed the location of where they provide their official time which breaks JBW’s time synchronisation. It will be fixed in 1.0.2pre7. See this thread

Topic: Announcements / 1.0.2pre6 - Fixes currencies and title issues

Please can you incorporate the correct bid increment boundaries for eBay.co.uk into 1.0.2, for us Brits? It can make quite a bit of difference in the quality of feedback that JBW provides regarding the validity of snipe amounts. Thanks.

Topic: Announcements / 1.0.2pre5 - Fixes save issues

Sounds like your My eBay search has been turned off. You should:

- click on the binoculars icon
- select the “My eBay” entry
- click on “Edit”
- choose the “Repeat every” entry that best suits your needs
- ensure that “Enable repeated search” is ticked
- click on “OK”

In addition, you can manually sync with eBay by choosing the “eBay” -> “Get My eBay Items” main menu option.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Can I run two separate JBW application at the same time?

The QuickStart guide and FAQ are a little out-of-date (see “Documentation” section on the home page) but I suspect that a more comprehensive guide would be a lot of work. A public Wiki is probably the way to go since it can be collaboratively built and amended by the users themselves.

As a case in point, yes, you can redirect your search queries to a particular tab. Open the search window (binoculars icon), select the search entry you are interested in and then click “Edit” button. A dialog appears showing the configuration information for the selected search item. One of the entries is a drop-down menu called “Destination Tab” which is where search results will be placed.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / Can I run two separate JBW application at the same time?

If you somehow manage to run JBW twice for the same user then they will use the same files and corruption is highly likely. It sounds to me like you should create some new tabs (right-click a tab and select “Add Tab”) to handle the auctions you are particularly interested in (for example: “auctions ending today” or “auctions with snipes”) and use the “Send to…” context-menu to move those auctions to your new tab. You can then easily flip between the views you create.

If you want two independent instances of JBW running then you can create another user account on your computer and run JBW for each user. I’ve done that for when my father comes to visit and he doesn’t want to miss an auction he’s interested in (and I don’t want to miss out on mine!). It also allows me to snipe using his account rather than mine which keeps things simpler when communicating with the seller.

Topic: JBidwatcher Help / can not add auctions

That sounds like 1.0.1 to me. You should install 1.0.2pre5: http://forum.jbidwatcher.com/forums/9/topics/1047

Morgan, it might be time to release 1.0.2 and worry about any additional tweaks in 1.0.3pre1 :)

Topic: Announcements / 1.0.2pre5 - Fixes save issues

That’s usually because the application (not just JBW) is taking a long time to close – more often than not because it has to do a lot of stuff to read/write from/to disk. The problem is exacerbated if the application is using a lot of virtual memory (using the hard drive as memory). This can happen to JBW if you are tracking a lot of auctions in your tabs. Next time it’s running see how much memory it is using and if the number surprises you (!) then try deleting some of your old auctions to see if that improves things.