AuctionSieve feedback
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 2:13 am 
 

Sorry if people think this is spam...



Just wondering if anyone has any other feedback on AuctionSieve. Negative as well as positive.

Does it suck? Did you balk at the download file size?

Screenshots didn't grab you? Homepage was too much of a hard sell?

Tried it out and didn't think it was useful?



Of course, positive experiences are also of interest!



Thanks everyone.



Nev

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eBay auction search software tool | AuctionSieve

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Post Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 3:07 am 
 

I meant to write this the other day, but forgot!



Positive:



- The software appears very well thought out and written.  Looks like a professional product.  Nice install/uninstall routines too -- I can't stand software that puts a ton of icons everywhere, or which wants to insert itself unasked into my startup folder.



- What it does, it appears to do well.  It downloaded all the auctions in the RPG category very quickly, and sorted them in a logical and easy to use format.  I only referenced the help file once, to read about the keyword weighting, so it's intuitive, too.



- The keyword weighting is a good idea, and implementation was good.



Negative:



- I, and I suspect many other collectors, won't use it, since it doesn't search the auction description text.  Many "hidden treasure" auctions can be found by searching the descriptions.  In order to make the Sieve truly useful, you could have it download all the descriptive text (if this were possible), though that would make for a lengthy download (on the order of a hour or two?) as well as a cumbersome data file.  Even so, I'd almost certainly use it -- I could set it up to download the day's auctions before I went to bed, and see what the sieve had for me in the morning.



- Sortable columns would be nice, as well as a feature to remove unwanted columns.



- Along that thread, the item pictures can be annoying, since they often limit the number of auctions that display in the window.  This slows me down when I want to rapidly scan a list of auction titles.



That's my review in a nutshell.  Hope it's helpful somewhat, even if it's not all good news!  An impressive piece of work, certainly.



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Post Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 9:16 am 
 

Thanks for the feedback Foul.



Would I need to implement the description text download for you to start

using it regularly or would implementing the other stuff be sufficient

(with the description download to come later)?



I'm trying to sort out my todo list!



Feedback from other people hugely appreciated.

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Post Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 1:09 pm 
 

The descriptive-text download is the crucial element for me.  Otherwise, even though the eBay search engine is clunky and slow, I can be sure I'm getting the most complete results.



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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 8:19 am 
 

So how would you like it if you could set up searches within AuctionSieve,

so you'd get the benefit of it downloading all the result pages and

grouping the auctions?

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 12:47 pm 
 

I didn't even think of that... but that's why you're the programmer, I guess!



Yes, I think that would work quite well.  I'd certainly use the program at that point.



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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:44 pm 
 

Ok I am going to try it.



I confess I was sceptical at first. I am a real hard nocks since I lost a whole system to a Virus two years ago I thought this may be someone trying to get us.



But I will try it out and see. Then I can add feedback. Please forgive me for being a little hesitant, just remember when you loose a system once  you become Very Very cautious about even downloading pathches untilt hey are a few weeks or months old.  LOL


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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 8:11 pm 
 

No worries NDH - I'm a skeptical guy myself.

I hate buggy software and I really hate spyware.



Also I don't believe in just ease of use. I believe in creating software that's a joy to use.



Well that's my manifesto anyway...



One thing I should definitely mention is that I'm not doing this totally for free - I'm part of the ebay affiliate program.

I wasn't sure whether I could mention this before because they have terms in their legal agreement about confidentiality,

however I've just had a hard look at it again and I can't see anything to say I can't.



It works like this - as part of their program, when you view one of the auctions from AuctionSieve,

if you then bid on the auction, I get 5c. The 5c doesn't get added to your auction bid or added to the sellers costs

- it's effectively just an adverstising cost to ebay like banner ads.

It has no effect at all on you.



What it does mean though is that I can provide AuctionSieve for free and hopefully I'll make enough

money from all those 5cents to help me develop it further.



Do you think it would it help if I put all this info on the website to let people understand my motivations - ie why there's no hidden 'catch'?



BTW the stuff on the homepage is still all true - I was writing the software purely for myself long before I heard of the ebay affiliate program.



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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 8:38 pm 
 

I would not say anything Nev, the reason I would not do so is simple.



If you tell people you are doing it there are just way to many that downright hate the idea of a guy making a buck off them even if it dosn't cost them a dime or in this case Nickle.



I will be happy to use it and provide you with a Nickle an item though especially if it helps me.



I usually sort through the Listings and do searches and check the end todays and New todays and all of the other things Each day.



This all total takes me about 2-4 hours depending on the day.

Yes I buy and sell for a profit and do make a little money but definatly not enough to make a living I do this for fun and so this could just help me out this time of year when I am getting pressed for time. I coudl really use a great item to help me out.


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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 9:08 pm 
 

Sounds like AuctionSieve would be perfect for you!  :D

I used to spend 1-2 hours doing things manually.

The time got less and less the more I developed AS.

Now it's about 30 minutes.

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 9:22 pm 
 

Forgot to ask...



NDH, is there anything I could change/add to the website that would make you less skeptical?



Nev

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 11:42 pm 
 

Maybe  some of our Comments on it and If I like It I will give you a write up for you to use, which will tell people that Visit, ( if they use ebay and buy AD&D they will recognize the name) that I use it and that I had my doubts.  Will let you know in about a week what I think Nev.



Sorry I also run a Guide service here for waterfowl hunting. That starts the 1st of Sept, so I am really over worked this month with everything happening at once.



I promise I will get to this and get back to you about it. feel free to Shoot me an email and we can remove this from the forum as far as our talks and such.



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Post Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2003 12:48 pm 
 

Hey Nev,  Is your site down?  I have been trying to look at it all day to no avail!



I tried the software at home and I think it works great.  Very intuitive, very little hassle.  Would be really great if it searched the listing text though.  I am going to play with it some more this evening and maybe I'll have some more feedback.



A+ so far!  Thanks!


Dere Fritoad, Two badd yoo copped outt so sooon lazt nighgt. Mised som grooovy trps. Hoap th rring thinng wurcs out awrighgt. Peece, Timm  PS Hear ar som outt of sihgt stash I'm laying onn yoo guyz. Must sine off as rush iss cocomcoming ohgodohgod$#%*@!

  


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Post Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2003 8:56 pm 
 

Well it's up at the moment.



It may have been slow over the last 12 hours or so because lots of people have been coming from a post on a Java blog.



Thanks for the feedback!



I'm going to start work on the searching code today.

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 11:23 am 
 

Hey Nev:



The one other thing that would be really helpful is if the Sieve could show the item number for the item in the list view.  I have been having trouble with the view links on windows 98 (It keeps crashing my system.)  I would still be able to use it if I could see the item number as I could then go look it up on ebay.



Thanks,

Matt


Dere Fritoad, Two badd yoo copped outt so sooon lazt nighgt. Mised som grooovy trps. Hoap th rring thinng wurcs out awrighgt. Peece, Timm  PS Hear ar som outt of sihgt stash I'm laying onn yoo guyz. Must sine off as rush iss cocomcoming ohgodohgod$#%*@!

  

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 2:10 pm 
 

You might want to try right-clicking the "view item" link, select Copy Shortcut, then Paste into your browser address box.  That should be a temporary workaround, at least.



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Post Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 3:20 pm 
 

Cool, I'll give that a try.  Thanks!



Matt


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Post Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 8:14 pm 
 

Unfortunately that won't work - they're not really hyperlinks like you get in your browser.



I'm just trying to help out Daniel Thingvold as well - Viewing doesn't work for him either - he's running Windows ME.



I'll let you know when I have an update.



Nev

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