How they only get away with this (auctionsniper.com)

[mario]

From time to time I go to auctionsniper.com forum (they are Gixen's biggest competitors after all), and I am always amazed at the statements they make. Here is the quote from "Sniper Sara B.", a member of auctionsniper.com team, posted on March 5th:

"Even small changes could upset the delicate balance we've maintained between getting snipes in on time and winning and not in times. Especially during peak periods. In general the bidding system is not something we make changes to lightly. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The trick is making sure snipes remain within an acceptable limit, even during the peaks. Obviously the closer to your set time being best as long as the risk of missing the snipe is kept minimal. Believe me people that lose an item are a lot more upset than those with a snipe 5-10 seconds earlier than they'd have liked."

"Delicate balance"? "Peak periods"?

I am running a (busy) sniping service myself, and trust me when I say that I have no idea what she is talking about. The truth is that sniping service, if made right, is not a resource hog. Never have I seen a need to send user snipes early and can't understand why auctionsniper is doing so. The only result of this is unhappy users. And I hope there will be more of them that will try using Gixen and experience the difference.

[cross3_16]

It sounds like the lumbering behemoth is being run circles around by the young whippersnapper

And maybe I can draw away a few disgruntleds for you

[Mouse in France]

Having used this other service - as well as a few more besides, I believe yours is the best! I have just paid my $6 too, so spend it wisely!!

One service I used lost every single auction by placing the bid too early, it was supposed to be between 3 and 5 seconds, and one was almost three minutes before the auction close. What's the point of that?

Great work - please keep it up.

[Forrest Freeman]

Hey guys. I thought I'd translate that support staff message from auctionsniper.com to a user...

""Even small changes could upset the delicate balance we've maintained between getting snipes in on time and winning and not in times. Especially during peak periods. "

Translation: We don't know why the heck our sniper server doesn't work.

"In general the bidding system is not something we make changes to lightly. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Translation: We would fix it if we knew what we were doing...

"The trick is making sure snipes remain within an acceptable limit, even during the peaks. Obviously the closer to your set time being best as long as the risk of missing the snipe is kept minimal."

Translation: If you bid here, don't expect it to work...

"Believe me people that lose an item are a lot more upset than those with a snipe 5-10 seconds earlier than they'd have liked."

Translation: We get too many complaints from bidders...

Don't you guys just love it when reps try to blow smoke up your, er, snipe? lol.

[CS Laurie]

Just switched over today. I tried using their contact emails and all bounced. I had a notice that I had won a bid and 14 points deducted, only to find that my bid had never been submitted.

I then ran a whois on their site, comes back as a privacy protected site. You need to send a certified or registered snail mail to contact them. I found this site - bought the mirror and am happy happy.

[Ozzman]

While nothing really like Gixen, I would say the only real competitor (at least in my eyes) would be AuctionSentry. The deluxe has a lot of really nice features. However considering its dependent on your connection speed and requires your system to be on for it to work are HUGE downfalls and the reason I dont use it anymore (for some time at that).

Perhaps in the future a frontend application to Gixen could be made.

Other then that I dont believe anyone I've recommend gixen to has switched from it, or been unhappy.

Keep up the good work. I also got another $6 waiting for you at the end of subscription. As a side not $6 is a great number.. lol I dont feel bad at all paying that .