[Cupid]

I can't answer all these questions/observations however I'll address a few:

It's quite possible that the Settings page doesn't get updated with changes to the Ebay authorisation unless you get rid of it and start it again, it's even passible that it doesn't happen until you next log in to Gixen. However that doesn't mean that the changes haven't taken effect for your existing snipes and those that you add after you make such changes. So if you don't see the changes immediately my suggestion would be to first restart the settings page and if that doesn't work to actually log out and back into Gixen before checking again and before performing the linking process all over again. Not that linking multiple times is likely to cause you any other problems, but I agree with you that you shouldn't need to do it more than once.

I haven't seen any evidence (other than yours) that Ebay is slow in this process.

I very much doubt it has anything to do with your location; I am also a UK resident.

There's rarely more than a seconds delay/latency between conecting to servers in the UK or US.

In any case all the Gixen servers and all the Ebay servers (even those that serve country specific sites like ebay.co.uk) are located in the US. So us being in the UK might make it very slightly slower for us to set up our snipes, but it won't affect the reliability of the connection between Gixen and Ebay servers in the US, that aspect is the same for all Gixen users no matter where they are located.

Finally, I personally don't recommend low offsets but not for reasons of reliability, there's very little drop off with that as you get closer to the end of the auction with the current technology used to submit your bids. It's just that I prefer to have the bid increment rule working in my favour, not against it.