\"Mirror\" vs \"offset\"

[ficadoor]

Hi-

I do not quite understand what "mirror" is and how it and "offset" relate to bidding ?
Is there an opportune way to set up the delays on each (I see that the default is 6 seconds on each)?

I'm not doing any complicated bidding just trying to win this auction or that.

Any assistance is most appreciated!

Hal

[juangrande]

The "offset" is the amount of time before the auction ends that the server sends your bid and is only configurable for mirror subscribers.

"Mirror" means that there is a server in addition to the "Main" server that sends a copy of your bid (hence the term "mirror.") Thus, as a mirror subscriber, your bid is sent twice. The most important feature of this arrangement is that if for some reason, one of the bids fails to make it to eBay, then the other bid will essentially all of the time.

The default offset of 6 seconds on both servers is sufficient for most snipes; however, I set my main offset at 4 seconds and my mirror offset at 3 seconds. Setting an offset lower than that risks your bid not making it on time because of a random network delay. Remember that if someone else makes a bid that is nearly same as yours, the earlier bid will win. If that scenario is likely for auctions that you bid on, then it is better to set the offset slightly longer, say, 10 seconds.
_________________
John

If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
--- Yogi Berra

[Rickajho]

The way I explain it is your mirror is a second attempt to make sure your bid gets placed. Poop happens with the internet and when you want to do something timing critical like sniping the mirror provides insurance that the bid gets placed. If one server fails to place your bid due to a technical hiccup the other server gets through. It's two attempts and all that matters is that one of the two gets through and places your bid.

As far as offsets go... oh lord there's lot's of theories about what is considered optimal. Just search this forum for "offset" and you will find tons of posts about it. My only personal rule is that I keep a one second difference between the main server and mirror, on the theory that eBay might get cranky if the main and mirror server try to place 2 bids from the same account at exactly the same second. But that's just a theory.