New User - Site wants me to Pay

[jp2code]

I've gotten to where I do not like eBay much. It can be hard to find items, sellers often lie about what they offer, and it can take a long time to find what I am after. I prefer Amazon these days.

Still, sometimes, I come to eBay when I want an old tool or something else that is better to buy a used item. If I bid the maximum amount that I want to pay, mysteriously the bid gets magically taken to that amount in a few hours. Then, someone snipes my bid, and I can't ever get the item.

So, I come to a snipping tool.

I used to use Goof Bid for years, but now they want me to subscribe. I only bid on 2 or 3 auctions a year, so it isn't worth subscribing.

I come to this one, read up a bit on it, and it looks good.

I sign up, authorize it to have access to my eBay account (don't like that), and try to set my first snipe.

That's when I see that this site wants me to give them money so that I can use a mirror. The description above it goes into the history of past performance and to thank all of the loyal customers, but leaves new clients like me wondering what this is about.

What is the mirror for?

If I do not pay of a mirror, can I still use a snipe?

Honestly, I only bid on 2 or 3 auctions a year. On Goof Bid, I would make a donation when it saved me money, but I know nothing about this site or if it's going to even work - and the first thing it shoves in my face is wanting me to subscribe.

Could someone explain what is going on? Do I need the mirror or is that just something to better my snipe success?

[mario]

Mirror is optional, your snipes will work without it.

It's simply an additional server that does the same thing as the main one, only it's located elsewhere. If one server (e.g main) goes down, the other one will submit your bid. So your snipes are safer.

In addition, with mirror subscription you get some additional perks, e.g. wider choice of snipe times, notifications, and more (see Gixen settings page for details).

Gixen mirror cost is less annually than what paid sniping services sometimes charge for a single snipe.

[jp2code]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I've tried logging in to the forum, but that takes me to the snipe page.

It seems I can only post here with my Username as a guest, so I have no options to subscribe to email notifications.

Just FYI.

[Cupid]

That is deliberate policy here... So that anyone can post, even if they choose not even to try using the site.. or if there is some issue that prevents them from doing so.. or if they generally want to remain anonymous to the other forum users by not identifying themselves with any particular id.

If you use the Community area a lot, then you can ask Mario to set up a Forum id, like mine... but you really have to decide you want to spend a lot of your time here before that becomes an option that provides you any real benefit.

The email notifications that Mario was talking about are regarding your snipes, not ones from this forum, this area is maintained separately from the rest of the site, in that respect.
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Mark

[Gixen]