Brian Swale wrote:
>And I can add another facet following my recent experience for a Zuiko 35/2
>on eBay Germany. Although I had figured out the screen refresh delay for
>when I wanted to see how the auction was going (typically 15 - 20 seconds)
>when I wanted to confirm my bid, strategically timed for within the last 30
>seconds or so, the server delay then lengthened to well over 30 agonising
>seconds, and my bid, which quite probably would have won me the lens
>since it was well over double the winning bid, failed. The server just did not
>act on my bid.
>
Probably didn't even get it until too late.
Trying to bid that way is like trying to measure a snake with a rubber
ruler. You are a long way from the 'Bay servers through routes that will
vary from use to use carrying traffic that will vary constantly. And as
I recall, you are on dial-up? That isn't usually consistent in speed
either. And 'Bay servers handle a tremendous load that varies greatly
from moment to moment. I'm on DSL in the US, and can't rely on exact
timing for sniping. I didn't trust less than about 25-30 seconds when I
occasionally did my own sniping.
The sniping services have servers electronically close to 'Bay and
optimize their systems to work with the 'Bay. Even at that, I had one
bid lost because web/server traffic made it arrive too late. That was
with 10 second timing from AuctionStealer.
Moose
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