14 DAY TRIAL // It's a weekend morning and you're getting ready to do some shopping. After the bacon and eggs breakfast and some pancake dressed in maple syrup, you gain enough strength to last you for the whole day that rests ahead of you.
There's no use in going to the electronics store and wonder about for hours, searching for the video card that you've been longing for.
All you have to do is turn on the PC, enter your Internet browser and go to eBay dot com. As comfortable as it may look, this is not an easy mission. In order for it to become one, you need something that will do the "head-hunting" for you.
What it does
And that's why I'm here: to present you with Auction Sentry, an eBay assistant tool.
Whether you're a buyer or a seller, this program manages your auctions so that you can keep track of every single one, in an easy manner.
When you run the program, you get the main screen with a simple menu and an action button toolbar on the top section, providing fast access to all the features you need in order to stay organized.
Snipe it!
The first thing you need to do in order to get started is to know the item number for what you're planning on buying. The first time I've used this program, I was a little confused, because I expected to find an "Add auction" button in the menu, or in the toolbar. Don't get scared, because there is such a button, but it's placed on the bottom part of the window, and until you enter an item number, it's all grayed out, and slightly unnoticeable. After the first use though, you'll be able to find your way easier.
If you're a seller, you have the option to enter "Profit information" for the auction. This feature allows you to calculate all the fees that you have to pay, depending on what options you've activated for the auction, the cost of the item (if you're a re-seller), and other associated costs, and informs you about you gain/loss with this transaction. You have to enter all these parameters manually, and it would be better if the program could retrieve them, so that you won't have to fill in all the information and check all the correspondent boxes. But, unfortunately, it doesn't.
This being a SNIPE program, its job is to show you all the auctions that you're interested in and inform you about any change in them, or it can automatically place bids for you.
The key to a snipe program is the time a bid is placed. You can place a bid immediately, or you can have Auction Sentry schedule this for you. When scheduling a bid, you can set the maximum amount to be placed on the bid and the quantity (for auctions that contain more than one item, you can buy as many as you'd like).
Here, you have the option of specifying an exact date and time when the bid should be placed, or you can have the bid placed right before the auction ends (you can specify how far apart from the auction's end time your bid should be: from a matter of seconds up to as many hours as you'd like).
The program allows you to set the maximum bid that should be placed, so that you don't spend more than you can afford.
Just so that there are no incompatibilities with your time and the one on eBay's server (important issue when you schedule a delayed bid), you can synchronize your computer's time with eBay's.
After you specify the username and address, all you have to do is click the OK button, and you can sit back, relax, and wait for the auction to end so that you can collect your "prize".
You get a colored auction list, depending on each status: active, inactive, high bidder, outbid, and so on. When minimized, the program shows pop-up alerts that tell you what's new with your auctions. Also, you can change the 5 minute refresh time that's set up by default, to the value that you think is best.
I have noticed that the category of the items is not shown, nor is it retrieved. If you're a "10 items or less" buyer (or seller), you won't have problems, but if you do many transactions, you will have to improvise and either entering the category as a note to each item, or create a new group (database file) and organize all groups in categories. A simple solution would be inserting a "category" column header in the item details section, so that you can sort them all in a single click, but this is not offered either.
If you want to create detailed sales report from your auctions, you can export the list to Excel.
If you want to create more advanced reports, or simply get a statistical look on business, you can massively add auctions to the list (select by seller, auctions that a certain user has bid on, or just load them in the "My eBay" page).
The program offers three quick links to the basic eBay resources: home page, search page, and My eBay page, but you can add more, or edit the existing ones (there are many eBay servers, and the links only refer to the one in the USA, but you can add links to all the other ones, so you won't miss out on anything).
So let's see what our situation is now: it's a weekend morning, good breakfast, getting ready for shopping, Auction Sentry comes in the scene; five minutes later you've done all the shopping, and you can go to a cook-out over at your friend's house, enjoying a nice Sunday after-noon. This scenario sounds better!
The Good
Auction Sentry offers great assistance to eBay users that want to organize their auctions, whether you're a buyer or a seller. It has an intuitive, feature-rich interface that doesn't take long to get used to.
The Bad
The downside is that you cannot organize your auctions by category, and the fact that you're not able to retrieve some information (not crucial, though). Also, you can only use the trial version for 10 days.
The Truth
This is a good auction manager and SNIPE tool. It's easy to work with, and gives you a head start against all other bidders, just enough to be the winner. As easy as online shopping is, Auction Sentry makes it even easier. Even though there are some bugs, the goodies that you can get with this program make it worth the download. The price is accessible too, so if the shareware version isn't enough, go for the full version.
Here are some screenshots of the program:
