Auction Action Tracker is a utility to quickly check the status of eBay auctions. By entering item numbers, you add items to a list. You can also use the Auto Load option to effortlessly add your current auctions, as well as current auctions you have bid on, to the list. Opening an item in this list opens another window where the current auction statistics are shown. From this window you can reload the contents once, or use the Continuously Reload option to continuously update the window. The Continuously Reload option is very handy during the last few minutes of an auction, when most bids seem to occur. Auction Action Tracker also has the ability to bid on auctions, making it one step closer to an all-in-one eBay application. Auction Action Tracker is a great utility for eBay sellers and bidders.
Auction Action Tracker is shareware. You will not be able to use Auction Action Tracker after the initial 30-day trial period without registering. Please support a student developer, registration is only $10.
2. Requirements
Auction Action Tracker requires very little. It should be able to run on any Macintosh with a Motorola 68020 processor or better, running at least System 7.1, and with 3MB of available RAM (real or virtual).
3. Description of Features
Menu Items
Apple:About Auction Action Tracker...
Displays the about box dialog with a link to my web site.
Apple:Check For New Version...
Displays a window which will check to see if a new version of Auction Action Tracker is available. If a new version is available, you will be presented with the version number, download location, and what is new in that version.
Apple:Registration...
If copy is unregistered, the trial period remaining is displayed along with registration information. If registered, a personalized thank you message is displayed.
File:New...
See "New..." button in the Items window.
File:Open
See "Open" button in the Items window.
File:Close
If the frontmost window is an auction status window, it will be closed.
File:Save Item List
Saves changes to the Item List. This process is also done whenever the Item List is closed or AAT is quit.
File:Export:Tab-Delimited Text
When the Items window is frontmost, this menu item will export the items list to a tab-delimited text file for easy printing or importation into a spreadsheet.
File:Auto Load...
See "Auto Load" button in the Items window.
File:Delete
See "Delete" button in the Items window.
File:Ban
See "Ban" button in the Items window.
File:Quit
Quits Auction Action Tracker.
Edit:Select All
When the Items window is frontmost, this menu item will select all auctions in the item list.
Edit:Clear Cache
Clears the auction bid data cache.
Edit:Clear Comments
Clears all comments left in the Comments section of the individual Auction Status windows.
Edit:Clear Item Prefs
Clears all custom settings of the individual Auction Status windows.
Edit:Preferences...
Opens the Preferences window.
View:Arrange:by End Date
When the Items window is frontmost, this menu item will sort the auctions in the item list by end date.
View:Arrange:by Item Number
When the Items window is frontmost, this menu item will sort the auctions in the item list by item number.
View:Arrange:by Name
When the Items window is frontmost, this menu item will sort the auctions in the item list by name.
View:Update Item List
See "Update" button in the Items window.
View:Remove Duplicates
When the Items window is frontmost, this menu item will attempt to remove duplicate entries from the items list.
View:Browser Pal
Opens the "Browser Pal" window.
View:Item List
This menu item will reopen the Items window if it has been closed.
View:Ban List...
Shows the item ban list and allows the user to remove items from it. See "Ban" button in the Items window.
Auction:Open With Browser
If the frontmost window is an auction status window, the auction page will be opened in your Internet Config-selected browser. If the frontmost window is the Items window, the selected item will be opened in your Internet Config-selected browser.
Auction:Bid With AAT
Opens the bid window for bidding on the currently open or currently selected auction(s).
Auction:Reload
See "Reload" button in the Auction Status window.
Auction:Stop
See "Stop" button in the Auction Status window.
Items Window
"New Item..." button
Displays a window asking for an item number or URL. Auction Action Tracker will contact eBay, get this item's information, and add this item to the item list. While Auction Action Tracker is contacting eBay, the "New..." button will change to a "Stop" button. Clicking this button while in "Stop" mode will halt the operation.
"Auto Load..." button
Displays a window asking for an eBay user ID. Auction Action Tracker will contact eBay and get all current auctions the user is currently the seller or a bidder of, and add them to the item list. While Auction Action Tracker is contacting eBay, the "Auto Load" button will change to a "Stop" button. Clicking this button while in "Stop" mode will halt the operation.
"Browser Pal" button
Opens the "Browser Pal" window.
"Open" button
Opens the auction status window(s) for the currently selected item(s).
"Bid (AAT)" button
Opens the bid window for bidding on the currently open or currently selected auction(s).
"Open (Browser" button
Opens the first selected item in your Internet Config-selected browser.
"Delete" button
Removes currently selected item(s) from the items list.
"Ban" button
This button adds the currently selected item(s) to the ban list, preventing them from being added to the item list. This is useful if you have bid on something, but the bidding has passed what you wish to spend and you do not want the item to be added via the Auto Load option.
"Update Item List" button
Opens the Item List Update window, which will update the bid and high bidder columns of all the items in the Item List.
Auction Status Window
"Comments" field
Use this field to leave notes about the particular item such as what you are willing to bid or any flaws the item might have.
"Reload" button
Refreshes the auction status statistics.
"Auto Reload Frequency" popup
Allow you to override the default Auto Reload Frequency in the Preferences with a new frequency.
"Auto Reload" checkbox
If selected (checked) and the "Reload" button pressed, Auction Action Tracker will continuously refresh the auction status statistics. A delay can be set between reloads in the "Auto Load" section of the Preferences window.
"Stop" button
Clicking this button will halt reload operations.
Bid Window
"Item" field
Displays the number of the item to be bid on.
"Key" field
After the key has been loaded via the "Get Key" button, this field will display it. The key is supplied by eBay and is required to bid.
"User ID" field
Enter your eBay user ID here.
"Password" field
Enter your eBay password here.
"Maximum Bid" field
Enter the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item here. It should be in the format "x.xx" without a dollar sign. If you get an error message indicating that there is a problem with the bid, check to see that your bid is at or above the minimum bid using a browser.
"Quantity" field
Enter the quantity you wish to purchase. For non-dutch auctions, put "1." For dutch auctions, your total bid will be your maximum bid times this quantity.
"Get Key" button
Attempts to get the key from eBay which is required to bid. For last-second bidders, you should click this button a few minutes early so that you don't have to load the key at the last second, increasing your bid speed.
"Place Bid" button
After the bid key has be received, this will submit your bid to eBay and notify you if you are the high bidder or if you have been outbid.
"Stop" button
After clicking the "Get Key" or "Place Bid" button, this button will stop progress.
"Cancel" button
After the key has been loaded but the bid has not yet been placed, the "Stop" button will turn into this button allowing the user to change the user ID, password, maximum bid, and quantity information. You will have to get the key again, before the bid can be placed.
Item List Update Window
"Retry" button
This button will retry the current connection. This is useful if your connection stalls.
"Run Continuously Frequency" popup
Allow you to select the delay between updates if the "Run Continuously" checkbox is checked.
"Run Continuously" checkbox
If checked, the Item List Update window will continuously run updates with a delay, set by the "Run Continuously Frequency" popup, between updates.
"Close" button
Stops the update and closes the Item List Update window.
Preferences Window
"Auto Load" section
Allows you to set a delay between reloads in Auction Status windows.
"Fonts" section
Allows you to customize the size and boldness of fonts used in AAT. Changes to the font section will not be reflected in currently open windows until they are reopened.
"AS Win." section
-"Default Section Settings" allows you to set the default collapsed/expanded state of the four sections of the Auction Status windows.
-"Auto Load Auction Status Windows" controls whether or not Auction Status windows will automatically retrieve current data from eBay when they are opened (sort of an online/offline mode). If you keep this setting on, you can still load items offline by holding down the option key when you are opening them (the "Open" button will turn into a "Open Offline" button).
-"Beep on Bid Increase" gives the ability to control whether or not AAT will play the system beep when an Auction Status window detects a bid increase (when the green arrow is displayed).
"Time" section
Allows you to have AAT automatically convert the eBay auction end and start times to your local time zone. After setting this option, use the Update function to update all the items to your local time. If you do not run an update, AAT may not return the correct time. If the time zone is set incorrectly, the new countdown feature will not return accurate information.
"Update" section
Allows you to automatically update the item list on startup and/or whenever the Items window is reopened (via the "View:Item List") menu item.
Browser Pal Window
"Add" button
If a number is entered, AAT will assume this is an item number and will attempt to add this item to the item list. If there are any non-numeric characters in the text box, AAT will assume this is an eBay user ID, and will attempt to Auto Load auctions using this user ID.
4. Registering
Auction Action Tracker has the following pricing.
1+ single user licenses, $10 per user
A Site License costs $100 (equal to 10 users) and covers all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius of your site (100 miles). One big advantage of a Site License is that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site are using the software.
A World-Wide License costs $500 and it covers all locations for your organization on the planet earth.
You can pay for Auction Action Tracker online, using your credit card, at the following URLs. There are also clickable links to these pages on the registration reminder window in Auction Action Tracker.
Secure: http://order.kagi.com/?U49&S
Insecure: http://order.kagi.com/?U49
You can also pay for Auction Action Tracker by using the Register program. Open the Register program that accompanies Auction Action Tracker. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to purchase (or Site or Word-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. More specifics on the Register program to follow. Kagi handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street PMB #392-U49
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical.
If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed.
Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
Auction Action Tracker has a protection scheme and when you pay, we tell you how to indicate to Auction Action Tracker that you have paid the registration fee. If you do not have an email address, please enter your complete postal address and please remember, we do not know what country you live in so please enter that into the postal address also.
5. Getting New Versions
You may get new versions of my software at
http://www.winternovelty.com
6. Distribution
Auction Action Tracker is shareware. You may distribute Auction Action Tracker freely as long as you include all original, unmodified files including the Auction Action Tracker application, registration applications, and text files. If you would like to include it in a CD, floppy, or other media collection, please let me know before it is distributed, and send me a copy.
7. Contacting The Author
If you enjoy Auction Action Tracker and would like to send me some questions, comments, bug reports, or feature suggestions, feel free to do so through the Feedback section of my web site. I look forward to hearing from you.
http://www.winternovelty.com
8. License Agreement
By opening Auction Action Tracker you acknowledge that Auction Action Tracker may cause harm to your computer and/or components and that you will not hold the author, Travis J. Hicks, responsible for any harm caused by Auction Action Tracker. Auction Action Tracker may not provide accurate information. If eBay alters its HTML format, Auction Action Tracker may cease to function. Use Auction Action Tracker at your own risk.
