Friday, December 27, 2013

New Tool: eBay Game Sniper

We've launched a new feature on the site we are calling eBay Game Sniper.

The tool constantly monitors eBay video game listings and instantly updates the page when it finds a game with a fixed price below our estimated value.

The page starts off with just a sample link and as new deals are found they are added to the top of the list.


Each listing shows the:
  • Condition - Used, Complete (CIB), or New
  • Game Name - The name of the product the seller selected when listing the game
  • Listing Title - The title of the listing on eBay
  • Savings - The difference between the fixed price and our estimated value
  • Price - The price the seller is asking for the game
  • Estimated Value - The value we estimate for the game in this condition

eBay Game Sniper Settings

There are a couple settings for the eBay Game Sniper.
Connection Status - If you are connected and receiving new listings as we find them. The tool automatically tries to reconnect if disconnected.

Desktop Notifications - If you click this box you will see notifications like the one below show up on your desktop. This allows you to do other work and still know when a new listing is found.

Other Details about eBay Game Sniper

The tool will notify you 1-2 minutes after a new listing has been posted. BUT the best deals sell quickly. The better the deal the faster you need to act to win it.

The tool is created as a web app so you can install it to your mobile device's home screen. Read how to do it on iOS or Android devices.

After using the tool please give us your feedback so we can improve it. There is a feedback link on the Snipe page.

10 comments :

Anonymous said...

Well, this definitely beats hitting the refresh button :)

I used this for a few minutes, and saw some good stuff. Maybe after a week or so of trying this out, I'll be able to give more detailed feedback.

Thanks for another great tool on your already awesome website!

Unknown said...

Great idea! The thing is that now, all of the pricecharting community will be fighting over this!
Looks like it's working really well.

Personally, I'd put the price first and the saving after, since I kept thinking the saving was the actual price. I jumped when I saw Mr Gimmick for 55$... Sadly it was 399$ ;) I'll get used to it.

I'll have to keep myself from spending to much, this thing is great for impulse buys!

Thank you again for these

Andres Tamez said...

I've had this running on and off for less than a day and saw some great buys come through. I agree that having the price column first would help.

A bit of a logistical question - are there publicly available API tools provided by ebay, amazon, craiglist, etc to grab this data periodically? Wondering if this data mining is freely available or if it is a service they provide at a cost.

Thanks for the great tools and pricing guides!

JJ Hendricks said...

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I can understand moving the price first. I have submitted those suggestions with others from the tool so we can focus on the most requested ideas first.

Many organizations offer API tools to access their data. eBay and Amazon do and we use them on our site. The terms of service for API's are all different but usually they require you to send traffic to their website.

If you ever want to see if a site offers an API simple search the website name and 'API' - ie "eBay API", "google api", etc and you will usually find it as the first result.

We are working on API tools for PriceCharting as well. Hopefully we will have something to announce in the next few months.

Anonymous said...

Is there a way to make it search for just specific consoles?

JJ Hendricks said...

@anonymous - There is not a way to filter by console right now, but this has been the most requested addition to the tool. We are working on these types of filters and hopefully will have them live soon.

Anonymous said...

I would also like to see filters by system and even game titles/conditions as well-otherwise you will be getting endless notifications of items you're not interested in.

Anonymous said...

Does the price and savings quoted include SHIPPING CHARGES???....if not it seems it would not be as useful or accurate as it should be as shipping can vary greatly from free To $$$

Anonymous said...

This tool was a terrible idea, I've spent at least close to 125 dollars in 2 days on 2 boxed nes games and a few great titles. But seriously the app works awesome and my only question is I don't know if it's just my laptop but after about 15 deals pop up the app will continuously list the same deal until I refresh the page, Other then that Awesome job!

JJ said...

@anonymous - Haha. Guess this is the first time I can say "I'm glad you thought it was a terrible idea" because you use it too much.

We will look into the 15 deal issue to see what might be causing that. What browser and operating system do you use? This will help us replicate it and hopefully track it down.

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