We’re happy to announce the new BINSniper 3.0 system.
Requirements
This version requires Firefox 29 or higher. Prior versions required Firefox 13.
Performance Changes
Throttles and speed controls have been removed.
All searches now run simultaneously at top speed. All items are streamed to your browser as soon as they are received from the feeds.
The new system fetches items using our server farm and streams only the relevant item content to your browser. This is on average a 95% reduction in bandwidth and processing time. Your browser will no longer continuously fetch and parse items for each search, but will wait for new items to be sent from the server. This is more mobile-friendly and should provide the fastest access to items while also reducing the processing time on your device.
Changes at eBay
As previously posted, eBay has migrated their systems to a new platform that is delivering new items in batches. The eBay sites are now using the same data feeds that we use.
It is important to be aware that while new items may have starting times 10-20 minutes in the past, they are just being posted on the eBay sites too.
BINSniper displays a star next to new listings so that they can be identified even when they are being batched. A new sorting option has been added to allow you to select sort arrival time or start time. Start times reflect the time of record (when the listing was submitted to eBay), arrival time reflects the time the items was sent to the feeds, posted on eBay sites, and arrived at your browser. Arrival time is the default and works best with the new batched system used by eBay.
Feeds and Channels
BINSniper 3.0 introduces channels which correspond to top level eBay categories on an eBay site. For instance “US – Antiques” will only contain items from the eBay.com site in the Antiques category its sub-categories . By focusing your searches on the types of items you want, you receive more targeted results.
From Searches to Filters
The new design necessitates some changes in the search concept. Your search filters need to choose a channel to monitor. If you need to monitor multiple channels, you can setup multiple filters. The filters subscribe you to a channel and listen for matching items.
Due to some limitations in the eBay data feeds and the design changes in the system, some search features in BINSniper 2.x cannot currently be supported in BINSniper 3. These are:
- Excluding multiple quantity listings is not supported at this time.
- Subcategories are not automatically included when filtering by category number. Subcategory numbers need to be specified. More details in the docs about this.
- Filtering by Seller Type (business/private) is not supported at this time.
- Max Distance for Postal Code searches. You can now enter multiple postal codes instead or even postal wildcards.
The new system adds the following search capabilities:
- Items are selected from top level categories (channels) and specific categories.
- Items can be filtered by the country they are located in. Use this to exclude foreign sellers.
- Full wildcard support of keywords. To find bluetooth, you can use wildcards like: blue*, *tooth, or *luetoot*
- Global seller exclude list that allows you to exclude specific sellers from all filters. Think of this as a permanent block.
- Search results can now be designated to appear in specific panels in the streamer display
- Multiple Postal Codes can now be specified in filters. Ending wildcards are supported. e.g. 902* finds any postal code starting with 902.
- New selections: free shipping, returnable, best offers, top rated, worldwide shipping, store items, and variation listings.
- Filter out seller by feedback scor and/or percentage.
- Auctions without bids can be excluded.
New Keyword Search Features
You can now search using extended search syntax, including wildcards, boolean search and negative searches. Complete details are in the user’s guide.
Here’s a simple example: ipad -blue*
This finds items where the title contains “ipad” but does not contain any word starting with “blue”. So blue cases and bluetooth headsets would be excluded.
UK and EU users
Server selection has been removed, and all users are now hosted by the US server.
Since bandwidth requirements have been significantly reduced in the new system, overall operation should be faster for international customers.
Get the Addon
You can get the new version direct from our site here http://auctionbucks.com/binsniper.xpi
It will also be available from the Mozilla Add-ons page shortly at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/binsniper/versions/
And available thru automatic updates once approved by Mozilla.
Docs are here: http://auctionbucks.com/binsniper
