Auto Search & Snipe / Buy :: Power Macro for HarvEX+

This Power Macro AUTO_SEARCH_BID for HarvEX+ enables the user to efficiently auto-harvest auctions and Buy-It-Now items on eBay (and other supported market places) as buyer. The macro is well established - it is one of the most powerful standard add-ons available for HarvEX. 

The AUTO_SEARCH_BID macro can execute a set of bulk search jobs on eBay once or periodically, can do advanced filtering and can act automatically in various degrees upon the results, for example:

  • Just generate a report/list for checks/evolution, for further processing and later import
    (="1st stage simulation")
  • Add watch items to the bid manager, which could then be made sharp manually
    (="2nd stage simulation")
  • Add sharp snipe-jobs to the HarvEX bid manager
  • Execute Buy-Now directly (To be used only after careful evolution of the tasks)

Price: US$ 50
Further questions: mailto sales@xellsoft.com

Buy

  Power Macro
Auto Search & Snipe / Buy 
Full version of the Power Macro with source code 
Quick start instructions and documentation

Email support after purchase

PayPal Buy Now
Single User License		 US$ 50
Make payments with PayPal - it's fast and secure!

(Other purchase/payment options available upon request)

Features & Options (Selection)

  • 3 Simulation modes for testing the behavior safely before activating the real execution mode
    Mode A: add just watch-items to the bid manager
    Mode B: produce simulation log output only
    Mode C: produce total/meta search results
  • Input control file as CSV / TabSV table file. Editable with Excel / OpenOffice Calc etc.
    Each line of the control file defines one job.
    All jobs / lines are process in turns periodically (background task option)
  • Flexible CSV or Tab-separated input control file with one search & bid job per line. Flexible simple attribute format.
  • Maximum bid/buy price (including or excluding shipping costs) for each job
    Maximum number of items to add.
    A global price limit for protection agains input error ...
  • Search jobs support all search attributes of the HarvEX power search form and the AuctionQuery-object, or even arbitrary eBay search URLs
  • Job actions support setting of all attributes of a bid manager Bid-object. Plus special action control attributes can be set.
  • 6 modes for reacting to Buy Now! options: from ignoring; to scheduling like normal snipes to buy near item end time (bid manager); to raising a message to the user; ... up to immediate auto buy now
  • Option to set the minimum required time until snipe time (end of auction)
    (This ensures that there is enough time to check & edit auto-added snipe jobs in the bid manager)
  • Suppression of unwanted sellers (list)
  • HarvEX bid groups can be used.
  • Log file creation
  • Smart text / title filter for narrowing down eBay search results further:
    Lets you define even word/phrase probabilities for exclusion/inclusion of items - a technique simuliar to modern email spam filters .
    The power of the filter is similar to modern (bayesian) spam filters. (Beyond simple stiff rules). 
    Yet it is simple to use.
  • Expert filter option: regular expressions combined with continuous probabilities
  • Can run the jobs once, or auto-repeat them with a configurable period time
  • Speed-debug mode using the search cache
  • many other default config options - can be overridden per job
  • The macro source can be edited by the advanced user.

(we will typically improve regarding minor issues after purchase within the regular support service)

Quick Start Guide:

  • #1 Evolve your search by using the normal Search Form inside the HarvEX software
  • #2 Then press the Button "Generate Query Macro" in the HarvEX Search Form to get macro style search attribute definitions.
  • #3 Create a empty search control file, a text file like C:/data/AUTO_SEARCH_BID_control.txt  and fill in a first search definition line (one line per search definition) in a format as shown in the chapter /example below.
    • Put the search subject string in the 1st column
    • Put The max bid/buy price in the 2nd column (negative: without shipping cost)
    • Put the search attributes learned from step #2 as subsequent columns
  • Open the AUTO_SEARCH_BID macro in HarvEX Macro Processor and change
    import_file = None

    to

    import_file = "C:/data/AUTO_SEARCH_BID_control.txt"
  • Ensure the simulation parameter in the macro head remains at 1 or 2 at first
    simulation = 1     # 0=really snipe/buy!
                       # 1=add just watch items to the bid manager; 
                       # 2=just print a simulation log
  • Press the Execute button in Macro Processor : the search & action is done once - not periodically so far
  • Possibly fine tune the special parameters in the search control file and/or in the head of macro (between "# CONFIG" and  "# PROGRAM ..."), then repeate the execution to evolve things
  • In order to run the search(es) and actions periodically, edit the line
    period = 0       # seconds to pause betweed repeated macro runs;
                     # 0 = single run / don't repeat

Simple Example Input File with 3 Active Search & Bid Tasks:

# C:/data/AUTO_SEARCH_BID_control.txt 
# CSV file defining Auto Search & Buy/Snipe jobs
#search_terms; maxbid/price; [additional search attributes, bid.action commands and general options]
dvd player a; 14.23; buynow=1
dvd player b; -12.23; cat='14971'; paypal=1; minPrice=11.11; FILTER_DESCRIPTION='not damaged:50|damaged:99|XY option:10'
dvd player (denon, sony) -(pioneer, LG); 15.23; cat='14971'; bid.group='cdplayer(2)'; BUY_NOW=-2
dvd player z; 15.55; cat='14971 DVD Players'; bid.comment='test-comment'; MAX_ADDS=7

ASSB_control.txt in Excel

Notes on the example search control file:

  • "#" starts a comment line which has no effect
  • The table column separator is ";"  or TAB
    (A simple Text-Editor oder Excel / OpenOfficeCalc can be used to edit the control file)
  • The first column is the main search string (cd player a MX123)
  • The second column is the total bid/buy (14.23) price limit including shipping & handling costs . 
    When negative (-12.23) it is the immediate maximum bid/buy price without shipping&handling costs
  • All other columns have the flexible form  attributename=value :
    These are:
    • Search attributes
      These can be evolved easily by using the HarvEX Search Form and Button "Generate Query Macro"); For the complete set of search attributes see: AuctionQuery-object
    • or bid action attributes (bid.actionattr=value) ; see Bid-object documentation.
    • or special AUTO_SEARCH_BID control attributes, which override global macro options. These options are written in uppercase: FILTER_DESCRIPTION, MAX_ADDS, BUY_NOW
  • cat='14971' or cat='14971 CD Players & Recorders' means: search only in the category with (eBay) ID 14971. 
    (These category IDs can be looked up in category tree tool in the HarvEX search form or in category lists / item pages directly on eBay).
  • paypal=1 means: search only items with PayPal payment option.
    Find more search attributes in AuctionQuery-object
  • bid.group='cdplayer(2)' means: set this bid group and max. number of wanted items in that bid group  (same logic as in the HarvEX GUI/Bid Manager)
    Find more bid attributes in the Bid-object documentation.
  • For example BUY_NOW=-2 means: do not buy now and not even schedule a snipe at item end time on items which have a buy-now option (totally ignore items with buy-now option)
  • The first and 3 lines in the example (beginning with #) are comments.
    Note: Job lines can be "commented-out" by prepending them with a '#':
    dvd player (denon, sony) -(pioneer, LG); 15.23; cat='14971'; bid.group='cdplayer(2)'; BUY_NOW=-2
    # Job COMMENTED OUT => inactive
    # dvd player z; 15.55; cat='14971 DVD Players'; bid.comment='test-comment'; MAX_ADDS=7

The detailed documentation is delivered with the Power Macro.


System Requirements

  • HarvEX+ installed and running / 
  • RAM: 512 MB
  • Display: 800 x 600; recommended: >= 1400 x 1050
  • Disk: 20 MB free disk space

 

Installation und Quickstart

  1. Installation of HarvEX+
  2. Save the macro to disk
  3. Load the macro in HarvEX+: Menu/File/Load a Macro
     

     
  4. Edit the settings (simulation, input file, ...) on top of the macro
  5. Execute the macro :