**************************************************************************

                The eBay Assistant Version .005 Beta
                          Shareware  Edition
                          Copyright (c) 1999
                 Alex Olshove - All Rights Reserved         
                           3012 Hill Court
                     Grand Junction, Colorado 81504
                   webmaster@ebassistant.hypermart.net
      WWW Site for latest updates: http://ebassistant.hypermart.net

**************************************************************************
DISCLAIMER:

I WILL NOT be responsible for any damage this program may do to any
possessions other than my own, nor for any money or personal possessions 
lost in its use. Although the program has been tested to be bug free, 
there is always the chance of failure.  Please enjoy this product, and 
report any bugs or suggestions to me at my internet address.

eBay is a product of eBay Inc.  This program parses web pages 
copyrighted to eBay and they are in NO WAY responsible or required to
give support for ANYTHING resulting from the use of this program.

I, Alex Olshove, reserve the right to change anything stated in this or any
other documentation and info pertaining to The eBay Assistant.

By using or placing The eBay Assistant (eBayAssistant.exe) on your or
anyone else's computer, you agree to the terms above stated, especially
note that I, Alex Olshove, am in NO WAY responsible for any damages done to
anything other than my own possessions, and can in NO way owe anything to
anyone due to anything in relationship to this software.
**************************************************************************
NOTE: This version is shareware, please be sure to peruse the EBAYASSISTANTREG.TXT file


REQUIREMENTS:

The eBay Assistant requires:

Pentium 166+ CPU
16MB+ of RAM
33.6k+ modem
Windows 95/98/NT
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later.
A valid eBay account.


INTRODUCTION:

The eBay Assistant is an application that runs on Windows 95/98/NT machines for 
the sole purpose of accessing eBay's web site to assist you in the tracking of 
eBay auctions and to automate and streamline some of eBay's native functionality.

This program requires that you already have a valid account on eBay and 
will not perform it's best functionality if you don't.



FEATURES INCLUDE:



*Built in browser (IE 4 must be installed on your computer).

*Item tracking.  Keeps a list of all of the auctions that you're 
interested in without you having to have bid in the auction.  You can 
pull up the Item tracking window, right click on the item, and update 
it, view it in the browser, or delete it.

*A clock watcher (configurable by item) that:
   alerts you a predetermined time before an auction ends
   OR
   Automatically bids on an item a predetermined time before an 
   auction ends.

*One click bid posting. If being tracked, Allows you to bid on an item 
by clicking the 'bid' button.  Will default to the next minimum bid but 
can be set to whatever you want to bid.

*A feature that I don't have a good name for that bids the minimum bid 
until you get the highest bid but stops at a predetermined $ amount.  
 [dunno what it's good for yet other than just wanting the absolute 
lowest bid to outbid somebody by outbidding them by the bid increment]

*AutoUpdate that loops through all of the items in the list and updates 
their information.  Can be looped updating all of auctions continuously 
or just one iteration.

*eBay time synchronize function that allows all of the time-based activity 
to reflect eBay time as accurately as possible without having to download 
eBay's time each time a task is to be completed which speeds things up.  
It gets your system's time, calculates the difference between your time 
and their time, and then use that difference to calculate the clock 
watcher and count down (see next feature).  The program downloads and 
calculates the differences or you can set them to the second to ensure 
the most accurate time keeping.

*Accurate real-time "time to end of auction" countdown that looks like 
 # Days, # Hours, # Minutes, # Seconds.  With this, you don't need to 
keep hitting the refresh button.  But in case you do, see the next 
feature.

*AutoRefresh option that refreshes the browser every n Seconds (settable 
by the user) in case you don't trust the real time countdown.

*Fast e-mail.  When you want to send an eBay user email, just click on 
their user name and the e-mail address appears on the next screen without 
having to enter your userid and password each time.

*Search Save.  Allows you to save your favorite eBay searches.


GETTING STARTED:

This program is generally useless unless attached to the net so login 
with your provider before continuing.

When you start the program, go directly to the 'Settings' screen by 
clicking on the 'Settings' button or by selecting File->Settings from 
the menu.

IMPORTANT: Under the 'General' tab of the settings window, enter your 
eBay UserID and Password.  Your password will be encrypted so that any 
old person viewing your registry (where the settings are kept) will not
 be able to understand your password and use it on his/her own machine.  
The eBay Assistant will not perform many of its functions correctly 
including bidding on items if a valid eBay UserID and Password are
 not entered.

Click on the 'eBay Time Diff.' tab and then click the 'Get Offset' button.  
This will synchronize your computer's clock with eBays.  Since the eBay 
and the Internet lag at times, it's best to click this button a few times 
and keep the setting that comes up the most.  

For Example. if you click the button the first time and see -1 Hours, 
0 Mins, -9 Secs, and the next time the Hours and Mins are the same but 
secs changed to -11 but the time after that the secs changed to -9 again 
and then to -8 and then to -9 and then to -9, then keep -9 as your offset 
for now.

The values of -1 Hours, 2 Mins, -9 Secs means that to get eBay time, eBay 
Assistant must subtract one hour, add 2 minutes, and subtract 9 seconds 
from your system's time.

Later on You can fiddle with the seconds to get your time dead-on with 
eBay's.

When you're finished setting up The eBay Assistant, click the 'OK' button 
to save your settings.  If you don't you'll have to reconfigure the 
program again.



SETTING IT UP:

The Settings screen has other configuration settings on 3 tabs.  The 
settings operate as follows:

On the 'General' Tab:

UserID, Password - Your eBay UserID and password.  Allows the program to 
perform functions with one click without having to enter the values every 
time.  This works for things like viewing user's email address, bidding, 
MyEbay, etc.

Goto eBay's Site on Startup - When checked, the program will automatically 
send the browser to eBay's main web page.

View Countdown - When checked, the real time countdown will appear on the 
lower left corner of the main window.  It will only appear for items that 
you have previously saved.

Auto Refresh - When checked, the browser will automatically refresh itself 
every N seconds with N being the value you enter to the right of the option. 
The maximum value is 600 seconds (10 minutes).

On the 'Item View' tab:

View Countdown - When checked, the real time countdown will appear on the 
lower left corner of the saved items window for each item in the list as 
you view items.

Auto Update - When checked, the program will continuously loop through the 
items in your saved items list and download their information from eBay. Not
recommended for slow connections.

Enable Auction Ends Actions - When Unchecked will disable checking for end of 
auction on all items in your saved items list regardless of the individual item's 
'Enabled' setting.  Auction end actions include the alert and autobid features.  
You probably want this option checked at all times.

Update Item Before Autobidding - When checked, if you have chosen to automatically 
bid on an auction before the auction ends, the program will automatically download 
the item information from eBay before posting a bid.  If it is found that your bid 
is lower than the minimum bid, you will be alerted as such and the bid will be 
cancelled.  If you're on the computer at the time, this gives you the opportunity to 
bid on the item before the auction expires.

Update Item List on Startup - When checked, automatically downloads the latest 
auction information about all of the items on your item list when the program 
starts up.

eBay Time Diff. - See 'Setting it up' above.



USING THE MAIN BROWSER SCREEN:

The first thing you'll want to do is goto eBay's web site!  To do this, 
click on the 'eBay Pages' menu option and select 'Goto eBay'.  eBay's 
front web page will appear in the browser.

Now just use eBay like you normally would in your regular browser.  
Search for the item you're interested in, wander around, etc.

If you want to quickly get to eBay Announcements click on the 'eBay Pages' 
menu option and then select 'Announcements' and you will be taken directly 
to the eBay's 'Announcements' page.

If you want to view your 'MyEbay' page on eBay's web site, click on the 
'eBay Pages' menu option and then select 'My eBay' and you will be taken 
directly to your personal 'MyEbay' page.

If you don't like those toolbars that have the web browser buttons and 
'settings', etc. You can make them go away by clicking the 'File' menu 
option and unchecking the 'Tools' or 'Browser Controls' options.  If 
you like them, but don't like them on your browser, you can grab the 
tool bars by the left margin  and yank them off the browser and onto 
your desktop where they can be resized and reorganized into the shape 
you like.  To put them back, simply dock them back on the browser and 
let go.

To view a specific auction that you know the number of, enter that 
auction number into the text box entitled 'Item' and click the 'View Item'
 button to it's right.  You will be taken directly to that auction.

You can resize the main browser screen to fit your needs.



SAVING AUCTION INFORMATION:

When you locate something that you think you'd like to keep track of 
and possibly bid on in the future, click the 'Save Item' tool button 
or click the 'Items' menu option and select 'Save Item'.  The information 
for the auction you're currently viewing will be downloaded from eBay 
and saved.  The pertinent information will appear on the top of the page 
such as Item Number, recommended bid, Current Bid, Bid Increment, and 
Minimum bid.

From then on, if you leave the auction page and return to it, the 
information will automatically appear at the top of the window.  To 
update the information on that auction, click the 'Save Item' button 
again and the information will be refreshed.  If configured to do so, 
a real time countdown will appear at the lower left hand corner of the 
window.  The item must have been saved for this to happen.

Repeat this for any item you're interested in.



BIDDING ON AN ITEM:

After you have saved an auction you can bid on it.  To bid on an 
auction, enter the value you want to place the bid for in the 'Bid:' 
edit box and press the 'Final Bid' button or click on the 'Bidding' 
menu option and click on 'Bid on item'.  The eBay Assistant will 
automatically get the key for the auction.  Upon successful receipt 
of the key, a confirmation screen will popup to confirm your bid 
amount and item number.  Click 'Yes' and your bid will be posted and 
you will be notified as to whether you are the high bidder or not.

Another twist to bidding is the auto increment bid.  This is a contraption 
that, when enabled, bids on the item and, if you're not the high bidder,
 will continue to automatically increment your bid and submit bid after 
bid until you win the auction.  Before using this 'feature' you must set 
an absolute max value.  This is a safety setting where the thing will 
stop  bidding if you continue to fail to get the high bid.  I'm not 
entirely sure what good it is other than outbidding the highest bidder 
by the increment.  To increment faster or slower, you can set the 
'increment' value to whatever you want.  It defaults to the item's 
bid increment which you should consider to be the lowest value that 
should be entered.



VIEWING SAVED ITEMS:

To view auctions that you've saved, click on the 'View Saved Items' 
button or click on the 'Items' menu option and then click on 'View Items'.

A window will appear that lists all of the items that you have saved.  
The main list lists the item numbers and descriptions of those items and 
the lower portion of the window contains the details about the item such 
as the number of bids, the seller, the high bidder, when it ends, etc.  
If configured to do so, a realtime countdown will appear on the lower 
left hand corner of the window.

If you click on any of the labels representing the item details at the 
bottom of the window, the items will become sorted by that piece of data.  
For example, if you click on the label to the right of 'Ends:', the items 
will be sorted by the ending date.  If you click on the the label to the 
right of 'Seller:', the items will be sorted by seller.  Also, if you 
click on 'Item Number' or 'Item Description' at the top of the list, the 
list will be sorted by that respective column.

If you right-click on a row (item) of the list, a popup menu will appear 
that allows you to do the following:

View Item - Brings that item up in the browser of the main window.

Update Item Info - Updates the information for the selected item.

View and Update - Updates the information for the selected item and brings 
that item up on the browser.

Delete Item - Deletes the selected item.

Update All Items - Updates each item of the list from the first to the 
last.

Exit - Exits the popup menu.

Notice the area at the bottom of the window entitled 'Auction End Config'.  
This is an area that tells The eBay Assistant what to do when the auction 
is about to end.  It's configurations is as follows:

N seconds before auction ends, - This is the the amount of time in seconds 
before the auction ends that you would like the program to perform an 
action.  The max value for this item is 600 seconds (10 mins).

Alert Me - When selected, the program will put up an alert box, make a 
sound, and send your browser to the item when the auction is within the 
specified number of seconds of ending.

Post Bid - When selected, the program will take your browser to the 
specified item and post a bid in the amount of what is in the edit box 
when the auction is within the specified number of seconds of ending.

Enabled - When checked, the program will perform the selected actions 
when the auction is within the specified number of seconds of ending.  
Otherwise, the item will be ignored when the specified time is reached.

When modifying these options, you must click the little 'Save' button to 
save the configuration.

These options are disabled after the auction has ended for obvious 
reasons.



SAVING AND RECALLING SEARCHES:

If there's a certain search that you perform on eBay, you can save that 
search information to disk.  To do this, run the search on eBay as you 
normally would and when the search results appear, click on the 'Search' 
menu item and then click on 'Save Search'.  A window will appear requesting 
a name for the search be entered.  Enter a search name or keep the default 
and click the 'OK' button.  If you enter a name that you have already saved, 
you will be asked if you want to replace the existing search data with the 
new search data.

To run a saved search, click on the 'Search' menu item and then click on 
'Run Search'.  A window will appear that contains a list of your saved 
searches.  click on the search you want to run and click the 'Run' button 
and eBay Assistant's browser will show the search results.  To delete a 
search from the list, click on the search, and click the 'Delete' button 
and answer 'Yes' to the delete confirmation.



PLEASE READ CHANGES.TXT FOR UPDATE INFORMATION.