Welcome!

Hi, I’m Jeff Loui (that's me below ) and I’m here to educate you on a brand new BUYER tool called eBay Countdown.
We think you’ll find eBay Countdown very useful and lots of fun in helping you win items. It provides the following:

-Real time updates. See the time remaining and current bid (no need to hit 'Refresh'!)

-Visual and voice alerts. Get helpful reminders before items in your My eBay Buying list end (bid and watch list items)

-Fast and easy bidding. Bid with just one click.

-Quick access to last minute deals. Find those great steals - items ending soon with zero bids.

Getting Started

Since eBay Countdown is a browser based tool, you just need to go to the Countdown URL:
Link (there is no download and nothing to install)



Once you reach the Countdown page, you will need to click on the ‘Login now’ button. This will take you to a login page. Note, Countdown requires a separate login from the eBay website (we are working on changing in this in future so you don’t have to login separately for the site and for Countdown, so please stay tuned). In case you are curious, eBay Countdown is, in fact, created and managed by eBay.



Once you have logged in to eBay Countdown, you will see a separate window open to display Countdown. (I'll talk to this screen below in a little bit...)

Troubleshooting

If you are unable to access the eBay Countdown screen (or get a blank screen), you may have run into one of the following problems:

-Screen resolution setting is too low: Countdown requires a screen resolution of 1028 x 764 or higher. (see the link below on how to change your screen resolution)

-Flash is not installed: Countdown requires Adobe Flash 8 or higher (see the link below on how to get Flash installed)

-Network firewall settings: Some office network firewalls may block Countdown. Please check with your network technician/help desk or ISP.

-Cookies: you may need to clear cookies and restart your browser before using Countdown

More information on the issues noted above:
Link

How to Use eBay Countdown: Viewing My eBay Buying information

eBay Countdown provides a miniature window into My eBay Buying activity. The My eBay tab provides the following:

-Summary list of watch items and bid items, sorted by time remaining
-Each item includes your bid status, bid count, item title, image, current price, shipping cost and option to remove item from watch list
-1 click to Refresh this list (to sync up any activity you may have conducted away from Countdown on the ebay.com website)
-To expand the viewable area of the My eBay tab (so you can see more items at once), you can hide the bottom ‘ticker’ section by clicking on the (x) in the upper right hand corner of the ticker



If you choose to hide the ticker, then the My eBay tab display will expand (and offer 1 click to add the ticker back)

How to Use eBay Countdown: Bidding

You can bid using either of the 2 Countdown bid methods

-Bid entry: enter your amount in the entry box and click on the Bid button

-Minimum bid button: this is the fastest way to bid since no typing is required. Countdown will automatically bid the minimum incremental bid amount.




Ensuring your bid is correct: Regardless of which bid method you choose, Countdown will always show you a bid confirmation screen (see below) before your 1st bid is submitted on an item.
(note: Countdown offers an optional feature called One-click bidding - more info below)




One-click Bidding: Countdown offers an option to skip the bid confirmation screen for repeat bids that you place on an item. However, 1st bids on an item will always require a confirm screen.

When you reach the bid confirmation screen (as displayed above), you will see a check box to select this option. Note, once you optin to 1-click bidding, this will apply to all repeat bids on this item or repeat bids other items that you bid on. You can always opt out or opt back into this setting in the Options screen (more on the 'Options' screen later).

One-click bidding is a very popular Countdown option as many users like to enter their bids at the end of the auction in the shortest possible timeframe.

Learn more on this topic: Link

If you place a bid in error, there is a process to retract your bid. Learn more
Link

How to Use eBay Countdown: Finding Items (eBay search)

Countdown offers a number of ways to find items and then lets you bid on those items immediately.

Saved (aka Favorite) Search Item Ticker: located at the bottom of the screen:

-Displays search up to 10 results for each of your saved searches
-Customize: Go to Options (button is located in lower left hand corner) to select/unselect which saved searches you would like to see
-Ticker can be set to scroll (Play) or remain frozen (Pause)
-‘Refresh Lists’ to run the search again and remove items that have ended
-Mouse-over items to see summary of item details
-Option to add the item to watch list


Ticker is located at bottom of the screen


Note, you can hide the ticker by clicking on the (x) in the upper right hand corner of the ticker.



Deals tab:
Searches for items meeting the following criteria:

1) Ending within 4 hours
2) No reserve
3) No bids
4) Price limit includes shipping cost (fixed rate shipping items only)

You can customize your search using keyword, category and price. Once you find an item you like, you can add it to your watch list or bid immediately!

Note: you can also run a normal eBay search (more on this below) to find all the items meeting your search criteria.

Once the search results are displayed, you have options to:
(View the screenshots below to learn how to use these features.)

-Narrow results by category and sub category (click on ‘Narrow your results’)

-View results in a full web page (click on ‘View web page’)

-Recall recent keywords entered (click on the pulldown control of the keyword text box)




Deals/Search Display


Select Deal or Full search


Choose to narrow search results


View results in full web page


Recall recent keywords



Once you find an item, you can bid immediately or add the item to your watch list to view and bid later!

How to Use eBay Countdown: Access to Options and Help

Buttons to view Options screen and FAQs can be found at the bottom of the screen.