07/01/2007

review of EBAY modules and feeds on Netvibes

Hi,

I am an Ebayer (more buyer than seller and not a pro) but I like to check from time to time a few of my preferred searches.
For that I would need a Ebay Module that could just show me in my Netvibes page the list either of newly listed items or ending soonest.
Of course a track of my auctions would be important .

Here is what I found :

1) Official EBAY module offered by Netvibes in the Add Content.




Install:
To use it you need to enter your EBAY username and to receive from Ebay a Code to access it from another service (Netvibes).
I do not know if that is safe for the use of my Ebay account but I was not requested to give my Ebay password on Netvibes. You have to enter which ebay site you prefer, what items you want to see and how many.

Description:
I have selected "Watching" ( but I could have Module allows to see also the Bidding, or Selling, My Favorites, My Messages) and this module shows me perfectly the "Items I'm watching" that I have previously selected from the EBAY page directly.
As you can see from my screen capture, the small picture of the item shows on the left with on the right on the first row the Price, then Description, then Time left. On the side you have the seller and a cross to remove item from the list.
When the Time left is over, the Texts are over typed.
If I chose to have an Auction, If the Auction is WOon Price will be in Green.
If you click on the Picture or on the description text, an external page opens in EBAY showing the item. In my case I have to sign in in Ebay to se My Ebay own page. The Ebay Module shows best in Netvibes with maximum 3 columns.I tried to open a second module to see in the same page the Itmes I am Watching and the Messages but it did not work ...

Conclusion:
A good Module well designed with all information I need.

Rating: 4/5


What is missing: The possibility to search and follow a search in the Netvibes page

2) an external MY EBAY Module by Netvibes user



Install: To use this Module you have also to enter your Ebay username and to get a code from Quickfeeds , a tool that allows you to automatically keep track of your eBay activity on your Google, Yahoo! or other Homepage that supports RSS feeds.

Description:From this module you get just 6 numbers: Number of Bidding Winned or Lost; number of Watching Active or Closed and the number of Closed items Won or Lost.

Plus a list with no picture of Watched Items showing description, price and time (no seller). By clicking on the line you open an external page in Ebay with the item you choose. The search opens in a new external page. A lot of space (1/3) is lost with unusuful data.

Conclusion:A poor module, written for Google/IG, with no pictures, no direct search. I have no use of this module. I largely prefer the "officile one" from Netvibes.

Rating: 2/5

3) Ebay, offers on its site the possibility to follow one search with an RSS FEED.

Install: You can add as many as you want to your Netviobes page by adding the URL in the Add feed feature.

Description : Just a sequence of lines. No picture is offered, only the text description (no price, no seller, no date, no sort options). The informations are available only with "mouse-over": not practical...

By clicking on the text you can open an external page of the browser to look at the item on EBAY.

Here is an extract of the Help from Ebay on RSS FEEDS: "....Since many readers cache information and poll at most every 30 minutes, listings that appear on the RSS feed will not have an end time less than 15 minutes from the moment the feed was retrieved. Therefore, if your reader requests the feed now, the first item will end in at least 15 minutes.
Initially this feature will not support all search parameters available through Advanced Search pages. In the next few days we will include on this page a full list of unsupported filters..."

Conclusion: The EBAY Feeds do not work very well at the moment especially if you have more elaborated search request. Can serve just as a reminder.

Rating: 1/5

4) I used the ANY URL module by Yauponder to show my own EBAY SEARCHES in Netvibes.

Install: Go to the Any Url module page on the Netvibes Ecosystem and click on the Add to Netvibes. Once is installed in your own Netvibes page, save title (I chose the Name of the Search) , url (is the url of myEbay search with all the conditions I want), define size (I chose a display over 3 columns so i selected width=300px and height=600px. I could have selected % instead)

Description: I got an external search just inside my Netvibes page. Of course I have to move in the module to see just what I want. When you click on one item (picture, text) the Ebay page of the item opens in the module. If you have not already loged in and you want to do it, if you click on LOGIN IN the Netvibes page is complitly replaced by the EBAY one! That is confusing...

Conclusion: As the module is not able to locate directly on the search result I have to move in the module but for me the result is much better than every thing tried at least to track a specific Ebay Search (max 20-30 items) !

Rating: 3/5 just for searches.

In conclusion, there is some space for a better EBAY module with increased Search Fonctions.
On the other hand an issue could come from the necessity to sign in in Ebay in order to accomplish some tasks like Watch this or Save searches.

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