eBay SMS Alert: If you have ever used eBay and have lost an item to another fellow bidder because you were either too lazy or just did not remember to check your bid, you might also have noticed that eBay provides an SMS alert service to its customers. They promise to alert you via SMS when you are outbid on your auction. However, they charge 25 cents per item for this service. I wrote a small script that does just that and would like to share it with everyone.
This is itch and scratch software and has been only tested with my phone and my small list of items. I am at the mercy of eBay and will have to limit the number of alerts on queue. Things might and probably will break, so please use at your own risk. I am not responsible for damages and/or charges on your phone. I assure you that the information from this script is not stored for longer than the auction or you are outbid, whichever comes first.
Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, here is how I use it. Find an item on eBay that you would like to bid on. Bid on it. Then come back to the script and provide your eBay username, the item number, your cell phone number and the cell phone service that you use. The script checks your auction item once every twenty minutes and if it finds that you have been outbid, it sends you an SMS message telling you the next bid amount and the ending time for the auction. Enjoy!
Hey, you can’t beat free! Just a shame you don’t support Orange UK :(.
Thanks for this – I hadn’t noticed that there was a 25-cent fee for eBay’s service, because they don’t support T-Mobile so I couldn’t get anywhere with it. Your service is much more handy, I’ll be blogging this!
it used to be free!
thanks for this service….there appears to be nothing that eBay will leave uncharged. their choice to charge for this service that previously was free is very unfortunate.
but than you for providing this script!
want this
Great work, but for me it’s bitter sweet! I recently took over a Free text messaging service and during a brain storming session, we came up with this idea as a service we could offer. Nice to see that we wern’t totally mad, but painful to see that you beat us to the punch (by a decent margin!). Oh well, back to the drawing board and congratulations. Having lost out recently on an auction because I didnt realise I was being outbid (silly me forgot to check) I think I might well check this script out!
Many thanks
Can anyone recommend me?
I need an free sms service for my homepage.
I am seeking one with the option to change the design(for a bit).
Thanks a million!
Great script. I usually rely on the email notification. If things are really hot then I try to check on them directly but this script will save me a lot of headaches. Great job and thanks again.
Qllen
Great job Mark!
Thanks. I love the script. Now I don’t feel chained to my monitor! I can’t believe someone hasn’t come up with this long ago.