The Cricket has been written up in hundreds of newspapers all over the United States and is frequently mentioned on Local and National TV shows. Here is just a sampling
The Perfect Store: Inside eBay
by Adam Cohen
|
|
Adam came out to my house in the spring of 2001 to interview me for Time Warner's On Magazine article, The Sniper King
This is a must have book! Everything you wanted to know about eBay and then some. Having been on the receiving end of one of Adam's interviews for several hours there is no two questions about it; you will get your money's worth from this book and with his engaging style of writing you will find the book interesting from cover to cover. Five pages are devoted to the Cricket story. Mentioned on front flap with Pierre! (Richman Poorman)
eBay For Dummies, 3rd Edition
by Marsha
Collier, Rolanf
Woerner, Stephanie
Becker, Roland
Woerner
|
|
Marsha Collier is no doubt the Queen of Online Shopping. I've spoken to Marsha on the phone a few times and we have passed a few emails back and forth. She is witty and sharp as a tack. This is the book to get you over all the newbie eBay hurdles and hoops!
Marsha lectures at the eBay-sponsored eBay University, is a regular guest on the KTLA morning show and made appearances on NBC's Today Show and in the New York Times.
TechTV - The
Screen Savers
hosted by Leo
Laporte and Pat
Norton
June 14, 2001
Live appearance by the developer, Dave Eccles
Two articles written by the developer
 | The Basics of Online Auction Sniping and link to the video of the segment |
| Make Your Own Sniper Program The developer shows you how he did it with the first Snipe program |
| Direct link to video (first page is video player & connection speed selection) |
*
In Throes of Passion, A Sniper Is Born
New York Times
May 10, 2001
by Michelle Slatalla
In
Throes of Passing, A Sniper is Born
"...Or, as David Eccles, developer of an early commercial sniping
program (called Cricket Jr. and released in 1998), says: "It's an auction
and there are no friends. Your job is to get the item for the least amount of
money possible."
New prey entered my sights: on eBay I saw another Stewardess, with chrome wings framing its round face. It was almost identical to one that sold for $113.19 a few days earlier. Soon after, I became one of the more than 10,000 users who have paid $14.99 each for Cricket Jr....
*
The Sniper King
from the publishers of TIME and Entertainment Weekly, Time Warner's ON Magazine
May 2001
by Adam Cohen, Senior Staff Writer
The
Sniper King
"Ever been 'sniped' on eBay by someone else's last-minute bid? David Eccles
could be to blame; his bidding software is already in the hands of more than
10,000 people"
*
Auction Sniping
The Baltimore Sun
January 08, 2001
by Doug Bede II
Note: Link is now in archive and the Baltimore Sun charges to view it.
"Auction Sniping: The company's Power Sniper includes a feature that helps warn you when shills are present by comparing seller and buyer information during an auction."
*
Beware of Online Auction Snipers
Video: Take aim at auction snipers
September 19, 2000
by Beth Rimbey and Nicole Guilfoyle
"Online auctions are full of fierce competition as people place their bids, hoping to be the final winner. What many bidders don't know is that there are people lurking in the shadows until the final moments of an auction, laying in wait to snatch up the prize at the last second. Sniping, the act of placing last-second bids, has become rampant in the online auction world.
Using software and the Net
If you're determined to become an auction sniper, software and the Net can help. Programs such as Cricket Jr... can be programmed to automatically execute bids seconds before the clock stops ticking."
*
Going,
going ... Sniped!
Auction software does your bidding
TheWhiz.com
May 29, 2000
by Mark Cantrell, Technology Columnist
Note: TheWhiz.com is no longer. I pulled these quotes from Google.com cached pages.
"Cricket Jr is billed as the first eBay snipe program. All the information is on one screen. Its main function is to snipe eBay auctions. ... is well-designed and aggressive."
If you’re a die-hard sniper, grab a copy of Cricket Jr."
*
The State of Sniping
AuctionWatch.com
April 28, 2000
by Dennis Prince
"Religion. Politics. Sniping.
Discuss any of these topics and you're certain to elicit several responses, ranging from impassioned endorsements to fist-pounding diatribes. They're certain to polarize opinions.
Religion and politics are old standards. But why has sniping--the act of placing last-second bids at online auctions, leaving other bidders with virtually no time to react--evolved into such a controversial practice?"
Sniping Software
"Now, if sniping is considered undesirable, it becomes truly detestable with tools that help snipers in their last-second quests. Enter sniping software, sometimes known as bid bots.
Many auction-goers make regular use of automated auction assistants
'My program does not interfere with or manipulate [auction] site pages in any way,' said David Eccles, creator of the Cricket Jr. sniping software. Rather, he maintains that his software (with a current user base of about 7,000) merely imitates exactly what the 'live' sniper is doing with his or her finger on the mouse. Cricket Jr. and the other sniping programs available actually are tools of convenience, perhaps similar to mass-market software products such as Quicken and TurboTax--merely an automated improvement to a very manual effort."
*
Misc...
Kovels
The leading Antique and Collectible Guide Cricket Jr is listed in their Favorite Links
Smart Computing
"The final minutes. If you really want an item, be sure to be online the last few minutes of the auction. Remember to continue to click your browser’s Refresh or Reload button so you can see any bids above your amount on-screen. Some browser programs may refresh an old copy from memory, so you might have to press the SHIFT key at the same time you click Reload.
The professional sniper. Snipers are bidders who bid in the last minutes of an auction and take a sale right out from under you. To ward off average snipers, set your proxy bid at the absolute highest amount you wish to go. Another tip is to place your bid in the last seconds of the auction (provided you have a fast Internet connection). However, if the sniper really wants the item, he might set his proxy bid at an outrageous amount (maybe $500 for an item that should sell for $25) to make sure he gets the item. If money is no object for you, you can do the same thing. Of course, be warned that if you do, you may have to pay the $500 if the bidding goes that high. So, don’t bid outrageous amounts if you can’t back it up.
Professional bidders also recommend that you have one Web browser window open to the auction so you can keep refreshing your screen and see the latest bids. They also suggest that you open another window with your highest bid, so you can send it in quickly. One way to easily open another window is to select New, Window from the File menu of your Web browser, and then browse to the correct Web page."
