Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

I must admit that in trying to report selling prices in the various 7A38-xxxx model specific threads, I've been becoming increasingly frustrated by eBay's deliberate blocking of visibility of the true selling prices in Best Offer Accepted situations. Particularly now, as whatever they've done recently appears to be affecting the performance of Goofbid's eBay Best Offer History tool, which I'd previously relied on, for the last three years, that now doesn't work half the time ! 

Seems I'm not alone either.  A quick Google search on 'How to find Best Offer Accepted price on eBay', returns dozens of results.

As you can see, I've looked at a couple of the suggestions, but quite honestly I can't see any of these alternative tools providing any better (read more complete and accurate) results than Goofbid. Unless somebody knows better ? 

The weirdest (and even more frustrating) thing is that earlier this afternoon, when I was updating the new 7A38-7070 model thread and inserting the eBay links to the 7A38-7070 fitted with an incorrect bracelet sold by Italian eBay seller angeli_65 in December, by some fluke eBay very briefly popped up a screen showing that it had sold not for $900, nor for Best Offer Accepted, but for $400 !! 

I wasn't quick enough to save a screen print, nor copy the URL code, but it began something like cgi.ebay... and included a hashtag #

Hah ! Managed to re-create it. 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=272486016689#ht_500wt_976

Now for the acid test, to see if it works on other ended eBay listings where Goofbid failed to provide a conclusive result ....

How about that NOS 7A38-7070 offered by Italian eBay seller cmax-28762 which started off that thread ? 

All you need to do is substitute the item number - the coding #ht_500wt_976 appears to hold good. 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=132042687231#ht_500wt_976

Just as I'd suspected, but couldn't prove using Goofbid's tool, it sold against a Best Offer for 800 Euros. 

How about that 7A38-701A sold by Italian eBay seller molisht77 which ended this morning, that Goofbid's eBay Best Offer History tool couldn't provide an 'offer accepted' result for ? 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=142228544430#ht_500wt_976

Sold not for 200 Euros as eBay would have you believe, but actually for a Best Offer of 160 Euros ! 

PS - I forgot to mention that sometimes you've got to be bloody quick, before eBay's auto redirect coding covers up the true result. 

O.K. So maybe my 'workaround' doesn't always work.  So a question for the IT experts amongst us. 

I know you can disable auto-redirects in your Browser (I use Chrome) - but I really don't want to do that, for a number of reasons.

Can any of you come up with some additional coding to add onto the end of the cgi.ebay .... URL to stop it auto re-directing to ....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orologio-Seiko-7A38-701A-/142228544430?#ht_500wt_976

Perhaps adding something like &=true to the URL ?

This thread wasn't originally intended to be a tutorial on how to use the various (external) eBay compatible tools, but as Phil wrote yesterday in this other thread: "still don't know how to do the Goofbid thing" .... here's a very quick example of how I've been using Goofbid to uncover Best Offer accepted prices for the last couple of years.

Here's the start page for Goofbid's eBay Best Offer History tool

Using Phil's quoted example of the 7A28-710A which was sold on eBay by Japanese seller fukayanegi at the end of February.

You'll note from the above screen print, that because I'm in the UK, Goofbid is displaying the results in my country's default currency (Pounds Sterling) - whereas this eBay listing was in US dollars - with a Buy-it-Now price of $680 (which is shown as £555). However, it only takes a quick currency conversion (or simple maths) to work out that the offer accepted of £326.24 equates to $400. 

Thing is, whereas it worked OK in the above example, in recent months, Goofbid's eBay Best Offer History tool hasn't always been able to reliably provide the Best Offer accepted result - sometimes returning only the rejected offers.

It seems I may have carried on using Goofbid possibly out of misguided loyalty. 

You'll note that I concluded my first post, at the top of this page, by writing:

.... I can't see any of these alternative tools providing any better (read more complete and accurate) results than Goofbid.

I did watch that YouTube link shown in my screen print of the Google search results:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRxZeVwpCYg

But I must admit that I didn't actually bother looking at WatchCount.com itself, because their homepage looked rather dated. 

http://www.watchcount.com

Anyway, this lunchtime, I don't know what prompted me, but I decided to give it a try, using Phil's quoted 7A28-710A eBay listing.

The initial displayed result wasn't particularly encouraging. It showed the $680 Buy-it-Now price, but not the Sold For figure. 

However, notice to the right of that, it states ....price may be shown here on eBay. Clicking on that link re-directs you to:

http://item.ebay.co.uk/262853424793?item_hash4=9cac3fe8&LH_Complete=1(URL_abbreviated)&rc=nt&rmvSB=true

Remember what I wrote, where I'd previously left off, on 3rd January ?  Perhaps adding something like &=true to the URL ?

But there's more - better still.  Note the highlighted [History] on the right hand side. Clicking on that redirects you to:

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidsLogin&item=262853424793&item_hash4=9cac3fe8&LH_Complete=1(URL_abbreviated)&rmvSB=true

So, the true selling price information is currently still there on eBay - even, it seems, for private listings (like the above) - if you know which version of the eBay URL to look at - and can continue to access it without being automatically re-directed.

Thing is, eBay management made a deliberate change of policy, regarding visibility of Best Offers, as far back as January 2013.

There are a number of topics discussing it on the eBay Community forum. Most like this one express disgust at their decision.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Tools-Apps/2968930

eBay eliminated the ability to see what a Best Offer item sold for ??? Why?

I remember the 'switch to eBay.Ca' workaround and the 'Print option' workaround, mentioned in that YouTube video. They don't work anymore.  The 'cgi.ebay' workaround I stumbled across still works some of the time, if you can beat the auto-redirect. I guess it's a matter of time before eBay closes the other loopholes, like the &=true URL's currently used by WatchCount.com. 

Well, I've just used those 'hidden' eBay &=true URL's (kindly linked by WatchCount.com) to reveal the Best Offer accepted price (and the offer history) of a 7A38-6000 sold on eBay Germany in the model specific thread. It worked a treat - first time.

So I guess it's Goodbye to Goofbid. 

Time to snack down on some humble pie. I may have initially dismissed WatchCount.com as being 'just another eBay tool' and for looking rather out-dated, but if you're looking for a true 'Best Offer Sold For' price, it's definitely the way to go. It may not produce the whizzy eBay seller statistics that Goofbid does, but it appears far more reliable at producing the results we're really looking for. As you can see, from the screen print I'd previously posted, it doesn't always display the Sold For figure (highlighted in yellow), but if it doesn't, you can always pick it up from their link. Here's a recent example where it worked perfectly first time.

This average condition 7A38-704B was listed a week or so ago by an Italian seller, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 375 Euros, Best Offer enabled and a bit of unnecessay keyword spamming. The listing ended ended yesterday evening.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401292310129

EBay Italy shows that it sold against a Best Offer:

The WatchCount.com result:

Confirmed by their here on eBay link:

And the Offer History:

Incidentally, that earlier expired offer of 300 Euros was more than likely a counter-offer made by the eBay seller. 

For reasons best known to myself at the time, I originally created this thread in the (private) Member's Lounge forum section. Going by the lack of views (a mere 150 or so, over the last two and a half years) it's generally been overlooked or ignored.

I'm simply moving it now because eBay have finally admitted (in an unpublished communication to WatchCount.com) that as part of an unannounced policy change, they have recently changed certain API coding, which now deliberately renders Goofbid's, WatchCount's (or any other 3rd party's) Best Offer Accepted (actual true 'Sold For' price) look-up tools, ineffective, non-functional and virtually useless.

This newer thread, which I started earlier today refers: 

eBay now deliberately withholding Best Offer / Sold For pricing information !!