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New Auction Website - EvE-Bay
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Trade King
Motion Research
#1 - 2012-08-23 10:02:59 UTC  |  Edited by: Trade King
Good afternoon everyone!

I would like to introduce my new website, EvE-Bay.

Before I get started please note this website is functioning but is still under development. Please consider this to be an open beta :-).

The idea is to save those of us who regularly run one or many auctions some time and effort whilst also providing some additional features.

A few features that provide more than a simple forum post:

Automatic bid management - no more checking threads to update the main post.
IGB friendly - show info links provided to auction items.
Automatic Account verification - accounts are verified via Eve mail with an activation code, no API info required from the user.
Automatic Auction Activation - auctions are started automatically by sending ISK with a reason code.
My acount page - provides a live overview of all your auctions without the need to check several forum threads.
My acount page - provides a live overview of all running auctions you are bidding in to easily see if you have been out bid.
Removal of bids - auction owners have the ability to remove bids if they wish.
End Auction Early - auction owners can end an auction before the specified finish time if they wish.

I'm open to suggestions of additional features and would appreciate reports of any faults found at this early stage. Once I am comfortable with the functionality of the site I will spend some time on the UI.

Thank you for your time in reading this post.

Regards,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
Trade King
Motion Research
#2 - 2012-08-23 12:43:14 UTC
Some more information after some feedback!

The account activation mail does not require any content in the body, simply the activation code in the subject field.

There is no minimum amount to activate an auction at present, any amount will suffice until I figure out how I would like to progress with this.

Only insert the ID number in the reason field when sending ISK, do not insert "ID:" or anything else.

I will update the website this evening when I return from work to try and clarify these areas.

Thanks,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
CorInaXeraL
The Dresdeneers
#3 - 2012-08-23 13:25:33 UTC
Tested with a dummy character/login. Seems to be an issue with account establishment. Hopefully no one opts to put in their actual in-game data.

When registering, it goes to a blank page. When refreshing, states account exists, when logging in proper, states there are problems.


Trade King
Motion Research
#4 - 2012-08-23 13:36:32 UTC
CorInaXeraL wrote:
Tested with a dummy character/login. Seems to be an issue with account establishment. Hopefully no one opts to put in their actual in-game data.

When registering, it goes to a blank page. When refreshing, states account exists, when logging in proper, states there are problems.




Hello CorInaXeraL.

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to respond.

I have just tried to create a new account myself with a fake name and it does allow me to create the account. I can then also login with this account and am prompted with my activation code. Could you provide any more specific information regarding your issue? You will not be able to activate a dummy account as activation requires sending an eve mail from the character in question to myself with your activation code. This is a verification step to prove ownership of the character you are attempting to create an account for.

I too hope no one exposes their account info! At no time is this requested or expected :-). I only require your character name and not account username. Your password is also securely salted and hashed before being stored and is never kept in plain text.

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Regards,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
CorInaXeraL
The Dresdeneers
#5 - 2012-08-23 14:14:33 UTC
I redid the process with a new account to test and replicate.
Browser: Google Chrome

Tried once with a character name that has an underscore ( _ ) in it and both times was met with a blank screen following the sign-up button click.

Attempting to log in with characters that had the underscore resulted in error messages.

Tried once more with a character that has no special characters in its name
TestDummy123

This functioned as intended, it seems, and I was able to get confirmation of the registration on the following page as well as get through the initial login to the main post-registration page.

If you would like, I can make the test-dummy public domain (not sure if you can play with what the account is allowed to do) for curious bystanders to poke around on a test account to get a look inside. It might draw more in who are otherwise hesitant to register for something unknown.
Trade King
Motion Research
#6 - 2012-08-23 14:27:10 UTC
CorInaXeraL wrote:
I redid the process with a new account to test and replicate.
Browser: Google Chrome

Tried once with a character name that has an underscore ( _ ) in it and both times was met with a blank screen following the sign-up button click.

Attempting to log in with characters that had the underscore resulted in error messages.

Tried once more with a character that has no special characters in its name
TestDummy123

This functioned as intended, it seems, and I was able to get confirmation of the registration on the following page as well as get through the initial login to the main post-registration page.

If you would like, I can make the test-dummy public domain (not sure if you can play with what the account is allowed to do) for curious bystanders to poke around on a test account to get a look inside. It might draw more in who are otherwise hesitant to register for something unknown.


Hi again CorInaXeraL.

Thanks for taking the time to provide more details!

I perhaps need to state on the front page that the Character Name provided needs to match your in game Character Name exactly. The requirement to send an Eve Mail from this character is part of the verification step to prove you are who you say you are. This will hopefully reduce spam accounts. This is perhaps why names with the underscore in are not working. I will work to create a more graceful response to this situation this evening.

I'm hoping that by not requiring any email address or API details I have removed some of the hesitation people will feel when signing up to something. All they need to disclose is their character name which isn't private information and to send an eve mail to my character.

The idea of a public test account is a nice one and I have thought about it. The only problem is I would need to remove the ability to create auctions and bid on them as I wouldn't like to have lots of fake auctions and fake bids floating around! This seemed to greatly limit the capability of the account and for quickly registering a character name and sending an eve mail a user can have a full access account.

I appreciate your input on the matter.

Many thanks,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
CorInaXeraL
The Dresdeneers
#7 - 2012-08-23 14:31:26 UTC
Trade King wrote:
CorInaXeraL wrote:
I redid the process with a new account to test and replicate.
Browser: Google Chrome

Tried once with a character name that has an underscore ( _ ) in it and both times was met with a blank screen following the sign-up button click.

Attempting to log in with characters that had the underscore resulted in error messages.

Tried once more with a character that has no special characters in its name
TestDummy123

This functioned as intended, it seems, and I was able to get confirmation of the registration on the following page as well as get through the initial login to the main post-registration page.

If you would like, I can make the test-dummy public domain (not sure if you can play with what the account is allowed to do) for curious bystanders to poke around on a test account to get a look inside. It might draw more in who are otherwise hesitant to register for something unknown.


Hi again CorInaXeraL.

Thanks for taking the time to provide more details!

I perhaps need to state on the front page that the Character Name provided needs to match your in game Character Name exactly. The requirement to send an Eve Mail from this character is part of the verification step to prove you are who you say you are. This will hopefully reduce spam accounts. This is perhaps why names with the underscore in are not working. I will work to create a more graceful response to this situation this evening.

I'm hoping that by not requiring any email address or API details I have removed some of the hesitation people will feel when signing up to something. All they need to disclose is their character name which isn't private information and to send an eve mail to my character.

The idea of a public test account is a nice one and I have thought about it. The only problem is I would need to remove the ability to create auctions and bid on them as I wouldn't like to have lots of fake auctions and fake bids floating around! This seemed to greatly limit the capability of the account and for quickly registering a character name and sending an eve mail a user can have a full access account.

I appreciate your input on the matter.

Many thanks,

Trade King.


I agree on the spam/fake bids etc. Do you have a list of the permissions you can alter or flag to prevent that from happening? Like a guest account? Just thoughts.

I'll take the time to poke around and see how things go.
Trade King
Motion Research
#8 - 2012-08-23 14:37:39 UTC  |  Edited by: Trade King
CorInaXeraL wrote:


I agree on the spam/fake bids etc. Do you have a list of the permissions you can alter or flag to prevent that from happening? Like a guest account? Just thoughts.

I'll take the time to poke around and see how things go.


Ok, I have discovered what the problem with the character name was. During account creation I call on the Eve API to convert your character name to a character ID to store with your account.

https://api.eveonline.com/eve/CharacterID.xml.aspx?names=Trade%20King

This is used later when I call my Eve Mails from the API as the sender is only identified by their character ID so I need this for comparison.

The insertion of a non valid character name is causing a problem as my error handling doesn't seem to be handling the return from the API very well!

https://api.eveonline.com/eve/CharacterID.xml.aspx?names=Fake_Name

This is an easy problem that I can resolve this evening, thanks for making me aware of it!

Also, at present I have no ability to create a limited account but it is something that I could do.

Thanks again,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
CorInaXeraL
The Dresdeneers
#9 - 2012-08-23 14:44:47 UTC


Any time! Best of luck!
Trade King
Motion Research
#10 - 2012-08-24 08:22:29 UTC
I have made some functional changes to the website and a few UI improvements too!

Take a look guys :)

Regards,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
Dalden V
Yellow Lounge Industries
#11 - 2012-08-24 13:36:59 UTC


Maybe I'm just lazy, but I went to the homepage trying to see what it is all about, but could see nothing except the login screen, so I closed it again. I might have been enticed to create an account if I could browse the auctions without having to login.
Gronn
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#12 - 2012-08-24 15:24:16 UTC
Dalden V wrote:


Maybe I'm just lazy, but I went to the homepage trying to see what it is all about, but could see nothing except the login screen, so I closed it again. I might have been enticed to create an account if I could browse the auctions without having to login.


I agree, I don't log into eBay everytime I am just browsing unless I find something that I want.
Vera Algaert
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#13 - 2012-08-24 15:24:27 UTC
Dalden V wrote:


Maybe I'm just lazy, but I went to the homepage trying to see what it is all about, but could see nothing except the login screen, so I closed it again. I might have been enticed to create an account if I could browse the auctions without having to login.

same here

.
Cap James Tkirk
Baba Yagas
The Initiative.
#14 - 2012-08-24 20:43:17 UTC
then again folks remember this is a lone guy creating an application maybe in time he can add that type of functionality

or....

per eve its a scam Twisted
Trade King
Motion Research
#15 - 2012-08-24 23:59:49 UTC
Dalden V wrote:


Maybe I'm just lazy, but I went to the homepage trying to see what it is all about, but could see nothing except the login screen, so I closed it again. I might have been enticed to create an account if I could browse the auctions without having to login.


Hi Dalden V.

This is a perfectly valid point and I will update the site so that users can view auctions on the front page without being logged in. This will also allow people to link to auctions directly and have potential buyers view them without being logged in.

Thanks for the feedback!

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
Trade King
Motion Research
#16 - 2012-08-25 00:05:25 UTC
Cap James Tkirk wrote:
then again folks remember this is a lone guy creating an application maybe in time he can add that type of functionality

or....

per eve its a scam Twisted


Ahh the old 'everything is scam' :-p

I completely understand this approach and have, in truth, taken it myself in the past.

I'm hoping that by not requiring any information that could be misused, such as your email or API credentials, that I have greatly reduced or removed the risk involved with signing up. There is a minimal amount required to activate an auction but given the time and effort put in to the website you can trust me when I say it would not have been worth it for a few ISK! :-)

I am currently working on the new functionality and the index page will now show the most recently activated auctions. Once I get a little more time I will also update it so anyone can view an auctions details without being logged in. This would require the user to only log in to view account info or to actually place a bid as has been suggested in this post.

Again, thanks for the feedback from everyone!

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
Trade King
Motion Research
#17 - 2012-08-25 00:45:51 UTC
Ok, it was bugging me so I made the changes now :-)

You can now view the 10 most recently activated auctions on the front page without being logged in. I have created a test auction to demonstrate this.

Look Here.

You can also link an auction directly for others to view the info without being logged in.

Look Here.

Thanks again for the suggestions and keep them coming.

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
Griff Hardstone
Capricornus Industries
#18 - 2012-08-27 03:48:12 UTC
Aren't you afraid that the real Ebay will come down on you like a ton of bricks? I really like the idea and once you get it up and running I plan on using it a lot.
Trade King
Motion Research
#19 - 2012-08-27 10:11:40 UTC
Griff Hardstone wrote:
Aren't you afraid that the real Ebay will come down on you like a ton of bricks? I really like the idea and once you get it up and running I plan on using it a lot.


Hi Griff.

I wouldn't have thought that they would be all too bothered in truth. I pose no real threat to them and whilst the name and logo are similar they aren't copies so I don't believe there is anything wrong with them. Just have to see!

Thanks for the feedback, I hope it can prove to be useful going forwards :-).

Regards,

Trade King.

Brand New Auction Site www.eve-bay.co.uk
DONOTLOOKBACK
Doomheim
#20 - 2012-08-27 20:17:51 UTC
why have you named your corp suspiciously close to Chribba's corp?

I see a lot of potential for abuse with this setup.
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