What does Lotwatch do?

Lotwatch is a MetaSearch Engine which currently gathers the first page of results from up to 9 UK Online Auction sites allowing the user to search for a particular item, compare price and if required bid for that item. Lotwatch searches the sites simultaneously which makes for an extremely fast search thereby lowering online costs to the end-user. You can choose to sort by relevance, source, title, bids or price allowing you to make an informed choice before bidding. Lotwatch's advanced searching can be customised to suit the users taste with the following options available: Family filtered results option to get rid of inappropriate content (Family Filter) Users can select which auctions to search Select results per page option Select how long it will take for an auction to timeout Ability to search by asking a question (eg. Where can I find...) Option to have search results contain all keywords used, any keywords used or exact phrase Choose to search within results Most popular searches are tracked and displayed Go to Top    Close Window

Why should I use it?

You should use Lotwatch if you want to save time & money or simply to search and compare prices. There are many advantages in using Lotwatch some of which are detailed below: Compare prices over different auction sites Find hard to find products See how many bids certain items attract Allows last minute bidding & strategic bidding Indicates how much to charge for a particular item Reduce the possibility of overpaying for an item Saves going to each auction site and searching Go to Top    Close Window

Which Auctions do you search?

Lotwatch currently searches the following UK sites: EBAY Auctions - Large General Auction Site - International QXL Auctions - Large General Auction Site - UK Based EBID Auctions - Probably the second largest Auction Site - UK Based CQOUT Auctions - Large General Auction Site - UK Based BUYIT Auctions - Growing General Auction Site - UK Based AuctionZone Auctions - Smaller Auction Site - UK Based Please Note: This is a MetaSearch engine and will display the first page of results (the most relevant according to the auction sites) from each auction site e.g. it would not display 2000 results from one particular auction just the 100 most relevant. More sites will be added to the above list to further enhance the users searching experience. Go to Top    Close Window

Are the results live?

YES! Lotwatch displays live results as they develop from each of the auction sites. We do however recommend that you confirm the details displayed by Lotwatch if you are intending to bid for an item. In some instances we cache very popular searches to reduce bandwidth and CPU usage - this should not effect the results as any changes to a search will mean new results are posted. Go to Top    Close Window

How accurate are the results?

The results are 100% accurate but do rely heavily on the auction sites searched and the seller of a particular lot. It is for this reason that Lotwatch strongly suggests that prior to bidding you compare the results displayed by Lotwatch against those displayed by the auction site in question. Go to Top    Close Window

How do I get better results?

To get the best results from Lotwatch when searching you should follow the following basic guidelines: Use a wide search criteria e.g. try searching for digital camera instead of Olympus D-400 Zoom Digital Camera Check your spelling - this is the most common reason for poor results Use various Keywords e.g. try television instead of tv Avoid punctuation and symbols which will tend to give poor results To get the widest possible results you should select all the auction sites Go to Top    Close Window

Why do some eBay results show two prices?

When searching for auction lots you may notice that on some of the eBay results two prices are shown. This is to reflect eBay auctions with a 'Buy It Now' option. The price displayed at the top is the current bid price and the second price is the 'Buy It Now' price. You may also notice that for eBay results the number of bids is now shown as '?' this is in line with the eBay's recent changes in the way the results are formatted. Please click on the lot to show the current bid status. For further information regarding eBay's 'Buy It Now' feature please click this link: Buy It Now Information Go to Top    Close Window

What can I search for?

You can basically search for anything that is likely to be sold by auction - this includes but is not limited to: Computers, Home Appliances, Electrical Goods, Books, Videos, Gardening Equipment, Sports Goods, Bikes, Cars etc. Go to Top    Close Window

How do I bid for an item?

When you've found what your looking for then bidding couldn't be easier. Simply click on the results that you wish to bid on and you will automatically be taken to the particular Auction Site and the selected lot. Go to Top    Close Window

What if I am not registered with an auction site?

As a matter of policy all the auction sites require users to be registered before bids can be placed or items auctioned. Therefore if you haven't registered with a particular auction site and you want to bid on a lot you will be prevented from doing so. To take the hassle out of registering with the auction sites we have created links to the registration pages of the auctions that we search - this can be found on the tools page of this site or by Clicking Here Go to Top    Close Window

Increasing Timeout?

Occasionally you may find displayed at the bottom of the results page a message which states: (name of auction) Timed out. This can be caused by various reasons including heavy network traffic, heavy auction site traffic or slow response times from your ISP. To alleviate this problem you can increase the timeout setting which will allow our system a longer response time. This setting will return to its default setting when you return to the site or you can undo the changes yourself. Go to Top    Close Window

How do I contact Lotwatch?

Should you wish to contact us you may do so using the methods listed below. Email: To ensure that your query is answered promptly please direct your emails using the appropriate address. General Questions:        admin@lotwatch.co.uk Technical Questions:      technical@lotwatch.co.uk Advertising Questions:  advertising@lotwatch.co.uk Investor Questions:       investor@lotwatch.co.uk Standard Mail: Lotwatch™ & AuctionLotWatch™ are trading names of Online Merchants Ltd Registered in England Company No: 3768234. Please direct any mail to the following address: Online Merchants Ltd Metro House, 57, Pepper Road, Leeds LS10 2RU By Fax: UK: (0113) 2706375 - International: +44 113 2706375   Go to Top    Close Window

Who are we?

Lotwatch® & AuctionLotWatch® are trading names of Online Merchants Ltd. Registered in England company Number: 3768234. We are bound by the Data Protection Act and all information supplied is kept securely & completely confidential. Go to Top    Close Window

Who do I contact Re Advertising?

If you wish to contact Lotwatch regarding advertising then please send your emails to: advertising@lotwatch.co.uk Go to Top    Close Window

What is a safe way to pay for a lot?

There are several ways to pay for an auction lot but we recommend the following two for safety reasons and to reduce the risk of any payment problems: Credit Card - Visa/Mastercard/American Express etc. NOCHEX - Pay money by email using your debit card Should you require further information regarding the safe NOCHEX payment method then please Click Here for their Homepage or to see how NOCHEX works then please Click Here Go to Top    Close Window

What are the Terms & Conditions?

These terms apply to the services provided by Lotwatch®/AuctionLotWatch® which are trading names of Online Merchants Ltd. By using this site you will be deemed to have agreed to and accepted the terms and conditions of use of the service. Lotwatch® reserve the right to vary the Conditions of Use and acceptable use policy for the service at their sole discretion at any time and without prior notice. Lotwatch® accepts no responsibility for loss of data, information in any form or other matters whatsoever which result from the use of this service. Lotwatch® shall not be held liable for any loss however occasioned as a result of the suspension, removal or unavailability of service. We will use our reasonable endeavours to maintain all our services, however you will not be eligible for any compensation because of any loss or unavailablity of any service we provide. Results displayed for sale by Lotwatch® are entered and described by the selling user without intervention or editing by Lotwatch®, therefore, we can not and will not be held responsible for the accuracy of the descriptions used to identify the said items, nor will we accept any responsibility for same, and expressly deny liability for any warranty or description stated therein. Statements of the items noted in the Lotwatch® by the manufacturer and/or individual selling user are the opinion of the selling user and should not be construed as the opinion of Lotwatch® or as a matter of fact. Lotwatch® acts solely as a publisher of information. In the event of any dispute arising through any sale, purchase or for any other reason by the users of the Lotwatch® system All users hereby agree to indemnify Lotwatch® Lotwatch® is not responsible for the failure to execute a bid, for errors relating to the execution of a bid, or for technical problems relating to either the software or server, which may hinder the efficiency of a bid. All elements of a sale including settlement of the sale/ purchase price initiated by the buying user on the Lotwatch® system are the sole the responsibility of the buying user. Whilst we make every effort to ensure that the contents of this site are correct we cannot make any such claim regarding information derived from other participating sites. Lotwatchs® use of trademarks or links to external sites by no way implies any endorsement of said site or services nor does it mean that these sites have any affiliation with Lotwatch® Lotwatch® acknowledges the ownership of all trademarks, logo's, brand names etc as the property of their respectful owners. Lotwatch® is not responsible for the availability of any external site and you agree to indemnify Lotwatch® against any claim or dispute arising from any failure. You expressly acknowledge that the use of the Lotwatch® system is entirely at your own risk. You are not permitted to copy, reproduce by whatever method the contents of this site without the prior written authorisation of Lotwatch® Where you use our service to reach networks and services not operated by us, you will abide by the AUPs, Terms and Conditions imposed by the operators of those networks and services. These Conditions of Use and all other legal relationships between us shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law, and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. If any part of these Conditions of Use or any AUP shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable, this shall not affect the enforcability of any other provision of these Conditions of Use or AUPs. Go to Top    Close Window

Protecting your information

A major concern on people's minds these days is privacy on the Internet. We feel an obligation to inform you of how Lotwatch® handles information gathered at our site. We do not under any circumstance, sell or disclose to any third party information gathered by any script or device. We do not under any circumstance, sell or rent to any third party Mailing Lists/Addresses gathered at this site. All e-mail form submissions are logged to a file. This protects against lost e-mails. The file is purged frequently. We are registered with the Data Protection Authority and are bound by their regulations. All Financial information is held & transferred via Secure Methods. Go to Top    Close Window

Search Problems?

Having problems searching? Q. Why does it not bring back 1000's of results for a popular search word? A. Lotwatch is a MetaSearch Engine which currently gathers the FIRST PAGE of results from 9 UK Online Auction sites - these are the most relevant results according to the auction sites. It would be pointless bringing back more results because: a) This would increase the time a search took b) The results returned would be less relevant c) It would increase our bandwidth usage ;-( d) Users would never read all the returned results Q. Why only the first page of results per auction site? A. Because these results are the most relevant, it also allows for a faster search as Lotwatch searches the 9 sites simultaneously and does so Live - it does not search a downloaded database. Q. Why does a particular auction sometimes time out? A. If an auction site is experiencing a lot of traffic when our spider visits it sometimes results in a time out as our spider leaves before the server passes the information over. You can increase the time out settings which should resolve this problem as it will allow the server more time to pass over the results. Go to Top    Close Window