Choo, thank you for the prompt reply.
>>the IP address seen by Sellathan may be different from one week to the next
Actually, the difference here is moment to moment. I experimented a bit to see just how it operates - Sellathon counts even a refresh of the page as a new hit, which for me makes it well nigh useless as a hit counter.
>>Why not check how many have viewed from the Sellathon site rather than look at the listings
Naturally as soon as I discovered the flaw I adjusted accordingly - nudged all items up to an even number of hits in order to get a count from a level baseline. But I am interested in a fix not a workaround. I will be launching dozens more auctions soon and no doubt fielding many questions which will require checking my auction pages frequently. Getting a skewed hit count due to my own visits is like Watson smudging the fingerprints before Holmes can pull out his glass.
This is true particularly since the Auctiva "Active Listings" page hit count system appears to be quite lazy [updates maybe once a day? - with no manual refresh option?] That makes an accurate Sellathon count all the more important to me.
Of course, I'm planning on trying the paid version shortly - previous posts suggest it's the bones - perhaps its additional functionality will give me what I need. [Though I'm not optimistic since its latest "Latest News" update is 3 years old!]
A past hit counter I used [Vendio?] handled this issue perfectly - counted only your first visit but no more - will have to rummage through the brain attic to locate that. A third party hit counter might be the only solution.
>>load times will also be affected by a buyers ISP, PC
Exactly - one reason I test my listing often - see below
>>but once you have tested a few selected listings why keep doing it. ?
I visit my listings like a doting mum checks on her children. I tinker, tweak, dither, dabble, fuss and fix what's broken [and, often, what's not.] I check my auctions through every means - by broadband, dial-up, other's computers, laptops, large and small screens, via IE 5 through 7, AOL, Firefox 0.9 through 2.0.0.11, Mozilla, Opera and Netscape Navigator, from the public library, the payphone and the Mars Rover - all to verify that what I thought was posted is exactly what everyone else is seeing. I've often come across listings or - worse - whole websites which don't render properly in, say, Firefox - the Webmaster is just too lazy to check his work in anything other than IE. Idly paging through my own listings as I do, I've found title fields I'd left empty and obvious description errors [Hello, how'd I forget to mention that's a Book Club edition?!]
My current few launches are unimportant tests - when I get back to listing some serious collectibles I don't want any cracks in the sidewalk tossing me on my keister.
In short, I'm OCD. As a service to any other equally OCD Auctivites, if my investigation turns up any additional info I'll post it here.
Thanks again for your prompt reply