Bidwatcher is the open source auction tool for e-Bay users. The software is created by Trent and Tom McNair. The Unix or Linux base of the software makes it easy to operate and install on the computer. Only the e-Bay username of the user is required and Bidwatcher does the other operations of bidding.

Some interesting features of this software are tracking the e-Bay listing and items of the user that he/she has bid on. In the software, there lies the provision to track auctions that the bidder does not own. Bidwatcher can run in the background, supported by minimal tool on system resources. A clock on the main window synchronized to e-Bay time is a plus for the Bidwatcher users.

Bidwatcher is a sniper software to win every e-Bay auctions. By setting up a ‘snipe’, an automatic bid on a specific item will take place even a short time before the end of an auction. Keeping user’s interest, it updates the information about the auctions, check for any other auctions even outside the Bidwatcher. Major functions of the software are tracking the current bids and listings, checking the auction status, executing any bids that are scheduled.

Further developments are taking place to make the Bidwatcher working on other Unix-like operating systems, e.g., Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc. If any remote type problem is observed on Bidwatcher the web server of e-Bay can trigger the problem remotely by sending certain data back.