“You will be scammed on eBay. The only question is when” – This is the opening line on the Auction Inquisitor website. Perhaps a bit over the top, a theme of the developers as you will see below, but the fact is that there is a lot of fraud on eBay and you should do the best you can to protect yourself. Carrying out checks manually is something we all probably do, looking for obvious signs in the text, location, pricing and auction text. How much better to have a utility that does the donkey work for you.

Auction Inquisitor helps by carrying out a range of checks on an individual auction. It provides a summary of significant indicators of potential eBay fraud along with some sound advice on how to guard against making the wrong decision. I like the way it presents the advice along with sensible suggestions about how you should interpret and use the information. Health warning: The Auction Inquisitor website and the start screen for the program may offend your sense of good taste – it’s a bit in your face and “please click on the links to buy our other products or those we advertise”. The screenshot above of their logo probably says it all. However the usefulness of the program itself justifies putting up with this! This is a good example of a program that is freeware because it has a sales model based on selling/advertising and using the eBay system to indirectly generate income.

Summary:

• Checks individual auctions against a range of criteria which may indicate fraud
• Provides a summary against these criteria

Pros: What’s Good?

• Freeware

• Appears to provide a very thorough analysis of the auction
• Provides good, sensible information and suggestions
• Simple to Use
• Works with all eBay sites
• Provides a link to “Outrageous Auctions” – really good for a laugh

Cons:What’s Not So Good?

• Website and start screen are too “in your face” or “hard sell” (for my taste)
• Lot of Internet linking going on under the hood (although all seem to be linked to advertising and tracking)
• Offers a link to “auction-safety.org” which appears independent but is run by Elite Minds, the developer of Auction Inquisitor

More About What it Does in Detail:

Quote from the Publishers Description at cnet download.com (there is more, but limited information, on the Auction Inquisitor website):

With Auction Inquisitor application you will be able to quickly and easily analyze an auction before you risk your money. Drag your auction URL into the Auction Inquisitor window, or type the auction number, and Auction Inquisitor will automatically analyze the auction and show a report on the seller’s legitimacy. Auction Inquisitor checks the most common signs of fraudulent auctions, seller feedback history, and over 100 elements that can indicate a fraudulent auction. Auction Inquisitor is much faster and easier than researching yourself plus it never forgets to check the first or the last feedback ratings of a seller. Never place a bid on an auction without first running it through Auction Inquisitor to check for warning signs of fraudulent auctions.

General Use of Auction Inquisitor

(Click to enlarge screenshots)

Auction Inquisitor is remarkably simple to use:

• Install the software
• Start the Program

• Enter the Auction required by:
  • Drag or copy and paste URL
  • copy/paste the auction number
  • type the auction number
  • type the URL
• Review the Results (may take a couple of minutes for results to appear)

Help

The help item on the menus takes you to the Auction Inquisitor website and plays a video describing the program and its use.

What are the Technical Details & Compatibility?

What is the My Free Review Experience?

The program is definitely useful and provides reasonable results with sensible information. Without extensive testing and comparing results it is difficult to tell how good some of the heuristics used are, but the information gathered remains very useful.

The general presentation, the website, the linking to auction-safety.org as if is is independent all leave me feeling slightly uncomfortable. I have checked on the Internet for reviews and although it is shown on many of the major and reputable download sites I didn’t find any ratings or reviews. Many of the major download site guarantee the software offered as virus and spyware free so this provides a degree of confidence.

Personally I will continue to use it.

What Could Make it be Better?

For me a more subtle approach but maybe I am not their target audience.

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