I have only just noticed something that may be obvious to other members in the UK (and especially in the USA, I should imagine). If one is using Delcampe International (which I always do, because there is very little of interest on Delcampe UK) and looks at an item which is finishing in France at 18.00, this is actually finishing in the UK at 17.00 . If you naively follow the time shown (as I always have done until now) you risk losing the item when last minute bids come in just before 17.00, as 18.00 is too late. I don't actually know how to suggest getting round this with the delcampe system, but I can assure you all that it NEVER happens with eBay . Somehow eBay knows that the item is being viewed from the UK, and even if the screen is in a foreign language, the ending time is ALWAYS shown in GMT or BST according to the time of year (and it changes for items which are being sold across the change). This is very desirable to avoid confusion, surely ?

This problem applies even to an item you are already bidding for when you look at "My delcampe", so it is very easy to slip up, and if more and more items are sold from all over the world, it is going to require of the buyer some expertise which would come better from the computer system .

Dear Plantagetnoble,


The time shown at top right corner of D*'s interface is the official one. All times displayed on the same page refer to this one. It may be GMT-5, GMT or GMT+1 depending the location of local site.

There is a good solution to avoid any confusion in the future. Choose your own GMT level in "My Delcampe" > "Parameters". This chosen time will be used each time you login. I would suggest you to choose autologin.

This will allow you to use GMT time for all items on all sites, national ones & international one.

Hope it helps.


Best regards, Seb Delcampe

hi seb and y'all,
perhaps what PN is saying is that on ebay the auction closing time is clearly stated as PACIFIC STANDARD TIME. i think the delcampe auction times should be done in the same capacity regardless of the time zone a buyer or seller is in. this way there is no confusion as to when an auction is closing. or if you can think of an easier or better way, go for it. but PN has a valid point about this. but i also realized you could not cheat the clock on bidding on delcampe as you cannot on ebay. seb would not have allowed this from the beginning or there would have been bedlam in his auctions. we must put our trust in him that he is doing a fine job of coordinating his site very well. take care y'all, i'm going fishing but without my pet gator smiley, he got caught chewin' on a diver, and is now a pair of new shoes. dumb gator, should have given him some glasses to see his girlfriend better in that murky water.
later gators,
cajunsr.

p.s.-any new applicants for pet gator see wally down at the swamp.

No, no, no, I am NOT saying "that on ebay the auction closing time is clearly stated as PACIFIC STANDARD TIME." It may look like that to Cajun, to the extent that he is totally convinced by it, but it isn't true. This does show how well eBay works,though.

I am saying that when I view eBay, no matter what the language, no matter where the item originated, the auction closing time is clearly stated in GMT or BST according to the time of year.

I don't totally understand Seb's suggestion, and the idea of working in GMT is no more attractive than the idea of working in Berlin summer time (as delcampe mainly does) when I am living in BST . Whatever the attractions of Seb's ingenious solution for a computer expert who knows about it, I think the eBay solution wins hands down for simplicity and accessibility.

I have looked carefully at this parameters page. Is Seb saying that everyone in the UK has got to adjust in the summer to pretend that they live in Brussels, and then everything will work smoothly ? This is not very well or extensively explained to us, and wouldn't something similar apply to the EU and other places too ?

hi seb and y'all,
perhaps what PN is saying is that on ebay the auction closing time is clearly stated as PACIFIC STANDARD TIME. i think the delcampe auction times should be done in the same capacity regardless of the time zone a buyer or seller is in. this way there is no confusion as to when an auction is closing. or if you can think of an easier or better way, go for it. but PN has a valid point about this. but i also realized you could not cheat the clock on bidding on delcampe as you cannot on ebay. seb would not have allowed this from the beginning or there would have been bedlam in his auctions. we must put our trust in him that he is doing a fine job of coordinating his site very well. take care y'all, i'm going fishing but without my pet gator smiley, he got caught chewin' on a diver, and is now a pair of new shoes. dumb gator, should have given him some glasses to see his girlfriend better in that murky water.
later gators,
cajunsr.

p.s.-any new applicants for pet gator see wally down at the swamp.

hi y'all,
i just clicked on the ebay auctions to see what time zone they are using and it is now PDT or PACIFIC DAYLIGHT (SAVINGS) TIME, NOT PACIFIC STANDARD TIME. as we are on daylight savings time, so is the rest of the nation, with the exception of a few isolated places in the states. this meant the clocks were set an hour forward to gain an hour of daylight for the summertime. but that still means on the american ebay auctions, the auctions are set to that time, period. so i surmise, that the auctions are set to whatever standard that delcampe uses, either GMT or belgian time, whatever that is. as seb said, pascal will explain it all to us. i don't know if europe has daylight savings time too. never been there, only asia. and i didn't pay much attention to the clock when i was there in the vietnam war. y'all take care and try to get this thing settled, it is really screwing up my fishin' time.
a bientot,
cajunsr.

I’m close to giving up here !
If I look at some items from sellers in various countries on eBay, this is what I see:
China:
End time:      4 hours 27 mins (02-May-06 00:49:29 BST)
USA New York:
End time:      05-May-06 03:14:58 BST (3 days 6 hours)
France:
End time:      04-May-06 18:46:00 BST (2 days 22 hours)
Serbia:
End time: 03-May-06 19:04:21 BST (1 day 22 hours)

But if I look at Delcampe,.
this is what I see:

China:
Time left:      12 hour(s)
Starting date:      Tue 25th Apr 2006 09:55:00 (GMT+1.0)
Ending date:      Tue 2nd May 2006 09:55:00 (GMT+1.0)

(It is now 20.35 BST here -- pn)

USA:
Time left:      3 Day(s)
Starting date:      Fri 28th Apr 2006 14:01:00 (GMT+1.0)
Ending date:      Fri 5th May 2006 14:01:00 (GMT+1.0)

(It is now 20.45 BST here -- pn )

France:
Time left:      19 hour(s)
Starting date:      Tue 25th Apr 2006 17:08:00 (GMT+1.0)
Ending date:      Tue 2nd May 2006 17:08:00 (GMT+1.0)

(It is now 20.41 BST here -- pn)


Croatia:
Time left:      1 hour(s) 14 minute(s)
Starting date:      Mon 24th Apr 2006 22:52:00 (GMT+1.0)
Ending date:      Mon 1st May 2006 22:52:00 (GMT+1.0)

(It is now 20.37 BST here – pn).

Well, I suppose I’m stupid, but the eBay method does seem easier to me.
The Delcampe method shouldn’t require special explanation from Pascal because Seb himself feels he can’t explain it adequately.
With the eBay method, if it says it ends at 14.58 BST, it ends at 14.58 BST . No problem.

In answer to Cajun, yes, we do have summer time in the UK.
In the winter we use actual GMT (Greenwich Mean Time – Greenwich is a suburb of London) but in the summer we use BST, British Summer Time. I’m not at all sure that delcampe has taken note of that. I'm not quite sure either that he realises that GMT is NOT the time used in Greenwich in the summer (in other words, GMT stays fixed where it is no matter what governments decide).

Many other countries in Europe have summer time too, including France and Italy.
In fact nowadays we all change on the same day, whereas it used to vary by a week or two, causing havoc with cross-channel timetables !

hi PN,
that BST doesn't mean BRITISH STUPID TIME does it? just kiddn' ya my english friend. this zone thing really has y'all whacked out. used to get me screwed up too when i was talkin' to jr. in korea and iraq. never could get the time right in my mind. still is a mess with him just 2 time zones away in colorado. soon that will be history with him home in june and his wife and babies, a new one-waiting on this one to be born yet. wonder what happened to pascal? must be out playing with his barbie and ken dolls (reference to another forum). bottom line here is no matter when the auction end at their respective times, if you are the winning bidder, you win. i know if i am bidding on ebay, i have to wait until late at night sometimes to the last seconds to outbid someone because of the 4 hour time difference. sometimes that is in my favor, sometimes it ain't. just depends on how bad i want that item. same thing on delcampe, but the advantage belongs to me. it is all fun and excitement, that is for sure. almost like gettin' that 20lb. catfish on your line or a big bass. well, y'all take care and get PN an answer before he has a breakdown.
later gators,
cajunsr.

For myself, on eBay I often have to bid on things in the early hours of the morning if the seller is somewhere like California. But I normally go to bed later than most of the rival bidders in France (because of natural inclination, boosted by the artificial 1 hour time difference imposed by the French government) so this gives me an advantage over them . BST could mean British Superior Time. “Pacific” seems a bad name for anything that Bush administers.

I must emphasise here to everyone that delcampe does seem to be doing it wrong.
Taking my China example, 20.35 is 8.35 pm, and 12 hours from then is 8.35 a.m.
It is not 9.55 a.m.
OK, it is supposed to be 9.55 a.m. GMT + 1.0 , but then isn’t the UK on GMT + 1.0 at the moment ? So the two times should come out together, and anyway, why the difference between .35 and .55 ? eBay gets it right to the second, and quotes it clearly in a definite named timezone, in my experience my own.

As for why the ending time in China is shown as GMT + 1.0 , I don’t know.
It doesn’t work for the UK.
France and Belgium are on GMT + 2.0 at the moment .
I suspect that delcampe believes that “GMT” is different in the summer, but this is not so ! GMT is only determined by the mean position of the sun at Greenwich Observatory.

hi PN,
bush has nothing to do with the time zones although he would probably like to if it would benefit his pocket. like i said, i'm sure pascal will explain how delcampe runs the show on his time zones. i checked ebay too and it is just as confusing. tried to find out how they do it, and didn't see any explanation there either. guess it depends on where the item is sold e.g. u.s., france, england, india, etc. as to the time it ends. like i said, that makes for some fun in the bidding.
later gators,
cajunsr.

eBAy is not confusing at all. It just works. That is why there is no need for any explanation.

Doesn't Bush have control over the Pacific zone like California ? I suppose not. It's nice that there is a Resistance Movement somewhere.

Hello,


@pascal will explain it with more details. He's more efficient than me to explain things


Sebastien

Hello,

Our servers are located in the US and the time saving change there is different. It takes place some weeks after but I do not know when exactly, it should be around June.

Is this helping?

Not at all. eBay is based in the USA quite openly, but the time changes for every country are correct, as also with Microsoft Windows.
You need to complain to your American suppliers .

If complaining is all that needs to be done to fix this time problem, we would have done it a long time ago.

Unlike Ebay, we do not have an army of web technicians. Some day, when we will be done with prior needs and have more time on our side, we will find a way arount this problem. Actually, we already know what needs to be done but this also needs time, more than what we have for the time being.

Chaque chose en son temps ;)

Thank you. At least we can see now why Seb couldn't explain it.

I have only just noticed something that may be obvious to other members in the UK (and especially in the USA, I should imagine). If one is using Delcampe International (which I always do, because there is very little of interest on Delcampe UK) and looks at an item which is finishing in France at 18.00, this is actually finishing in the UK at 17.00 . If you naively follow the time shown (as I always have done until now) you risk losing the item when last minute bids come in just before 17.00, as 18.00 is too late. I don't actually know how to suggest getting round this with the delcampe system, but I can assure you all that it NEVER happens with eBay . Somehow eBay knows that the item is being viewed from the UK, and even if the screen is in a foreign language, the ending time is ALWAYS shown in GMT or BST according to the time of year (and it changes for items which are being sold across the change). This is very desirable to avoid confusion, surely ?

This problem applies even to an item you are already bidding for when you look at "My delcampe", so it is very easy to slip up, and if more and more items are sold from all over the world, it is going to require of the buyer some expertise which would come better from the computer system .

hey PN,
while reading the latest newsletter from seb delcampe, i came across the charter. i think you will find an answer to your time dilemna (that spelled right? screw it, problem) in it, sec. 1.1.1 . here their link to it:

Link (http)

you can download it and save it for reading at your leisure. of course, the servers being in the u.s. still may affect the time differences but this may be the standard used for the auctions. perhaps pascal will answer the email on this one.
later gator,
cajunsr.

It says that because it is international, one timezone must be used.
I don't agree with this. eBay puts things in the right timezone. Nor do I agree that servers in the USA cannot change to summer time on the correct date for Europe, beause both eBay and Windows manage to change on the right date. It is indeed a small difficulty, but certainly not a difficulty that a computer system can't overcome. Delcampe should have ensured that their contractor in the USA was giving them a proper service.

Moreover, I believe that delcampe are planning to improve this.

I notice that we have to respect the Belgian law of 1995 against "Negationism". It would be much easier to do that if we knew what "Negationism" is !

It says that because it is international, one timezone must be used.
I don't agree with this. eBay puts things in the right timezone. Nor do I agree that servers in the USA cannot change to summer time on the correct date for Europe, beause both eBay and Windows manage to change on the right date. It is indeed a small difficulty, but certainly not a difficulty that a computer system can't overcome. Delcampe should have ensured that their contractor in the USA was giving them a proper service.

Moreover, I believe that delcampe are planning to improve this.

I notice that we have to respect the Belgian law of 1995 against "Negationism". It would be much easier to do that if we knew what "Negationism" is !

hi PN,
why don't you look it up using the net? i did, here's the answer:

Link (http)

you like to read, have at it. it mentions belgium's law of 1995.
later gator,
cajunsr.

Because I thought it was a French word being used in English in error. The word is not in the Oxford Dictionary at all. It would be strange if something which was a crime in Belgium was not even in the dictionary in England.

Sure enough, your reference does say that in England that term is seldom used. We would call it "revisionism" as it makes clear.

I really don't see how any country could make historical revisionism illegal, though ! This is what university historians do all the time.

I suspect that what is illegal is what we call "holocaust denial" (menitoned in your reference). I don't suppose many holocaust denial items are likely to be sold on delcame, do you ?

Your reference also mentions "emphasising the suffering of the Axis populations at the hands of the Allies". I don't know if the Belgian law would cover that, but it seems to me that it is something which some Germans or Italians might well want to do legitimately --- the bombing of Bologna's ancient university, of the 1628 Farnese theatre in Parma, etc etc, the destruction of Dresden, the undoubted suffering in Berlin. I hope I am not breaking the delcampe charter or Belgian law by putting this point of view -- I am used to free speech.

Thank you ery much for bringing this to my attention, though.

" Negationism is the denial of historic crimes. The word is derived from the French term Le négationnisme, which refers to Holocaust denial."

From the footnotes to
Link (http)

That backs up what I said. It isn't really an English word. The normal English phrase is 'holocaust denial', which is illegal in countries with a lot of Nazi sympathisers in the 21st century, inclduding Belgium .