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Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

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Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#11

A neat bot would be one which automatically buys and then resells things with a markup. It would figure out the usual price an item goes for on a website like Ebay, and purchase it if the price is set far enough below.

I have always wanted to try something like this with stocks or commodities. Make a bot watch the market, and buy and sell. I even got far enough to imagine some sort of genetic filtering, aka give the master bot 10k, then it distributes it to 10 bots, all which are slightly different, they spend it, the master takes any profit above 1k and invests it in another bot that is a combination of the best 2. Etc. That way your max loss would be 10k, and you might make some money.

Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#15
post #2

I am tempted to write a bot to submit $1 items that his bot is likely to buy.

How about a $1 bill priced at $2 w/free shipping? From every angle, it would be an interesting experiment. From the consumer's standpoint, it challenges the notion of free shipping. From a seller's standpoint, it challenges the notion of easy money (would you really want to stuff a thousand envelopes if the item sold well?). From the middleman's standpoint, it might help to identify bots (or possibly even money laundering).

Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#16

A neat bot would be one which automatically buys and then resells things with a markup. It would figure out the usual price an item goes for on a website like Ebay, and purchase it if the price is set far enough below.

Especially if you delay sending the seller a postal address long enough to find a buyer.

That is a neat trick but highly unlikely. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4918184.stm is impossible.

Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#17

A neat bot would be one which automatically buys and then resells things with a markup. It would figure out the usual price an item goes for on a website like Ebay, and purchase it if the price is set far enough below.

I have always wanted to try something like this with stocks or commodities. Make a bot watch the market, and buy and sell. I even got far enough to imagine some sort of genetic filtering, aka give the master bot 10k, then it distributes it to 10 bots, all which are slightly different, they spend it, the master takes any profit above 1k and invests it in another bot that is a combination of the best 2. Etc. That way y…

I'm sure all the fancy wall street trading companies have or are doing exactly that

Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#18
post #12

Heh, cool - I was going to submit this myself after it bought a few more items, but I guess I was beaten to it. Any questions, or suggestions for smarter ways to select items to buy, feel free :)

Of course the server would choose to die /right now/. I've fixed it, the link should work again now :)

Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#19

A neat bot would be one which automatically buys and then resells things with a markup. It would figure out the usual price an item goes for on a website like Ebay, and purchase it if the price is set far enough below.

Many people do this in the World of Warcraft auction house using a tool called Auctioneer. Was one of my favorite parts of the game back when I played.

Re: Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

#20

A neat bot would be one which automatically buys and then resells things with a markup. It would figure out the usual price an item goes for on a website like Ebay, and purchase it if the price is set far enough below.

Why bother. Just front-run Amazon with your own affiliate code. Then you could collect the spiff on everything that goes thru your portal.

and, oh BTW, people are already doing this ;_;

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