Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Implementing the auto-buying bot from xkcd #576

bieh.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 84 posts

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

#61

Post by GFischer »

thorax wrote: post #52
DEinspanjer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just gave me an idea, but I don't have time to implement it so I'll give it away. Maybe if someone makes money with it, they could sell me my bill. $1 bills priced at $2 w/free shipping.. the hook, the bills are listed by birthdates contained in the serial number. heh

You'd be undercutting these guys: http://coins.shop.ebay.com/Federal-Reserve-Notes-/40029/i.ht...

Many people might buy them just to get airmiles (remember the hack about buying coins from airmile-generating credit cards some time ago?):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126014168569179245.html

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

#62

Post by [deleted] »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #21
templaedhel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yeah, this is interesting, but there are some annoying realities: 1) If you make something like 3 intra-day trades (buy and sell on the same day) in some defined period (a week?) the SEC will classify you as a "pattern day trader". To be allowed to do that, you need an account with something like $25k USD min. 2) There are a few items that people often forget in simplified models that will completely eat any theoreti…

[deleted]

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

#63

Post by tomjen3 »

yoak wrote: post #60
qjz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 laun…

To do this right, you have to be able to change the terms of the auction. Allow bidding for the $1 to start at a penny so it seems like a good deal. Then allow that the highest bidder gets the dollar, but doesn't have to pay... and the second-highest bidder must pay his bid amount, but receives nothing. You should see dollar bills purchased for hundreds of dollars at least. "The only way to win is not to play the gam…

Ah the dollar action. The evil part of me wants to launch an online auktion house that runs all its actions that way.

The lazy part of me figure it is too much work.

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

#64

Post by dwwoelfel »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #21
templaedhel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yeah, this is interesting, but there are some annoying realities: 1) If you make something like 3 intra-day trades (buy and sell on the same day) in some defined period (a week?) the SEC will classify you as a "pattern day trader". To be allowed to do that, you need an account with something like $25k USD min. 2) There are a few items that people often forget in simplified models that will completely eat any theoreti…

(1) doesn't apply to futures or forex.

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

#66

Post by lancewiggs »

jcl wrote: post #47
patrickgzill wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately you are not supposed to send money via the USPS.

FWIW, it sounds like the OP is in New Zealand.

Yes - It's for Trade Me, which is the dominant auction site in NZ - and has better trading stats per person than pretty much any national eBay site.

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

#69

Post by nodata »

GFischer wrote: post #61
thorax wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be undercutting these guys: http://coins.shop.ebay.com/Federal-Reserve-Notes-/40029/i.ht...

Many people might buy them just to get airmiles (remember the hack about buying coins from airmile-generating credit cards some time ago?): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126014168569179245.html

Link to buying dollar coins with free shipping to generate airmiles/cashback: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/?action=directShi...

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

#70

Post by sliverstorm »

amackera wrote: post #39
albertsun wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's a little remarkable that a virtually-real auction house (WoW AH) has better auxiliary tools than a real(ish) auction house (eBay). If only I could hover my mouse over items around my house to discover what they are worth on eBay!

The fundamental difference is eBay has non-trivial auction costs, and you have to think about shipping.
Post reply on HN