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A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

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Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#151

Post by cortesoft »

Alupis wrote: post #134
cortesoft wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find the 'email abandoned carts' behavior to be a dark pattern

Dark pattern or not, it's super effective - particularly when accompanied with a coupon ;) Besides, the user is opting-in to receiving these emails. They don't have to provide an email address - so some are probably playing the game and seeing if they get a coupon or not. As an aside - if the internet worked the way SV hipster brogrammers thought it should work, nobody would use it. Yes, ads are crazy effective - you…

So you are saying these bot accounts have opted in to receiving emails? You don't validate the email when someone signs up?

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#152

Post by shultays »

miohtama wrote: post #125
whoisjuan wrote: post #8

This bot is simply trying to get the final price (with tax and shipping) which is ridiculous because e-commerce storefronts should do that in the first place without going through the whole checkout process. I always have found that kind of shady but it's probably known to increase conversions. What I found interesting is that this an open attack vector for e-commerces. Multiple bots can hit a website and start addin…

All EU prices must be tax included. All hospitality prices must include cleaning and service fees. It is only the US were hidden fees and charges may apply and the price regulation, if any, is more tilted towards corporations. Only upfront shipping charge is tricky because it depends on so many factors.

I find not including tax better tbh. That way people are being reminded how much tax they are with every purchase.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#153

Post by texasbigdata »

Ruthalas wrote: post #106
gruez wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This bot is simply trying to get the final price (with tax and shipping) which is ridiculous because e-commerce storefronts should do that in the first place without going through the whole checkout process. It's usually not possible because you don't know how much the shipping + taxes are until the customer enters the billing information.

I will bail from the purchasing process on sites that are unwilling to give me a final price before I enter payment information. A postal code should suffice, and I'm not providing more personal information if the site is unwilling to say what I'll be charged upfront.

Isn't that most of them? Unless you assume they eat variable shipping by 'fronting' you a fixed price. Apologies if I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#154

Post by deno »

Youden wrote: post #135

When and why did news cease being news and start being short stories and opinion? This entire article could have been cut down to the last few paragraphs and nothing of value would have been lost. Look at The New York Times in 1921 [0]. Generally the stories are factual and to the point. The entire front page seems to be pure news. There's very little storytelling here, at most there are a few timelines of events. Lo…

No to take away from your point, which I think is valid, but the NYT in 1921 is _the_ Internet. We’ve gone from being starved for information to being overloaded. So really you’re comparing apples to oranges they just happen to be named the same thing.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#155

Post by Alupis »

cortesoft wrote: post #151
Alupis wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dark pattern or not, it's super effective - particularly when accompanied with a coupon ;) Besides, the user is opting-in to receiving these emails. They don't have to provide an email address - so some are probably playing the game and seeing if they get a coupon or not. As an aside - if the internet worked the way SV hipster brogrammers thought it should work, nobody would use it. Yes, ads are crazy effective - you…

So you are saying these bot accounts have opted in to receiving emails? You don't validate the email when someone signs up?

The site terms and conditions are displayed very publicaly and accessible to anyone who cares to read them.

By entering your email address you are opting-in for transaction related emails, including new order confirmations, shipment notifications, and yes cart reminders. It's spelled out for you.

It's the same for almost every ecommerce site.

That's different than marketing emails, which require a separate explicit opt-in - ie. the user has to go and type their email address into another form and click "Sign up".

It doesn't get any more transparent than that.

Don't call something a dark pattern just because you can't be bothered to understand what you're consenting to when using someone else's website and start entering information like your email address or more. That's entirely on you.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#156

Post by gretch »

galacticaactual wrote: post #150
Youden wrote: post #135

When and why did news cease being news and start being short stories and opinion? This entire article could have been cut down to the last few paragraphs and nothing of value would have been lost. Look at The New York Times in 1921 [0]. Generally the stories are factual and to the point. The entire front page seems to be pure news. There's very little storytelling here, at most there are a few timelines of events. Lo…

I view this phenomenon as a sort of sociological entropy. Anything bad that can happen will happen if the people tolerate it. Same with shitty politicians, encroaching of rights, etc. Its all just a matter of time.

This theory doesn't hold up against the test of time.

We used to have tyrant monarchs - Genghis Khan would roam the steppe and cutting people's heads off and that would be normal every day life.

There are still bad things today, but more people have more rights and a higher quality of life.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#158

Post by nurettin »

kulahan wrote: post #147
pgbi wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because pure news are pretty much free today. So newspaper need to provide something else: analysis, opinions, etc. to be able to sell something.

Not to mention we have metrics which tell us exactly what kind of reporting is most likely to have good reader engagement (and thus higher ad payouts). Most news sources are just giving us exactly what the majority of people want.

Even HN does this. It is the magic of the reply button. As a result, they pull more screen time and have a stickier crowd to show "we are hiring" ads.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#159

Post by matchbok »

Alupis wrote: post #144
SquareWheel wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We send cart reminders to Abandoned Carts after a few days, sometimes with a coupon offer to complete checkout. I consider this spammy behaviour, and mark the emails as such. I can only hope this discourages such practices in the future.

It doesn't. If you mark it as Spam through most email programs, it's reported to the sender (Mandrill in our case) and Mandrill automatically black-lists your email address so we don't continue to send to someone that doesn't want the emails. That's a win-win.

Still an annoying and anti-consumer practice. Another "growth marketing" tactic that doesn't take into account the number of people who never visit that site again because of the spammy stuff.

Re: A Google bot scrapes pricing info by adding items to carts

#160

Post by e15ctr0n »

gretch wrote: post #156
galacticaactual wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I view this phenomenon as a sort of sociological entropy. Anything bad that can happen will happen if the people tolerate it. Same with shitty politicians, encroaching of rights, etc. Its all just a matter of time.

This theory doesn't hold up against the test of time. We used to have tyrant monarchs - Genghis Khan would roam the steppe and cutting people's heads off and that would be normal every day life. There are still bad things today, but more people have more rights and a higher quality of life.

> Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan was neither a tyrant nor a monarch, nor was cutting off heads a part of his everyday life. He actually got more Mongol people more rights and a higher quality of life.

I would request you to read a detailed and accurate account of his life by a historian.

For example, Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy by Frank McLynn https://amzn.com/B00X2ZW5ZI

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