5 ms·

I can confirm that this is a thing... a bigger thing than one might think. I run an IaaS cloud provider and I know off the top of my head several customers of o

by mikiem 10y ago

I can confirm that this is a thing... a bigger thing than one might think. I run an IaaS cloud provider and I know off the top of my head several customers of ours who each maintain a fleet of VMs to do this for a variety of products. Eg: Limited edition shoes, show tickets, etc. Some of our customers who do this keep the VMs running and some fire them up only when needed. Some use custom software and scripts and some use purchased software designed specifically for the sites and products they want to beat others to.

smaili 10y ago
Reminds me of why I still prefer brick and mortar. Yes you may have to camp out, but it definitely has a better success rate than trying to compete against machines.
- qznc 10y ago
  The goal is to resell the stuff. Those traders are just gambling that the resell price is higher than the original price.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    It's the first time I saw "snipers" in this context. "Sniper" is the name we use in Poland for scripts set up to bid at eBay-like auctions. They are the reason I never buy anything from an auction (where I have to bid), and I stick only to buy-now, retail offers. It's because on any auction it's guaranteed that there is always some schmuck that will outbid you by 1¢ at the last microsecond with a sniper script. Proliferation of those scripts makes auctioning a waste of attention and emotional investment.
    - Pietertje 10y ago
      Its a flaw in the auction design. A simple rule as the closing time will be extended by x minutes after the last bid would solve this.
      - hrrsn 10y ago
        Our local auction site here in New Zealand, TradeMe, does that. Any bid in the last 2 minutes resets the clock to 2 minutes. Works pretty well for the seller, as prices tend to jump dramatically in these two minutes.
        dom0 10y ago
        There is also at least one auction site with a similar business model that is practically a legal scam; bids cost money/points, and every bid increases the price by a fixed amount and extend the clock. Non-successful bids aren't paid back, of course.
        ticviking 10y ago
        There are actually some good arguments for a cost to bid system. In theory it encourages people to bid their true preferences rather than waste time sniping.
        dom0 10y ago
        Personally I find sniping quite enjoyable (as an idle-activity), but I also consider "recon" part of it (finding mislabelled or less widely known items that get the same job done usually results in huge effective discounts).
- groovy2shoes 10y ago
  > it definitely has a better success rate than trying to compete against machines. For now... ¬_¬
  - nommm-nommm 10y ago
    Real life bots: http://www.businessinsider.com/people-in-pasadena-are-paying-homeless-to-wait-in-line-for-them-at-the-apple-store-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/people-in-pasadena-are-paying...
jakobegger 10y ago
How do you know that people are doing this with your VMs?
- brazzledazzle 10y ago
  I'm surprised the customers would openly discuss it, even to their provider. The less people that know about it and do it the better I would think.
  - mikiem 10y ago
    Surprising or not, they do. I suppose some people may feel as you do, but many do not. Many of our customers look at us as a resource for how best to use the Infrastructure we offer as a Service and share a great deal of detail.
  - lithos 10y ago
    Large operations always tend to communicate with their service providers at some level. Likewise I imagine these types of companies tend to generate some level of complaint from sellers to the provider. They are really aggressive bots that can create attack level traffic spikes, and break a sellers TOS (snicker) in some cases.
- maccard 10y ago
  My question exactly. Will need to ensure I don't ever use OPs service
  - mikiem 10y ago
    People call on the telephone and discuss their plans, requirements, and business models before signing up. Often, once they are customers they may discuss with us ways to optimize. We check in from time to time and often they call us about their upcoming efforts to see if we have input. Of course there are some that we don't hear from at all, but whose web site at their email domains clearly spell out their businesses.
FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
Would including a CAPTCHA for items expected to sell out quickly prevent this?

by mikiem 10y ago

smaili 10y ago

Reminds me of why I still prefer brick and mortar. Yes you may have to camp out, but it definitely has a better success rate than trying to compete against machines.

qznc 10y ago
The goal is to resell the stuff. Those traders are just gambling that the resell price is higher than the original price.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  It's the first time I saw "snipers" in this context. "Sniper" is the name we use in Poland for scripts set up to bid at eBay-like auctions. They are the reason I never buy anything from an auction (where I have to bid), and I stick only to buy-now, retail offers. It's because on any auction it's guaranteed that there is always some schmuck that will outbid you by 1¢ at the last microsecond with a sniper script. Proliferation of those scripts makes auctioning a waste of attention and emotional investment.
  - Pietertje 10y ago
    Its a flaw in the auction design. A simple rule as the closing time will be extended by x minutes after the last bid would solve this.
    - hrrsn 10y ago
      Our local auction site here in New Zealand, TradeMe, does that. Any bid in the last 2 minutes resets the clock to 2 minutes. Works pretty well for the seller, as prices tend to jump dramatically in these two minutes.
      - dom0 10y ago
        There is also at least one auction site with a similar business model that is practically a legal scam; bids cost money/points, and every bid increases the price by a fixed amount and extend the clock. Non-successful bids aren't paid back, of course.
        ticviking 10y ago
        There are actually some good arguments for a cost to bid system. In theory it encourages people to bid their true preferences rather than waste time sniping.
        dom0 10y ago
        Personally I find sniping quite enjoyable (as an idle-activity), but I also consider "recon" part of it (finding mislabelled or less widely known items that get the same job done usually results in huge effective discounts).
groovy2shoes 10y ago
> it definitely has a better success rate than trying to compete against machines. For now... ¬_¬
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  Real life bots: http://www.businessinsider.com/people-in-pasadena-are-paying-homeless-to-wait-in-line-for-them-at-the-apple-store-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/people-in-pasadena-are-paying...

jakobegger 10y ago

How do you know that people are doing this with your VMs?

brazzledazzle 10y ago
I'm surprised the customers would openly discuss it, even to their provider. The less people that know about it and do it the better I would think.
- mikiem 10y ago
  Surprising or not, they do. I suppose some people may feel as you do, but many do not. Many of our customers look at us as a resource for how best to use the Infrastructure we offer as a Service and share a great deal of detail.
- lithos 10y ago
  Large operations always tend to communicate with their service providers at some level. Likewise I imagine these types of companies tend to generate some level of complaint from sellers to the provider. They are really aggressive bots that can create attack level traffic spikes, and break a sellers TOS (snicker) in some cases.
maccard 10y ago
My question exactly. Will need to ensure I don't ever use OPs service
- mikiem 10y ago
  People call on the telephone and discuss their plans, requirements, and business models before signing up. Often, once they are customers they may discuss with us ways to optimize. We check in from time to time and often they call us about their upcoming efforts to see if we have input. Of course there are some that we don't hear from at all, but whose web site at their email domains clearly spell out their businesses.

FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago

Would including a CAPTCHA for items expected to sell out quickly prevent this?