Use of programs that scour retail sites for hard-to-find items has soared since the start of the pandemic
By Sarah E. Needleman, Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2021
Frustrated by empty store shelves, some parents are turning to a new kind of Santa’s helper: the consumer-friendly shopping bot.
Shopping bots scour retail sites to find out when sold-out items get restocked and automatically place orders. Long used by resellers looking to buy and flip high-demand goods for a profit, the technology is now being used by desperate holiday shoppers, too.
Craig Douglas wanted to get a PlayStation 5 for his two oldest children, plus a Hot Wheels carwash playset and a CoComelon plushie for his two youngest. Last month all three items were sold out online and at every store he visited near his home in York, Maine.
With Christmas fast approaching, the 34-year-old electrical engineer subscribed to a $99-a-month shopping bot called SnailBot that crawls Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s WMT -0.54% websites. He connected the bot to his accounts for both retail sites, selected the items he wanted and a few weeks later they arrived at his doorstep.
“It’s pretty much saved Christmas this year,” said Mr. Douglas.
The use of bots—or botting—was popularized a few years ago by sneaker enthusiasts looking to get their hands on high-end pairs released in limited quantities. The programs have since expanded to target different products and services, including appointments for Covid-19 vaccine shots and spots for workout classes when those were scarce.
Shopping-bot developers say there has been an increase in people using their software to buy just a few items at a time. Traditionally, bots have been used to purchase dozens or hundreds of the same products to resell on platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Small-volume purchases indicate users are acquiring items to keep for themselves, developers say.
This holiday season, bot developers say their users are chasing hard-to-find gifts such as a “Gabby’s Dollhouse” playset from Spin Master Ltd. ; Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc.’s LED Blow Mold Nostalgic Boy Reindeer; and Playmates Toys Inc.’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Original Party Wagon. Videogame consoles, trading cards and computer graphics cards are also hot.https://95d6905a587a0bf641df81f721390276.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Many people see botting as market distorting, especially ahead of Black Friday, a day many consumers wait to do their holiday shopping in anticipation of discounts. One group of lawmakers tried to outlaw the practice through the “Stopping Grinch Bots Act” in 2019, but it failed to pass Congress. Bot activity has since surged.
Monthly bot attacks on retail sites have increased more than eightfold over the past two years, according to estimates from Imperva Inc. Peter Klimek, director of technology at the cybersecurity firm, attributes the growth largely to the pandemic’s social-distancing restrictions and the global supply-chain crunch.
Critics have long argued that botting gives users an unfair advantage, allowing them to skip the line. Resellers say they frequently get angry messages from shoppers about their listings for items with marked-up prices. Proponents argue that bots are available to anyone and point out that resale sites typically only allow listings of nonessential goods.
Some toy makers stressed that there are more than enough items available for the holiday season and they are doing their best to keep their most popular items in stock.
Chris Beardall, chief commercial officer for Spin Master, said more “Gabby’s Dollhouse” toys are coming to retailers over the next several weeks. “We’ve doubled capacity in response to consumer demand and are making best efforts to get quantities to retailers quickly,” he said.
Earlier this year, Thomas George turned to a shopping bot called SlapX after consistently being outgunned as he tried to buy the sports-trading cards and bobblehead toys he collects.
“I went a long time not getting items I wanted,” said the 31-year-old cryptocurrency miner in Oklahoma City. “It levels the playing field.”
He recently used SlapX to get his 9-year-old niece Moose Toys Ltd.’s Magic Mixies Magic Cauldron for Christmas after being unable to find the popular toy for sale at any retail stores.
“I remember when I was a kid I always wanted the gift that everybody else is getting,” said Mr. George, adding that he is now trying his hand at reselling trading cards and toys.
Because they catered to resellers, bots have traditionally required tech savvy, but now some developers are building easy-to-use versions for the average consumer struggling to purchase scarce goods. For example, some of the newer ones don’t require any downloading or for users to buy multiple internet addresses to fool retail sites into thinking lots of people are shopping for an item instead of just themselves. Users also don’t have to tinker with various settings or closely monitor the programs to achieve their goals.
“I just wanted to simplify botting and make it available to the masses,” said SlapX’s creator, Peter Ironside of Wisconsin. His two-year-old startup, Bontek Solutions LLC, sells access to the software for around $40 upfront plus a $30 monthly fee.
Bot developers commonly promote their software on social networks such as Twitter and Discord. Many limit the number of users allowed to purchase or subscribe to their bots to minimize competition for products. Prices vary greatly and bots tend to come and go, as retailers might make changes to their e-commerce stores that stop the programs from being effective.
Cybersecurity experts warn it can be risky to use bot software due to the potential for malware. Further, botting violates many retailers’ terms of service. E-commerce stores have fought back with their own bot-busting measures such as requiring online shoppers to type out randomly generated sequences of letters or solve puzzles before they can complete a sale.
Walmart declined to comment on the use of bots on its website. Amazon said it has systems in place to limit purchases of high-demand products.
Getting caught could lead to a user being banned from an e-commerce site, but that hasn’t scared off shoppers like Yamein “Chris” Eato, owner of a car dealership in Columbus, Ohio. He used SnailBot this summer to purchase a PlayStation 5 for his kids. The console, made by Sony Group Corp. , has been in limited supply at most stores since its release a year ago.
“You can never click and check something out as fast as automation,” said Mr. Eato, 41. He has since used the bot to purchase nearly a dozen more of the consoles for friends and relatives, who paid him back. “If you don’t have a bot, you’re handicapped.”