Black Friday: Why bots will beat you to in-demand gifts

Black Friday and the Christmas shopping rush is here. But any great deals on a new games console or hot-ticket piece of electronics will probably be snapped up by an army of bots working for those looking to make a profit.

Bots are constantly-running software programmes that have hit online retail for years. But the pandemic means higher demand for lots of items, and many more people shopping online.

What’s the bot problem?

Retail bots scan the pages of websites around the world for the exact second an item goes on sale – and alert their owners so they can beat the crowd. Some automatically buy it, faster than any human can.

That’s how the out-of-stock PlayStation 5 is available on eBay for hundreds of pounds more than its asking price, and why the Xbox Series X cropped up online for £5,000.

And that’s just “the tip of the iceberg”, says Thomas Platt, from the bot management firm Netacea.

Everything from cuddly toys to film collectibles are seeing bots snap up the stock, he reports.

If there’s a “niche audience” or high-profile launch, “those industries are being targeted”, he adds.

How bad is it?
The pandemic caused supply chain issues earlier this year, physical stores are shut, everything is online – it’s a “melting pot of factors”, Mr Platt says.

“On top of that… the bots are really becoming readily available, easy to use.”

The launch of Nvidia’s PC gaming graphics card, the 3080, was “probably the most extreme case of what bots can do”, says one of the moderators from r/BuildaPCSalesUK – a group of bargain hunters who help each other find PC parts.

“Less than a second after launch, all stock sold out,” they explain.

“Users on retail websites didn’t see a ‘buy now’ button, but rather a ‘sold out’ button, as all the stock had immediately been sniped by bots, with a sprinkling of the odd lucky person in there.”

Rob Burke, former director of international e-commerce for major international retailer GameStop, says bots have always been a problem.

“At times, more than 60% of our traffic – across hundreds of millions of visitors a day – was bots or scrapers. Especially in the run-up to big launches.”

And that creates a bit of an ethical dilemma for the shops.

“On the one hand, you just want to shift the product so who cares if it’s a bot or a ‘real’ customer?” he says.

“On the flip side, if none – or very few – of your real customers can get the product with you, they will naturally go elsewhere.”

BBC