I'm sorry to hear you didn't have any success on Yeezy day. Unfortunately, there are numerous bots available for footsites/retail shops. There are various mitigation techniques used by online shops, though none that I've seen prevent bots entirely.
Antibot measures used by online retailers will often utilize 3rd party solutions (captcha, queues, perimeterx, raffles, ML anomaly detection, etc.) while specific proprietary measures of those online retailers that can afford such solutions (E.g. Amazon) aren't generally known. These techniques generally only stop all but the most unsophisticated bots. Bots have a suite of capabilities designed to circumvent these speed bumps or at least provide a significant competitive edge over those not utilizing bots.
Short of online selling in-demand items in-store only (best buy has done this recently), bots appear to be here to stay for the foreseeable future as the game of cat and mouse continues.
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Tony B
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 02, 2021 10:07:04 AM
From: Olivia Rempe
Subject: Battling Bots
I've been trying to buy a pair of Yeezy's online since 2018, which unfortunately is when the bot industry became widely commercialized. With today being Yeezy day and various sneakers being released, I assumed I'd have a better chance of snagging a pair than usual. Unfortunately, I've been online in countless waiting rooms since 4:00 AM and haven't seen any success.
Out of curiosity, is anyone experienced with bots or has a deeper understanding of defense against them? Are big companies like Adidas able to prevent bots? Or is sitting at my computer all day trying to get a pair of shoes a waste of time and no match for bots?
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Olivia Rempe
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