geekhack
geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: longweight on Sat, 09 March 2013, 11:43:48
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So... I sense that this is known by many members but that it is never discussed as it increases the chance of others getting in to sales very quickly.
Do you base your CC / Brobot / whatevercap hopes on the newsletters? The websites go live first and then the newsletter goes out, how do some people know about the sale before receiving the newsletters?
Well this is how I knew about the last few sales and I can confirm that it works really well. If you haven't thought of this yet and use the internet regularly then you should feel bad about yourself.
It is very simple, use something like Page Monitor: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/page-monitor/pemhgklkefakciniebenbfclihhmmfcd?hl=en (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/page-monitor/pemhgklkefakciniebenbfclihhmmfcd?hl=en) ( Here is the a Firefox extension, I have never used it but it looks the same: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/alertbox/ (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/alertbox/) ) It will notify you within 2 seconds of a page being updated and as we know, every second counts with these sales. There are some email services but I have found them to be very slow, page monitor is the quickest method that I could find.
So do this:
1. Download and install the extension.
2. Visit the page that you want to monitor, I monitor the CC threads here, EK homepage, CC page (http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=special&filter=clackfactory), Topre page, MX page, Techkeys Brobots page etc....
3. In the settings make sure that the audible notification is enabled and reduce the time between checks to 2 seconds.
4. If you have an understanding GF / bro / sister / cat then ask them to do the same and to notify you the second that it pings just in-case you are away from the computer.
Another good thing to do is to set up search result notification on eBay, some CC sales don't make it to the forum as the people that spot them obviously don't want everyone bidding on them!
I apologise in advance if you all already know about this, hopefully you will find it helpful! It has worked for me, in the last open CC sale on EK I was able to buy the three that I wanted and let a couple of friends know before the email newsletter reached me or it appeared on the forum.
Good luck!
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Excellent write-up. I was doing something similar for EK sales. Sometimes with mixed results, other times spot-on.
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Thanks, I think that quite a few members know about it but definitely not all.
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Thanks, I think that quite a few members know about it but definitely not all.
I didn't know about this at all. Thanks!
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No problem!
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Thanks for the protip longweight.
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I'm glad that it is helpful!
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I just F5 like mad. I've been lucky enough to get two Clacks from the man himself, and had the opportunity to purchase one from the latest lottery via EK. I also had the chance to purchases BroBots both times, which I passed on for two reasons, one I don't like the aesthetics, and two I don't really need more expensive keys. (No offence to MMB, I assure.)
That said, I do push the TechKeys newsletter to my tablet via ZNC-Push. I created a filter in my Gmail to forward to my NotifyMyAndroid email and that pushes the email to my tablet/media player.
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You F5 all the time on the sites?
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Well, not all the time. I just don't use and special methods to get Click Clacks/BroBots/other rarities.
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Fair enough, it does work well though.
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Meh. :) I'm happy with the mystery. :P
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I think that most want keycaps over mystery.
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I used page monitor when the hp touchpad was on fire, and I snagged about 4 of them! :)
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Nice writeup, and so much simpler than the webmon way of doing it that I used to do. I won't be monitoring sites anymore, but I hope more people get what they want with this little helpful tool :) .
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Thanks Glissant :)
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Not much you can do if you're in class or working at the moment of the sale though. This is why they should be in the evening, or at least have the newsletter go out a few hours before the sale. This is also why the same hoarders always get in on sales, and other fans get left out in the cold consistently.
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So when you say that the sales should be in the evening I take it that you mean on Greenwich Mean Time?
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Clearly he means GMT+1 and EST. Or was it UTC+8? ;)
I have yet to see a sale of CC or brobots go up at the same time every time. Who are these fans that get left out on consistently? You? Me? Am I being targeted because I was sick this one day and sleeping when the sale started?
Just think about it, noisyturtle. They don't target a certain group of geekhackers. They make the keys and release them when they are able to be around in case something bad happens.
(Sorry for off-topic, longweight)
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And I suppose you would argue that the same people don't always get their wishes in almost every sale, and that these same people are by no means able to stay by a computer for long periods of time without fear of prior engagements or responsibilities drawing them away. The point that these 'collectors' caps are of small quantity leaves no other reason then to assume that a majority of folks do indeed get consistently left out in the cold. Time of each sale pending, of course. I am not claiming that anyone is being targeted in a purposeful way, just an inconvenient one.
I rather like the way EK handled the last sale, even though I did not win and that the system can be easily exploited. Better a raffle then a floodgate of rabid fans cutting off others chance at the quick.
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It's not fair for everyone. Get over it.
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Nice , thanks for the suggestion.
I had not actually thought about this, and I did not know this extension existed. I will use it for more then just getting these sales. There are a number of things I would like to use this for. Really useful to me. Thanks!
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And I suppose you would argue that the same people don't always get their wishes in almost every sale, and that these same people are by no means able to stay by a computer for long periods of time without fear of prior engagements or responsibilities drawing them away. The point that these 'collectors' caps are of small quantity leaves no other reason then to assume that a majority of folks do indeed get consistently left out in the cold. Time of each sale pending, of course. I am not claiming that anyone is being targeted in a purposeful way, just an inconvenient one.
I rather like the way EK handled the last sale, even though I did not win and that the system can be easily exploited. Better a raffle then a floodgate of rabid fans cutting off others chance at the quick.
It is always going to be unfair for some, nothing can be done about that!
I completely disagree about the first come first served sale model, I like it and I think it gives everyone a good chance of getting one as long as they are set up to get it.
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Nice , thanks for the suggestion.
I had not actually thought about this, and I did not know this extension existed. I will use it for more then just getting these sales. There are a number of things I would like to use this for. Really useful to me. Thanks!
Glad that it is of help to you!
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I completely disagree about the first come first served sale model, I like it and I think it gives everyone a good chance of getting one as long as they are set up to get it.
I tend to agree with this, because people that want hard-to-get, or limited quantity items should be rewarded for their diligence. But I believe in placing a limit on the quantity to keep it fair for both parties.
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Absolutely.
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I live in Europe (GMT+1) , so as you can imagine the timing of these sales are not exactly that convenient for me. But if I really wanted them I could set it up in various ways. As things are now, I am just making sure there are some ways in which I will be notified quickly. If I miss it, I miss it.
I am fairly sure that no matter how you sell them, there could always be an argument about "unfairness" even if it was all a big lottery with each interested person having an equal chance of winning. Even then, you could argue that completely randomly distributing them is not fair either. And for those who truly want them, this would be even more frustrating, because that would mean there is truly nothing you can do to try and get them.
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Did anyone get the Candycorn skull that went up today?
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Did anyone get the Candycorn skull that went up today?
lol wut
For some reason I keep getting updates saying the page has changed but when i click on the update nothing has?
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You will get that, are you monitoring the clackfactory section of the site?
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Yes but I haven't been online for the most part of today anyway :(
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You are monitoring this page?
http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=special&filter=clackfactory (http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=special&filter=clackfactory)
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ahh no I was just monitoring the topre and cherry mx keycap pages
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Ah, that link always includes any Clickclack caps that go up :)
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Cheers, thanks a lot for your assistance + write up!
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No problem! I will update the OP with that link.
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lol thanks for this very helpful!
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Glad that you think so!
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Bump for people that might have missed this thread.
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Are you fishing for compliments or something? Darn near every other reply is you. :P
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Did anyone get the Candycorn skull that went up today?
lol wut
For some reason I keep getting updates saying the page has changed but when i click on the update nothing has?
i get that too:(
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Are you fishing for compliments or something? Darn near every other reply is you. :p
Nope I'm just making sure that everyone sees this, it is funny how those that collect the CC's have viewed the thread but not commented. Almost like they want this thread to go away....
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If you are monitoring this forum with that extension it will give you an update every time it checks as the timestamp changes every second.
You would have to use a program that can isolate a specific part of the code if you want to check if someone has changed a closed thread.
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I haven't used it on the forum just the sites.