Saturday, December 15, 2012

Starting a Bot From Scratch: Part 1


I'm sure if you are visiting this website you either currently have a bot, or are at least considering starting a bot.   It can be a seemingly daunting task at first, but the rewards will far outweigh the initial work.  I have finally decided to start botting myself, and plan on documenting my experiences for all of you to read!

Starting any project without a plan is usually a bad idea, especially something you are investing your hard earned money on.  Here I want to go over a few things you will have to decide when starting your bot empire


How Much to Invest.


Whatever you decide to invest will affect what you will be able to do with your bot, and how profitable it will be.  The more product you have, the more money you will be able to make.  Essentially if you are buying product at buy prices, it won't be hard to unload them at said prices.  Even if you never sold a single card you would only be out a small percentage of your investment, if any at all.

What to Buy/Sell.


It makes sense to invest the most you can, but I plan on starting small and growing as I become more comfortable with the program.  The best way to start out with a small investment is to only deal in boosters, which according to my calculations could still be very profitable.  The next logical step could just be only dealing in new formats such as Standard, or even Modern.  Buying and selling anything you can make money off of should be the end goal, but starting small and building your collection is the safest way to handle your investment. 

Choosing a Name

The name of your bot could be very important and I considered several things when naming my bot.  Do you want the word "Bot" in its name?  I think that makes it very clear what you are doing, and helps avoid any confusion with the customers.  Adding words like "Buyer" or "Seller" could work as well, just as long as you get the point across.  You also want something short, easy to memorize, and catchy.  Anything to keep your customers coming back and giving you money!  I ended up going with CoolBoosterBot as my name because it meets all of the criteria I considered and more.

In my next post I will talk more about actually setting up the bot, and even some ways to get your bot's name out.

Thanks for reading!
MTGO - AndyBurden, CoolBoosterBot.

4 comments:

  1. Really? a booster bot? i never really thought about that, works good for you? this series is promising thanks for sharing the experience

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  2. Great article Andy! It's interesting to learn a different business model

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  3. @Bert - I don't think it will be a huge money maker, but it all adds up.

    @Albert - Thanks man, I appreciate it :D.

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  4. booster bot profits will be all on FLOAT.

    click on float on the labels at right. you will get what i mean.
    Thats how buying for 0.99 and selling for 1.01 gives huge profit.

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