Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that many retailers use to sell their products (ex. Kith, Concepts, DSM, etc.)
Setting Up
After you familiarize yourself with the bot, it's time to set up on a specific site. Head over to the tasks page, create your task group, and press the purple plus icon to get started with creating a task.
Shopify Setup
Select a Site
Use the drop-down menu to select what website you plan to run.
Custom Shopify
If there is a Shopify Site you are looking to run but don't see in the drop-down menu, you can add it as a Custom Shopify site within the Misc section of the bot.
To add a Custom Shopify site, simply enter the full main page website URL (ex. https://kith.com/) and give it a nickname. This nickname is how the custom site will appear in your site drop-down menu when creating tasks.
Note: If the website you're adding requires an account in order to check out, make sure to toggle the "Account Required" box.
Select a Mode
Use the drop-down menu to select what mode you're going to run.
Normal: This mode can be used for sites that use a password page before the release is live. You can see if a site has their password page up by manually going on the website (ex. https://kith.com/) and checking if it requires a password to enter.
Preload: This mode should be used for sites that do NOT use a password page, but use some other form of bot protection (ex. Checkpoint Captcha). You can check with your cook group to see if a site uses bot protection or not.
Super Safe: This mode is mainly used for hype drops where big changes to the site are expected (ex. Domain Change). This mode is also most commonly paired with "Shopify Placeholder" for domain change type releases (More on this explained below).
Fast: This mode can be used for websites that drop with no form of bot protection (No Checkpoint Captcha / No Password Page / No Expected Site Changes). This mode has a faster checkout speed than the other mentioned modes, but will only work under the specified conditions above.
Monitor Input
The monitor input box is what information the bot will use to find the product you're attempting to purchase.
You can use keywords, links, or variants for your monitor input.
Keywords
Keywords are words that are in the product title of the item you're attempting to purchase. Valor will use the keywords you input to search for the desired item, then attempt to check it out.
The format for keywords is:
+keyword1,+keyword2,-keyword3,-keyword4
Valor also supports the use of multiple keyword sets on a task.
The format for multiple keyword sets is:
+keywordset1,-keywordset1 | +keywordset2,-keywordset2
When running multiple keyword sets on a task, whichever keywords pick up first is what information the task will use. Keyword priority is from left to right.
All keywords must be separated by a comma. Also, positive keywords must have a plus sign in front of them, while negative keywords must have a minus sign in front of them.
If you are unsure what keywords to use on a release, consult with your cook group to avoid any possible mistakes.
When the bot is using keywords keep in mind it is looking through only the top 50 new products updated on a site. If you want to run a product that has already been released (and loaded on the site) or is in stock, you must use the product link.
URL
A URL is a direct link to the product you're trying to purchase (ex. https://kith.com/products/NKDD1391-100 ).
You can sometimes be supplied with early product links before a release is live from your cook group.
It is important to note that on some Shopify sites, keywords will pick up the product faster than a URL if the product is not already loaded.
Variants
Variants are unique numbers that are tied to a specific size of a certain product on a website.
The proper format for using variants is:
var: 1234567, 1234567, 1234567
You can select "Random" as your size on tasks when using variants since each variant is already tied to a specific size of a product anyways. If you want a specific size while running variants, make sure you run the variant that is correlated to that size.
Most times you will not need to use variants. Variants are only beneficial if you have them before a product is loaded on a site. If there is a product link that is loaded on the site already do not run variants there is no speed difference.
Keyword Groups
Another option is to select one of your saved keyword groups as your monitor input when creating tasks.
You can learn more about what keyword groups are and how to set them up in the Keyword Groups guide.
Additional Task Setup
Monitor/Retry Delays and Start Times
The time that you should start your tasks for a release will be different every drop due to multiple factors, including queue time, what forms of anti-bot the site will use, etc. Ideally for a Shopify release, if there is a queue on the site before the drop is live, you want your tasks to exit the queue and wait for the product around 2-3 minutes before the release is scheduled to go live. If you exit the queue before a release too early, there is a chance your tasks will be thrown back into the queue when the release is live.
Monitor and Retry delays are calculated in milliseconds, with default delays being 3500(ms). These delays are used to determine how often/fast the bot will monitor the site for the item in your monitor input and also how often/fast the bot will submit each checkout step. Something to keep in mind is, if your tasks are on Waiting for Product it is using your monitor delay and if your tasks are attempting a checkout step it is using your retry delay.
When starting tasks before a release, you should start with higher delays like 6000-10000(ms). Around 30-60 seconds before the product is scheduled to go live you can lower your delays to around 2500-3500(ms).
You can use the pop-out delay editor to quickly edit task delays rather than having to actually edit the tasks themselves. The delay editor can be found on the toolbar in the top righthand side of your bot, as well as within the misc section of the bot (both are shown below). Delays will be changed on your selected task group(s) as soon as you click off of the delay editor box.
You can also use the delay editor to schedule delay changes on your tasks. Simply enter what time you want your delays to change on your tasks and set what delay the tasks will change to then click "Schedule".
Minimum Size Loaded
This box allows you to input a minimum amount of sizes that are loaded, and only if the product that drops is greater than or equal to your inputted number, will the bot pick up the product. For example, if you have your Min Size Loaded set to 3, the bot will not pick up the product unless 3 or more sizes of that product dropped at once.
Product Quantity
This box allows you to input the quantity of the product you want your task to add to cart and attempt to check out. Typically you should keep this at "1" unless you are certain the website allows you to purchase more than one of the desired item in one checkout.
Profile
When creating tasks you should select what profile group you would like to use as well as what profiles within that group your task(s) will use.
Proxy Group
Here you can select what proxies your tasks will monitor for a product with, and what proxies your tasks will use to attempt to checkout a product. If you wish to monitor for a product using the same list of proxies as you're using to checkout with, you do not need to select a monitor proxy. Keep in mind that you should not run more than 4 tasks with no proxy at a time per Shopify site. Any higher than this will lead to your tasks getting temporarily rate-limited (throttled) by the site.
Enter Password
This setting should be toggled on Shopify tasks if the site requires you to enter a password in order to access the site. This setting should always be paired with Normal Mode when creating tasks. You need to toggle this setting for all tasks within a group that will need to enter a password to access a site. The process for running tasks while using this setting is, start one task with a proxy group, then start the rest of your tasks. A pop-up box to enter the password will appear, but you should only enter the password in the box 10-20 seconds before the release is scheduled to go live, any earlier and your tasks attempts to enter the password may get rate limited by the website.
App Mode
This setting can be used in the case of an app exclusive release from a retailer. Currently, Valor supports app mode for Kith, Concepts, and DTLR. Should one of these retailers decide to do a release exclusive to this app, just toggle "App Mode" when creating tasks, the rest of the task setup can be the same as if you were running a non app release on their website.
Connect Monitor Feed
This setting will use Valor's in house monitor to monitor products.
Task Quantity
Here you can type in how many tasks you want to create. Keep in mind that the task count you type in is multiplied by how many profiles you have selected to get your total task count.
Quick Tasks and Mass Link Changing
Quick Tasks
This is a feature used to quickly launch tasks when something restocks (different from automation). When an item restocks on the Shopify monitor, there is an option to launch a Quick Task using the settings you set up within the Quick Task settings in the bot. You will need to set your Quick Task settings within the bot and also with any discord-based monitor providers. You can also launch a quick task using our in-bot monitor feed.
To set up your Quick Task settings within the bot, navigate to the "Misc" page of the bot and open the Shopify Quick Tasks Settings.
Here you can select what site, profiles, proxies, sizes, accounts (if desired), and mode will be used when you launch Quick Tasks. These settings can also be customized for every Shopify site supported by Valor if you choose to use different profiles, proxies, etc for each site. Make sure to toggle "Enabled" in the Quick Tasks settings before you hit save.
Mass Link Changing
This is a feature that can be used on tasks to automatically change the product input. Discord-based Shopify monitors will have a "Mass Link Change" option on the webhook that once pressed, will automatically change the input of the tasks in your selected group to the product link of the item you're trying to mass link change to. This feature can also be used on our in-bot monitor feed by hitting the mass link change button on a product in the monitor. Tasks will only mass link change if the product you're trying to change to is loaded on the same site that your tasks are created on.
Note: If your tasks have already picked up a product, your tasks are not able to mass link change to a new product.
Captcha Types
Shopify websites consist of 3 possible captcha types, Checkpoint, Checkout, and Account Login.
Shopify Checkpoint
You will need a Shopify Checkpoint harvester for this type of captcha.
A site can use this form of anti-bot to force you to solve a captcha in order to add an item to cart. There are currently two different forms of checkpoint captchas a Shopify website can use, ReCaptcha v2 and hCaptcha. There are two forms of hCaptcha a site can use for checkpoint, one may ask you to simply select all of the pictures of a specific item or animal, while the other may ask you to answer a question and then draw a box around an item in a picture. If a website uses hCaptcha for their checkpoint captcha, currently Valor will solve these for you automatically if you have checkpoint harvester(s) open. Valor will not solve reCaptcha v2 for you, these will need to solved manually inside a Shopify Checkpoint harvester.
Shopify Checkout
You will need a Shopify Checkout harvester for this type of captcha.
Some sites may choose to enforce a captcha at the checkout stage of an item, in addition to using Shopify Checkpoint. If the gmail you use on your Shopify Checkout harvester has a high trust score with google, the captcha may submit automatically without you having to touch anything (this is called a One Click). If your gmail has a low trust score, you will be prompted to solve a ReCaptcha v2. Not every site uses checkout captchas, but it is a good practice to always have 1-2 of these harvesters open just in case.
Account Login
You will need a Shopify Account harvester for this type of captcha.
If an account is required in order to purchase a product on a website, you will need to solve a ReCaptcha v3 in order for your account to login on the website. You will need to create a Shopify Account harvester in order to solve the account login captchas if a site enforces it (you can create these in the Captcha page within Valor on the left hand side of the bot). If the site thinks your token is good enough it will let you log in. If the captcha fails to pass you will need to solve a Google ReCaptcha V2 in order to complete your account login. For account login captcha, having a good gmail and harvester proxy is very important.
Setting Up For a Domain Change Release
Domain Change is a method some Shopify websites choose to use to release their very hyped products. They will load the product on a completely new domain right when the release goes live.
The following setup should be used for any expected domain change release:
Make sure you have your checkpoint harvesters are open and set up like a normal Shopify drop.
In the task creator for the site select "Shopify Placeholder"
Mode select "Super Safe".
Monitor input put the word 'domain'.
Select your size range
Create your task.
Close to the drop start your tasks and a window will pop up.
In this window you must enter the product URL and press submit.
A browser will pop up where you need to select a shoe size and press the cart button.
Once this is done the browser will close and your task will go to checkout.
The input you enter into the pop-up box must be a URL, keywords or any other format will not work properly.
What happens if I enter the URL wrong?
If you enter the wrong product URL in the pop-up box there are two things that can happen. If you enter the home page URL for the new domain instead of the direct product URL, if you can still navigate to the product in the browser and continue the rest of the steps as normal, your tasks will still work. However, if you enter a URL with the wrong domain that the shoe is dropping on, the tasks will not work and you will have to restart the bot then start tasks again and enter the correct link for your tasks to work properly. One more crucial thing to note, you can only start your tasks one time when running domain change mode, if you start then stop tasks at any point before the actual release, you must restart the bot in order for this mode to work properly when it's time for you to actually start tasks for the release.
Below is an example of the correct task setup for a domain change release:
Here is an example of the task flow for a domain change release:
One more thing to note for domain change releases, Proxy Protection is usually extremely high meaning that most ISP proxies will not work. It it best to run a few tasks with 'No Proxy' as well as tasks with fast residential proxies.
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