What task retry delays are recommended?
If running a 1:1 task to proxy ratio, it’s not recommended that you never lower your retry delay below 3000ms as you place yourself at high risk of rate limiting (temporary ban). If possible, we suggest always having at least a 1:3 task to proxy ratio.
For an antibot droptime release, a retry delay of 3500ms is fine. You do not want too low of a delay as you can be throttled (placed in an extremely long queue). For restocks, a retry delay of around 500ms is ideal as you need to remain competitive against other users/bots for a much lower level of stock compared to at droptime. Once again, ensure you have a high proxy:task ratio when attempting to run delays like this or lower.
We do not recommend running Shopify releases on local IP, but if you do ensure to run high delays of at least 5000ms and no more than 2 tasks.
What sort of proxies should I use and when?
- Droptime on big stores with expected antibot and checkpoint – Static (non-rotating) Residential Proxies
- Restocks on big stores/droptime and restocks on smaller stores – Datacenter (DC) Proxies
Note: Although rare, some providers sell datacenter proxies which are able to work on antibot releases. DO NOT assume your DCs will work, check with your provider otherwise you will have problems.
When should I start my tasks?
On stores with password page up it does not matter when you start, so you can start tasks 10-15 seconds before release.
For stores with no password page up, there are differing opinions (especially for stores which use antibot). Some claim starting up to 10 minutes before (on very high delays e.g. 8000ms) and then lowering delays 30-60 seconds before drop is best. Others claim starting 2-3 minutes before release is fine. Generally, the 2nd statement should suffice. Just ensure to start your tasks early enough that they can pass any queue that is up and generate a checkout session before droptime.
Why do I have “Billing Error”?
This is typically due to using the wrong task mode (such as API) or bad proxies on an antibot release, always ensure to use Human mode and static residential proxies in these situations. Occasionally, this error can also be caused by Shopify antibot updates that we haven’t adapted to yet. However if this is the case it will be confirmed and stated in an announcement.
What does “API key not available” mean?
Most commonly, this is caused by attempting to bot a non-Shopify website in the Shopify ‘Other’ site option. Other reasons for this error include starting too many API tasks on a site at the same time, as well as a store potentially disabling their API key (sometimes as a bot deterrent, but also some stores don’t have their API enabled in the first place).