As a developer with the skills to write procurement bots, you should ask yourself what other types of purchasing agents you can write and what other parameters you can use to make purchasing decisions. Consider mapping out your particular ideas in a flowchart as I did in Figure 18-1 and Figure 18-2.
After you’ve honed your skills at the book’s test store, consider the following ideas as starting points for developing your own procurement bots and snipers.
Develop a sniper that makes counterbids as necessary.
Design a sniper that uses scarcity of an item as criteria for purchase.
Write a procurement bot that detects price reductions.
Write a procurement bot that monitors the availability of tickets for upcoming concerts and sporting events. When it appears that the tickets for a concert or game will sell out in advance of the event, create a procurement bot that automatically purchases tickets for resale later. (Make sure not to conflict with local laws, of course.)
Write a procurement bot that monitors weather forecasts and makes stock or commodity purchases based on industries that are affected by inclement weather.