Case Study on Bid Botting - A Steemit Bootcamp follow-up module, a cheatsheet and why I probably won't use it

During the Steemit Bootcamp for Underpriviledged Kids last week, on the last day, I felt I didn't explain bid bots well enough for them.

Hence this post.

Module Objectives:

• Case Study of using a bid bot, complete with screen shots
• A checklist/cheatsheet you can follow to maximise your profits
• What should you use Bid Bots for
• And why I personally won't use it (as much)

If you don't know what Bid Bots are, check out this post I did where I explained to the kids in the most simplest way how Bid Bots work. Beware! It involves an Uncle and a Pizza. :)

Case Study

Bid Bot Name: @jerrybanfield

1. First thing I did, I went to https://steembottracker.com to see which bot I should bid on.
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2. I looked for bots that has lesser than 5 minutes left in the round. Lesser is better, but you need to be quick. Check #1: Passed.
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3. I saw @jerrybanfield having a profitable bid alert, it has lesser than 5 minutes in the bid round, so I click on Details to research the Bidding Details of the Current Round.
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4. Ignoring the ROI, I check to see if the following formula is true:

   Vote Value = 2.66 x Intended Bid Amount

   For example, Bid of SBD1 = Vote Value of $2.66, or Bid of SBD0.5 = Vote Value of $1.33.
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5. How I arrived at $2.66 is simple. At $2.66 of upvote value, 25% will go to curation reward, 37.5% will go to Steem Power (divided by Steem Price at the time of payout), and 37.5% of SBD, which equals SBD1.

   

   By getting a vote amount of over $2.66, I know I can make back the SBD 1 that I put in.
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6. So back to the Current Round of @jerrybanfield, indeed the current vote value for SBD1 is higher than $2.66. Check #2: Passed.

   
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7. Then, I go to the Last Round tab, and see what's the upvote value of SBD1 in the previous round. $3.87. Nice! Check #3: Passed.

   
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8. I then went to Steemnow.com to check on the bot's Voting Power. You need to make sure it's gonna reach 100% in the next few minutes. Check #4: Passed.

   
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9. I then take a look at the Max Suggested Bid. This is to make sure I don't bid too much because anything higher than this amount simply guarantees a negative ROI.

   Why? Every bot has a Vote Value, so if the accumulated bids for a round exceeds the vote value, it means generally, everyone won't be making back the amount they bid. They make back lesser.
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10. I picked 50% of the Max Suggested Bid because other people could be placing their bids as well, so the 50% afford me some buffer. And the amount I picked must be more than the Minimum Bid amount set by the bot as well, which in this case is SBD 0.50. Check #5: Passed.
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11. I picked a post that meets the ageing criteria of @jerrybanfield bot, which is 3.5 days.
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12. I took a snap shot of the payout, upvotes and comments. This is so that I can be sure how much was the values BEFORE the bot upvoted on me. As you can see, the pending payout amount was $81.63, total of 35 upvotes.

    
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13. I transferred SBD 0.50 to @jerrybanfield, and included the post url in the memo. By putting SBD0.50, I need to have an upvote value of at least $1.33 to earn back my investment amount.
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14. I pray.

    Why? So that no one would come in last minute and place a huge bid, thus affecting men ROI.
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15. I checked the payout after the upvote of the bot. Hmph, $84.30, 36 votes.

    

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16. $84.30 - $81.63 = $2.67. That's 2x of my expectations.
    ​

17. Dance!

So in summary…

Cheatsheet/Checklist:

1. Go to Steembottracker.com, and pick a bot that has lesser than 5 minutes in the current bid round.
2. In the current round, check Vote Value = 2.66 x Intended Bid Amount
3. In the last round, check Vote Value = 2.66 x Intended Bid Amount
4. Go to Steemnow.com and check on the bot's voting power. Make sure it's close to 100% in the next few minutes.
5. Take a look at the Max Suggested Bid and place a bid amount that's 50% of that amount.
6. Pick a post that meets the ageing criteria of the bot.
7. Take a "before" shot of your payout, upvotes and comments.
8. Transfer the bid amount
9. Pray that no one comes in the minute with a big SBD amount.
10. Check the difference to your payout amount after the bid.
11. Dance!

So, should you be using bid bots?

I can't answer that for you, but if I'm advising a client, here would be my recommendations:

1. If you can earn back your ROI, sure, go ahead.
2. If you have some SBD to spare and don't mind losing some (or more) of it, sure, go ahead.
3. If you want to "expose" your post by ranking higher in the "trending" part of your desired tags, sure, go ahead. But please understand that you may need to bid a huge amount to get on top of the list.
4. If you like to gamble, sure, go ahead.
5. If you saw your sworn enemy placing a bid and want to mess up his/her ROI by placing a bigger bid after him/her, sure, go ahead.

In conclusion, I figured it's actually hard work for small gains. Big gains to those who likes to gamble, but that's not me. (Contrary of the my name, I don't gamble often or enough)

Once in a while, if I wanted to test out my cheatsheet, I would place a bid, but it's not frequent. I realised I got more satisfaction from being right than actually making a positive ROI. Egoistic, I know, right?

Oh yeah, most bots will also leave a comment in your post, which may affect how your readers perceive you.

End of the day it boils down to producing awesome content. I realised with the time I spent on monitoring, waiting, checking and working out the math, I might as well spend it on researching and creating a good post, commenting on other posts, or starting conversations with other Steemians.

I would also rather rely on resteeming service to give my posts a boost in exposure. Sure, the ROI is hard to track on that one, but from the new comments and followers that I get, it's worth it.

What do you think? How's bid botting worked for you?

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Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?

Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD4, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:

• Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
• Upvote (like) other people contents
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Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!

The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!

Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome