PipperBot

Bids on a Yahoo! Japan auction through your Neokyo account so you don't have to be awake when it ends in Japan. It watches the auction, places your bid at the right moment, and never goes above the maximum you set.

Modes

Snipe places one bid at your maximum about 10 minutes before the auction ends. Yahoo's own system then defends that bid for you, so you pay one step above the second-highest bidder and never more than your maximum. Bidding late keeps other bidders from knowing you are interested until it is nearly over. This is the recommended mode.

Defend bids straight away, then bids again one step above the current price every time someone outbids you, up to your maximum.

Whoever sets the higher maximum wins, and no bot changes that. PipperBot only makes sure your maximum is in the race at the right moment.

Setup

1. Add money to your auction deposit on the Neokyo website. It has to cover your maximum bid or Neokyo refuses the bid.
2. Open PipperBot.exe and click "1. Log in to Neokyo". Log in in the browser window that opens, tick "Remember me", then click OK in PipperBot. This only needs redoing when the login expires.

Using it

1. Paste the auction address, from either Neokyo or Yahoo Auctions, into the first box.
2. Enter the most you are willing to pay, in whole yen. This is a hard limit. Neokyo's 350 yen fee, shipping, and any customs come on top of the winning price.
3. Pick a mode and click "2. Start watching".
4. Leave the computer on, plugged in, with PipperBot open. It keeps the machine from sleeping while it watches, but it cannot survive the lid being closed or the app being closed.

Leave Test mode ticked for the first run. PipperBot opens the browser, goes to the auction, and types in the bid, but stops before pressing the button and saves a screenshot in the logs folder. If the screenshot shows the right amount in the right place, untick Test mode and start it for real.

When it beeps

The beep means it needs you. Check the coloured status bar.

• Not logged in: click "1. Log in to Neokyo" and start again.
• Deposit mentioned: the Neokyo auction deposit is too low, so top it up.
• Price exceeded your maximum: someone bid past your limit and PipperBot will not go higher.
• Anything else: check the logs folder, which gets a screenshot whenever something unexpected happens.

Notes

Bids placed on Neokyo are real and cannot be cancelled, so check the item condition and shipping before starting the bot. The winning email comes from Neokyo, so check My Page or your inbox after the auction ends to confirm and pay.

Auctions in Japan usually extend by 5 minutes when a bid raises the price near the end, so the closing time can move later. PipperBot follows that automatically.

This clicks the same buttons you would click, in your own browser, on your own account. Neokyo's terms do not explicitly allow automated use, so keep it to the occasional auction and use it at your own risk.

Build

Needs pip install playwright pyinstaller.

python -m PyInstaller --onefile --noconsole --name PipperBot --collect-all playwright pipperbot.py

Checks:

python pipperbot.py selfcheck               # bid maths and parsing
python pipperbot.py fetchtest <auction_id>  # live Yahoo page read
python pipperbot.py browsertest             # live Neokyo browser run