Balko Bot Protection Tips

Tips to Avoid Checkout Errors During Shopify Bot-Protection Releases

Most of the major sneaker retailers have an option to enable bot protection (commonly abbreviated as BP) during a release. If you are running an improper setup during a release that has BP enabled, it is likely that you will encounter errors while checking out.

How can this be prevented?

When BP goes up on a website, please run a test task using the TEST US default profile - in this test, run SAFE MODES (SAFE & ESAFE). This test should be run using an in-stock item that will not sell out for the duration of the testing period.

This test will be conducted using two variables - your proxy list, and your gmails. When a shopify retailer has BP enabled, it is not necessary to use proxies in your solvers; the solvers will automatically use the proxy in your task to solve the captcha.

Go into your captcha settings and turn off all but one gmail. Try starting the task with a specific proxy list (whether it be local or dcs / resis) and see if that task can get to a payment decline / checking order - if it does, both the proxies and gmail used should be good to go on a BP drop.

If you encounter any errors and cant get to payment decline / checking order, try using a different captcha email by toggling to a different harvester and restarting the task. If you have attempted using numerous gmails and STILL cannot get to payment decline / checking order, try new proxies. If nothing seems to work, you likely have both PROXIES and GMAILS that DO NOT WORK ON BOT PROTECTION and will need to reinvest into getting some new ones of each.

How could I fix this if nothing is working?

1) If you try testing locally (using an empty proxy list) and still encounter checkout errors, try clearing the cache of your captcha solver and logging into a personal gmail from your home IP. From internal testing, it has been found that personal gmail accounts that are often used normally on a daily basis (watching youtube, sending emails, etc - the ones you have had for a while and use in your day to day) have a very low chance of encountering checkout-related errors.

2) Do not keep testing your tasks over and over if they work, as it will deplete your gmail trust score and cause you to get errors more often.

3) If you find that you have a working gmail but not a working proxy, use AWS.

4) If you are using “farming” software such as AYCD, Wraith, Essentials, JeruCaptcha, or EveCaptcha, separate the gmail accounts you would like to use on non-shopify BP drops from the ones you would like to use on shopify BP drops. Do not “farm” activity on this group of gmails, and attempt to test those a few weeks after stopping.

5)If your personal gmails are not able to reach checking order / payment decline, and they have not been recently “farmed” using 3rd party software, try clearing the cache of the captcha solver, removing the proxy, pressing save, and signing in again. Conduct the test once more using this solver.