I made a post yesterday about how it's possible to lose money by using bots on Steemit. Today, I'm going to expand on it a little.
First of all, let's mention the bots who give refunds if you make an invalid bid (using STEEM instead of SBD, transferring to little, etc.):
@allaz, @upmewhale, @lovejuice, @smartsteem, @sneaky-ninja, @aksdwi, @postpromoter, @booster, @upme, @msp-bidbot, @upyou, @boomerang, @upgoater, @upgoater and @jerrybanfield.
I've watched people losing money on most of these because there were too many people bidding for upvotes. I mentioned yesterday that I've seen a bot give -79% returns twice, but didn't say which. All I'm going to say is that it was one of the bots mentioned above.
Upvote Bots
Let's look at the bots who treat invalid bids as a donation to them:
@hellowhale, @discordia, @levitation, @kittybot, @mrswhale, @pushup, @voter, @minnowhelper, @moneymatchgaming, @upmyvote, @buildawhale, @appreciator and @hellowhale.
I see this as a red flag! The code to give refunds for invalid bids has already been written and is freely available, so why not just use it? People don't make invalid bids on purpose, so wouldn't it be fair to give the STEEM or SBD back to them so that they can try again?
Is there any good reason as to why any upvote bot would accept bids that would cross the threshold into giving a negative return? I've seen people making bits at the last second, turning a highly profitable return into a negative one for everyone who made a bid! When you're providing a paid service, doesn't it make sense to look after your customers?
Upvote Sellers
I haven't looked into these in as much detail, so I'm assuming that most of the following are dealing in an honest way that doesn't rip off Steemit users.
@tipU, @lays, @steemvote, @upvotewhale, @randofish, @minnowpond, @resteembot, @steemthat, @morwhale, @moonbot, @drotto, @blockgators and @superbot.
Unfortunately, there are people who sell upvotes that are worth less than the amount it costs to buy the upvote. If you look through the accounts mentioned above, you'll find one or two.
Harm No One!
Let's put aside arguments about taking too large a share of the STEEM pool for now. Steemit is built on the principle of harm no one! All bots that require transfers should give refunds for invalid bids and, unless I hear a valid argument against it, they also need to prevent oversubscribing the bids on their bots which causes Steemians to get negative returns. Upvote sellers MUST guarantee that the amount of their upvote is not worth less after curation than the amount they demand in payment.
Given the arguments that bots do more harm than good, following my recommendations seems like the least they can do.
Bots, you're being watched!