Unfortunately or luckily, I have to try new things. So, I bought votes for my last Posts.
My idea was, that I could increase the curation rewards for my readers and also my author rewards. A win-win situation.
After one day, there are almost no visitors on my posts. Can I push the posts by buying votes?
source
The advertising seems quite tempting: you are getting 250 - 300% more than you pay. Here is a small list of sites:
I read also about @grumpycat's 3.5 max post-age campaign and decided to use only bots that fulfill this.
So, I bought some SBD and paid bots to vote for my post. Has it paid off?
Some math
Let's assume that we use Default (50/50) Reward and Upvote our own posts.
We pay the bots with SBD and calculate also the SBD payout.
The author_curate_reward increases the payout for the author due to self-vote.
pending_payout_vote is the recieved vote value due to the bought vote. feed_price is the Steem price in dollar and steem_to_sbdis the current market price for SBD (paying with Steem).
pending_payout_SBD = (pending_payout_vote * 0.5 * (0.75 + (0.25*author_curate_reward)))
* (1 + steem_to_sbd/ feed_price)
Let's use some actual values
| Variable | Value |
|---|---|
| author_curate_reward | 9% |
| steem_to_sbd | 1.123 |
| feed_price | 5.00 $ |
Using this values:
pending_payout_SBD = (pending_payout_vote * 0.38625) * 1.2246
pending_payout_SBD = pending_payout_vote / 2.11
So, paying for a vote is a zero-sum game when the vote is 211% higher than the price in SBD. Let's assume the vote costs 1 SBD, the reward for the author is 1 SBD (Steempower reward also converted into SBD), when the bought voter votes for 2.11 $.
When paying 1 SBD and the pending_payout_vote is 250% more (2.5$) the resulting payout is 1.16 SBD.
What happens when we change the value of the variables?
| feed_price | zero-sum percentage | investment return for a 250% vote |
|---|---|---|
| 4 $ | 202% | 1.24 |
| 5 $ | 211 % | 1.18 |
| 6 $ | 218 % | 1.15 |
| 7 $ | 223 % | 1.12 |
Higher feed_price reduces the SteemPower reward for the author.
| steem_to_sbd | zero-sum percentage | investment return for a 250% vote |
|---|---|---|
| 0.2 | 249 % | 1.00 |
| 0.5 | 235% | 1.06 |
| 1 | 215 % | 1.16 |
| 5 | 129 % | 1.93 |
When 1 SBD is equal to 1 US-$ (steem_to_sbd = 5), gained SteemPower can be exchanged for a higher amount of SBD and the vote value can be lower.
| author_curate_reward | zero-sum percentage | investment return for a 250% vote |
|---|---|---|
| 0 % | 218% | 1.15 |
| 5 % | 214% | 1.17 |
| 10 % | 211 % | 1.19 |
The resulting vote must be higher, when not perfoming a self-upvote.
What happens when the feed price changes?
When buying votes, the invested SBD are received at post-payout. When the feed-price changes, it affects the result.
Let's assume we buy 1 SBD at post creation and during the 7 days, the feed price changes.
| feed price change | zero-sum percentage | investment return for a 250% vote |
|---|---|---|
| -20 % | 245 % | 1.02 |
| -10 % | 228 % | 1.09 |
| 0 % | 211 % | 1.18 |
| 10 % | 194 % | 1.29 |
| 20 % | 175 % | 1.42 |
Discussion
The gain is only small and may fast go to zero. When vote seller say that they return 250 % more than you pay, it may true seeing only the vote amount. The resulting payment return in SBD is only slightly higher than one.
When the zero-sum percentage is 211% and the vote seller promises 250%, you gain for each 1 SBD 1.16 SBD after 3.5 to 7 days. Small amounts did also not push your posts in the trending zone of steemit.
Buying votes are not worth the effort. I have gained nothing by buying votes. There were also no more visitors. No post reached the trending page. The only ones that earn a lot are the vote seller itself.
What do you think, did you bought votes?
Guys if you use bots in a blind mode you probably don't get profit and even lose... use http://www.steembottracker.com/ for seeing how much bot is loaded, and choose 50% loaded 10 min before vote, and preferably with large vote power, reason, after yours bet, can come more... If you press "Details" there is calculation of your ROI. If you get upvote 3$ on first 30 min your post get to Hot.
Thanks, that are very useful information!
a long time was going to write a post on the topic: https://steemit.com/steemit/@kobusu/vote-bots-how-to-use-and-get-bit-profit people not only lost own sbd but also harm everybody who bid before them :)
The Funny thing I see is that we both are working same problem. You are Using your programming skills and I my head.
Here is what you need to do: publish posts in the range of 5 to 10 minutes before bidding closes. Then bid. It is the only way you can bite the 25% curation reward from the bot. Otherwise you end up loosing, since of the 75% you get, that is divided by 2 to get SBD back. You brake even when you get X/0.375, where X is your original bid.
And yes, you can make money if you play right. Don't count on followers but on your head calculations
Some Bots are programmed to make you loose. So due diligence is required
good article
thank you for sharing
I am follewed you
I can't say much for minnowbooster and smartsteem. But the bidding bots depends on how many and how much they are betting. At one time, I got almost 1-1.5SBD in return for using the bot. The only problem are people who are betting at the last minute with a very high bid, say 50SBD with no regards to the max profitable bid making the ROI negative. Still I do think it is good for minnows to increase what little visibility they have. Also half of the vote goes to SP so you're voting power increases slightly.
I have experimented with vote buying and didn’t like it. Weak or negative returns.
I think most of the time, people buy votes because psychologically they like their posts looking as if it has high earnings... well, that my theory. Off and on, I try in case it does earn something extra for me! ;)
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by holger80 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
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Hello, you received an upvote from @steemdunk thanks to @holger80! Steem Dunk is an automated curation platform that is easy and free for use by everyone. Need an instant boost? Send 0.200 SBD with your full post url as the memo to @steemdunk for an upvote. Join us at https://steemdunk.xyz
It's funny that we have to try them ourselves to get the same lesson. I think using bots can be useful but in the end it's a gamble on the reward and price stability. I used it once in a post and I don't think I'll use them again for profiting. They are however definitely better than the promote option in STEEMIT
Thanks @holger80
No, by intuition I have not. Even up-voting myself does not feel right.
I am eternally grateful for any return on what I conscientiously do and like doing, i.e., post and comment, for the sake of positive engagement with this community, for the sake of a happier community in the end...