I’m wondering if anyone has experience creating automated systems that can make purchases on your behalf. For example, something that could automatically buy airline tickets or hotel reservations from booking websites.
What’s the best way to handle this kind of automation? I was thinking about using browser automation tools like Selenium to fill out checkout forms automatically, but that seems fragile and hard to maintain. The websites could change their layout anytime and break everything.
Has anyone found better approaches for this? Maybe using APIs instead of scraping? Or are there specific libraries designed for e-commerce automation? I’m curious about real-world implementations and what challenges people have faced.
Worth mentioning the legal side of this since nobody brought it up yet. Many booking sites explicitly prohibit automated access in their terms of service, so you could potentially face account termination or worse if caught. I worked on a similar project for a travel agency and we ended up going through official channels - contacting the booking platforms directly to discuss business partnerships. Some companies like Expedia and Booking.com do have B2B solutions for automated booking, though they require proper business registration and often minimum volume commitments. The rates are typically negotiated separately from consumer pricing. If you’re set on the technical route, consider that payment processing adds another layer of complexity beyond just form filling. Credit card companies have their own fraud detection that flags unusual purchasing patterns. You might want to start small with sites that have simpler checkout flows and gradually build up your detection avoidance techniques.
honestly selenium is a pain for this stuff, tried it myself and youre right about sites breaking. most legit booking platforms dont have public apis either which sucks. heard some ppl use headless chrome with stealth plugins to avoid detection but idk how well that works longterm
Built something similar for hotel bookings a few years back and ran into major headaches. The main issue isn’t just layout changes - most booking sites actively block automated requests once they detect patterns. They use sophisticated fingerprinting techniques that can identify bot behavior even with headless browsers. What worked better for me was focusing on sites that actually offer affiliate APIs or partner programs. Some booking platforms do provide legitimate automation options if you register as a business partner, though the approval process can be lengthy. The rates might be slightly different but at least you’re not constantly fighting anti-bot measures. Another approach I explored was using proxy rotation combined with realistic user behavior simulation - adding random delays, mouse movements, etc. This helped for a while but required constant maintenance as detection methods improved. Honestly the time investment versus reliability trade-off made it questionable for anything beyond personal projects.