Smart Laziness - Scraping Offers from the Internet
Scraping offers from the internet replaced 200 emails I would otherwise have sent by hand: I built an automation that found car wrapping studios in Warsaw and the surrounding area and then sent them inquiries.
Scraping offers in short
- My offer-scraping automation searches Google for companies and checks their websites for a tab with a PPF wrapping service.
- From each matching website the automation downloads the email address, verifies that it is valid and sends an inquiry about price and deadlines with photos of the car attached.
- Setting up the offer-scraping automation took 20-30 minutes in one tool for a few dollars, while by hand I would have spent several days on it.
- I also planned a second automation that collects all the replies into an Excel file, so I can easily compare prices and availability.
I’m lazy and I’m proud of it. Although people who know me would probably be the last to say I’m lazy, but the truth is I get bored quickly and I wanted to grab your attention.
I have it that instead of doing the same thing 100 times for 5 minutes every day, I prefer to stay up all night and write a program that will do it for me.
I’m picking up a new car soon - beautiful, wonderful, another Volvo already with one big problem. It’s gray.
Why? Ask my wife, she chose the car color, I was responsible for the rest of the equipment.
Seriously, this gray in Volvo is… gray.
So I decided I’ll wrap it with matte, satin foil for a better effect and of course paint protection, because I’m practical and don’t waste money.
The prospect of sending 200 emails to various studios in Warsaw and surrounding areas, arranging prices, deadlines and comparing offers terrified me.
No thanks, I have more interesting things to do.
Instead, I used automation. I created a process that: Searches Google for appropriate companies Verifies their offers for PPF wrapping service, i.e., checks if they have the appropriate tab on the website. Downloads email and verifies if it’s correct. Sends inquiries about price and deadlines with attached photos of my car.
The whole thing took me about 20-30 minutes in one tool for a few dollars. Tomorrow I plan to create another automation that will collect all responses to an Excel file so I can easily compare prices and availability.
I used to spend several days on this, now I freed up time that I used better for myself.
So yes, I’m lazy and I’m proud of it 😊
