yahoo-auction-estimator

What This Skill Does

The Yahoo Auction Estimator is a specialized automation skill for OpenClaw designed to streamline the research process for items listed on Yahoo! Japan Auctions. Managing price discovery manually is time-consuming, requiring constant switching between auction pages and historical price databases. This tool automates the entire loop: it retrieves live auction data (name, current price, closing time), parses the item description to extract core identification keywords (e.g., lens specifications or camera body models), and cross-references historical成交 (sold) prices from aucfree.com. By performing timezone conversions from JST to CST and calculating a recommended bid based on an 85% threshold of the average market price, the agent empowers users to make data-driven decisions quickly.

Installation

To install this skill, run the following command in your terminal within the OpenClaw environment: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/hiddenpuppy/yahoo-auction-estimator

Ensure that your system environment is prepared for the network requests required to fetch external data. You will need to set a proxy to interact with Japanese auction sites; export your proxy configuration using export PROXY_SOCKS5=socks5://127.0.0.1:1080 before executing the estimation scripts.

Use Cases

This skill is ideal for camera enthusiasts, vintage gear collectors, and professional resellers who frequently audit market values on Yahoo! Japan Auctions. It is particularly effective for those dealing with optical equipment, where specific identifiers like brand, focal length, and aperture determine value. Instead of manually looking up comparable items, users can pipe item IDs directly into the tool to receive a concise valuation report, significantly reducing the risk of overbidding.

Example Prompts

1. "OpenClaw, can you estimate the fair market value for item b1220553804 and let me know if it's a good deal?"
2. "I'm tracking three cameras: n1220557199, o1220500433, and w1220506728. Please run a bulk estimate on these and give me the recommended bid for each."
3. "Run a quick pricing analysis on the current auction b1220553804, specifically check the historical average for this lens model."

Tips & Limitations

To ensure accurate results, note that the tool's keyword extraction logic is optimized for camera equipment. It effectively strips SEO spam like '美品' (mint condition) or '希少' (rare) to focus on the product's identity. However, extremely unique or poorly titled listings may require manual verification. Always verify the status of the auction as closing times can shift, and ensure your proxy remains stable, as aucfree.com access is geographically sensitive. Use the tool as a secondary advisor rather than a final financial authority.