discounts

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• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Discounts

Given something the user wants to buy (link or name), find the cheapest legitimate way to buy it, verify codes end-to-end in a real cart, and report ranked options.

**Anything driven in the browser (visiting sites, carts, checkout) goes through the** **`chrome-control`** **skill - load it before the first browser action.** Plain lookups may use WebSearch/WebFetch; the moment a site needs real interaction, it's chrome-control.

## Hard rules

* **Never complete a purchase.** Drive checkout only up to the payment-details step: no card numbers, no PayPal/Apple Pay, no saved-payment autofill, never click "Place order". Stop there and report.
* **A code is VERIFIED only if you watched it apply**: exact item in cart on that vendor's site, code accepted, order summary shows the reduced total.
* **A PRICE is VERIFIED only if you watched it on the final payment screen** - the last page before payment details are required (e.g. `ra.co/shop/order-payment`, Eventbrite's order review, StubHub's checkout). This applies to EVERY option you rank, not just ones carrying a code. A listing page's "all-in", "incl. fees", or "no hidden fees" badge is a marketing claim, not a verified total - sites add order-processing fees, per-ticket delivery fees, card surcharges, and sales tax at the last step. An unconfirmed price is reported as **unverified**, never as the number.
* Codes that fail in-cart are discarded silently - never report a dead code.
* **Sketchy listings are omitted entirely** (criteria below) - not shown with a warning. The one exception: if the user themselves pointed at the listing, say in one line that it's excluded and why, so silence doesn't read as having missed it.
* **Blocked is not absent.** A 403, a captcha, an empty WebFetch, or a search that surfaces nothing is never evidence that a platform lacks the item - it usually means the site blocks automated fetches. Escalate to `chrome-control` and confirm in the real browser before reporting any platform as "not listed". Report "checked in browser: nothing" and "blocked, unchecked" as different outcomes, never as the same one. If the real browser ALSO fails (hard bot wall, Cloudflare interstitial), that is not a resting state - paste the URL to the user and ask them to read the price off it.
* **Don't create accounts, join newsletters, or submit identity-verification forms** (SheerID, id.me document upload) on the user's behalf. Using their already-saved Chrome logins to browse a gated discount site IS fine - and if a login wall or 2FA blocks you, ask them to log in and then continue. Prefer guest checkout for the actual purchase.

## Workflow

1. **Pin down exactly what's being bought**: brand, model, size/color/config, condition ceiling (new, open-box, used, or any), delivery deadline or pickup radius, and the reference price (brand site + Amazon, effective = item + shipping + tax). Every option is measured against the cheapest mainstream new price. For tickets, see the Tickets section - the unit and the reference price work differently.

2. **Sweep channels for EVERY vendor being compared**, including the direct provider, reseller, marketplace, and any alternative added during research. A comparison expands the discount search to each vendor; checking codes only for the vendor in the original request is incomplete. Repeat this step when a new vendor enters the comparison. (Parallel subagents where independent.) **Every sub-researcher gets the "blocked is not absent" rule in its prompt, and is told to report raw outcomes - "403", "captcha", "empty result" - and NEVER to conclude a platform lacks the item.** A subagent's "X does not appear to list this event" is not a finding; treat it as unchecked and open X yourself.
   * **Promo codes**: web search `"<brand> promo code" 2026`, RetailMeNot, [Dealhack](https://dealhack.com/), Slickdeals threads, `site:reddit.com <brand> promo OR discount code` (brand subreddit, r/frugal, r/deals).
   * **Student / affinity discounts**: search `<brand> student discount`; check StudentBeans, UNiDAYS, id.me (student / military / nurse / first-responder), SheerID-gated brand pages. the user has saved logins in Chrome for these - use them to browse the gated offer and reveal the actual code; ask them to log in if you hit a wall. If the code can't be revealed, report availability + percentage as unverified.
   * **Cross-listings at other retailers**: Amazon new (the retail benchmark), Amazon Warehouse/Used, then the category table below. Check camelcamelcamel/Keepa price history where available. Exact same SKU or an explicitly equivalent configuration only.
   * **Brand's own cheaper channels**: site sale/outlet section, official brand eBay outlet store (many brands run one), refurb page.
   * **Second-hand marketplaces**: use the core and category-specific sweep below. Search eBay, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Craigslist, Mercari, Poshmark, Depop, Vinted, Grailed, and Nextdoor where they plausibly carry the item. NWT/NWB or clearly described used condition is preferred. Vet per legitimacy rules below.
   * **Open-box and refurbished channels**: manufacturer refurb/outlet, Best Buy Open Box, Back Market, Woot, Walmart Restored, Newegg Refurbished, and Swappa for eligible electronics.
   * **Socials**: the brand's (or artist's/venue's) Instagram - bio link, recent posts, story highlights - plus their email list. Codes live there that never reach coupon sites.
   * **Cashback layers**: Rakuten / Capital One Shopping rates - report as "stackable \~X% cashback", don't sign up.

3. **Coverage gate, before ranking or declaring the search complete:** keep a vendor-by-channel checklist in the task notes. Each vendor needs an outcome for official offers; coupon sources (including Dealhack); Student Beans and UNiDAYS; other relevant affinity programs; app/new-customer/member offers; cashback; and applicable social/promoter offers. Record each as checked with a source URL and observed offer/terms or no-offer result, blocked with the concrete barrier, or not applicable with a concrete reason. A search snippet alone does not verify terms or redemption. Search each vendor's student offers even when student eligibility is unknown; disclose the eligibility requirement instead of silently skipping the channel. A checked box for one vendor never covers another. Inspect offer terms for geography, travel/event dates and blackout dates, passenger/item limits, app-only redemption, fees excluded, and stacking restrictions. Compare final combined and split-order totals whenever discount eligibility differs across items, passengers, or travel legs, accounting for extra fees, fare changes, and lost bundle/round-trip savings. For transport, hold departures, stops, passenger count, baggage, and fare conditions constant or disclose differences.

   **Stop conditions:** finding a cheaper direct price, testing many generic codes, or having little time does not satisfy this gate. If a relevant channel is blocked or unchecked, name the gap and qualify the conclusion; never call the search complete or exhaustive, or the result the cheapest possible. An advertised percentage is an unverified opportunity until tested in the exact checkout.

4. **Verify**: run the checkout protocol on every option you intend to report - each surviving code AND each vendor whose price you plan to rank. An option nobody drove to the payment screen cannot hold the top spot.

5. **Report** in-chat (format below). While sweeping, capture anything worth knowing about the thing itself - recalls, common defects, an imminent new model, seasonal price drops, a clearly better alternative at the same price.

## Physical-goods marketplace sweep

For physical goods, "search everywhere" means checking every relevant channel below, not blindly opening unrelated marketplaces. When the user asks for a broad search, do not stop at the first cheap listing: sweep the core rows and the category rows that plausibly carry the item. Search each platform's own UI in Chrome so hidden or local inventory is not mistaken for no inventory. Use the saved delivery location when available; record shipping, taxes, pickup distance, and arrival date separately.

| Channel | Check |
| --- | --- |
| New retail benchmark | Brand site, Amazon new from Amazon/brand or a reputable seller, Walmart, Target, Costco, Google Shopping, and the category's specialist retailers. Do not use Amazon Warehouse, Used, or a random third-party offer as the retail benchmark. |
| Large resale markets | eBay, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Craigslist, Mercari, Poshmark, Depop, Vinted, Grailed, Nextdoor |
| Open-box/refurbished | Amazon Warehouse/Used, manufacturer refurb, Best Buy Open Box, Back Market, Woot, Walmart Restored, Newegg Refurbished, Swappa |
| Bikes, sports, and outdoor gear | Pinkbike BuySell, SidelineSwap, Geartrade, REI Used Gear, Play It Again Sports, local bike or sporting-goods shops |
| Apparel and luxury | The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, ThredUp, Kidizen, Grailed, Poshmark, Depop, Vinted |
| Music gear | Reverb, Guitar Center Used, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist |
| Collectibles and specialty goods | Whatnot, Etsy vintage, ShopGoodwill, GoodwillFinds, HiBid, Mercari, eBay, and the item's specialist marketplace |

Search the exact model or part number plus size, color, generation, and compatibility terms. Retry with common abbreviations, misspellings, and bundled or unbundled versions. For local listings, include distance and pickup timing and do not message, negotiate, or arrange a meeting unless the user explicitly asks.

Keep new, open-box/refurbished, shipped used, and local pickup as separate comparison rows. A local listing with no cart cannot have a verified all-in total; mark its posted price and availability as **unverified** even when the listing is real.

## Vendors that often beat the brand site

| Category               | Check                                                                       |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Outdoor / hiking / ski | REI + REI Outlet, Backcountry, Steep & Cheap, Moosejaw, evo, Sierra, Dick's |
| Tech / electronics     | Best Buy, B\&H, Adorama, Micro Center, Newegg, Costco, Woot, Target         |
| Fashion / streetwear   | Nordstrom + Rack, SSENSE, END., ASOS, Zappos (shoes), Foot Locker           |
| Sneakers / hyped goods | StockX, GOAT, eBay Authenticity Guarantee (platform-authenticated = fine)   |
| Home / kitchen         | Costco, Target, Wayfair, Sur La Table, Williams Sonoma sale                 |
| Beauty                 | Sephora, Ulta, Dermstore                                                    |
| Fitness gear           | Rogue, Dick's, Titan, Amazon                                                |
| Tickets                | see the Tickets section - different comparison unit                         |
| Anything               | Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, eBay, Google Shopping tab                  |

## Tickets

Same workflow, but the comparison unit is **a specific seat (section + row) or GA tier for that one event**, not a SKU - and the listed price is never the price.

**Quantity is part of the unit.** Set the site's quantity filter to the number the user needs before reading any price - listings and per-ticket prices change with it, and pairs that can't split will vanish or appear. Report fees-in **per ticket**, with the all-in total for the full quantity beside it.

**One event usually has SEVERAL primaries, at different prices.** The promoter splits inventory across ticketers - the venue's Eventbrite, RA Tickets, DICE, Tixr, Shotgun - each with its own tier ladder and its own fee, routinely \$10-15 apart for the same GA admission. Never stop at the ticketer the venue's own page links to; that link is the promoter's default, not the cheapest. Check every primary in the table before pricing anything.

**The reference price is the cheapest fees-in price across ALL primaries**, or face value if the event is sold out on every one. That's what "saves \$Z" is measured against.

**Check whether the user already owns tickets** before recommending a purchase. A logged-in platform page says so outright ("you have purchased tickets to this event") - lead with that instead of pricing them a duplicate.

**Compare fees-in totals only, and get every one of them from the payment screen.** SeatGeek, StubHub, and Vivid Seats display pre-fee prices by default; TickPick claims all-in. Toggling "all-in pricing" is a starting point, never the answer - drive each contender all the way to the final payment page and read the total there. A "cheaper" listing routinely loses by 25-35% once fees land, and the last screen is the only place the real number appears.

Sweep in this order:

| Tier                       | Where                                                                                                                                 | Why                                                                                                                                |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Official primary           | Ticketmaster / Live Nation, AXS, DICE, Eventbrite, **RA Tickets (ra.co)**, Tixr, Shotgun, Posh, **the venue's own box office**        | Each holds its own allocation at its own price - check them ALL, not just the one the venue links. Box office often sells fee-free |
| Official face-value resale | Ticketmaster Verified Resale, AXS Official Resale, DICE waiting list, RA resale queue, Eventbrite native resale, TicketSwap, Twickets | Safest tier and frequently the cheapest - capped at or near face value, transfers through the official app                         |
| Resale marketplaces        | TickPick (no buyer fees), SeatGeek, StubHub, Vivid Seats, Gametime, Tixel, Lyte                                                       | Same seat is routinely cross-listed at different prices; check the same section+row across all of them                             |
| Broker aggregators | TicketsOnSale, Ticket Liquidator, TicketCity, MegaSeats, CapitalCityTickets, SuperSeats - storefronts on the same TicketNetwork-style exchange | They buy Google ads on the artist/venue name so they look official. Listings are pre-fee and ~30-35% lands only at checkout, so their listed price is meaningless - check them, take them to the payment screen, and expect them to lose |
| Scene-specific             | Resident Advisor (electronic/club), Posh (nightlife), CrowdVolt (raves/festivals), LineLeap (bar/club cover + line-skip, 800+ venues), venue-specific apps                                | Where the inventory for that scene actually lives                                                                                  |

**Socials are the best code source for tickets.** Check the artist's, the venue's, AND the promoter's Instagram - bio/linktree, recent posts, and story highlights - plus their mailing list and the venue's site. Presale codes, promoter discount codes, and reduced-price early tiers are posted there and almost never appear on coupon sites. For club nights, also look for guest-list or reduced-before-a-certain-hour options.

**For a bar or club night the product may be cover, not a ticket.** LineLeap sells cashless cover, skip-the-line fast passes, drink specials and table service; compare those against the door cover and the guest-list/before-a-certain-hour options, never against a ticket price.

**Student:** many venues, festivals, and touring shows have a student GA tier - run the student channel above.

**Timing is part of the answer.** For non-sellouts, resale prices usually decay in the final 24-72 hours; for sellouts they climb. Say which way this event is trending and whether waiting is a bet worth taking.

**Ticket-specific omit (no exceptions):** any off-platform sale - Instagram DM, Facebook group, Craigslist, X, a stranger offering a screenshot or PDF. A screenshot is not proof of ownership and these are the single most-scammed goods online. Only platforms with a buyer guarantee AND official transfer qualify.

**Ticket carts place a timed hold on real inventory.** Read the fees-in total, then abandon the tab. **Fee-reading checkouts are serialized** - one open cart at a time, released before the next opens. Searching and price-scraping still parallelize; only the checkout step is single-file.

**Ticket listings are judged by platform, not by seller stats.** The seller-rating / photo / percent-of-retail rules below are for physical goods and don't apply here - resale sites expose none of them. For tickets: buyer guarantee + official transfer = show normally; off-platform = omit. Only genuinely odd listings (price far below every other listing, a platform with no guarantee) go to Needs human review. **Broker aggregators are the exception**: they carry a nominal guarantee but a pattern of late fees, non-delivery and denied entry, so one only ranks after its payment-screen total actually wins AND the delivery/transfer method is confirmed - otherwise it goes to Needs human review.

**Adjacent dates:** for a multi-night run, if another night of the same run is materially cheaper, surface it under Worth knowing - don't substitute it for the date the user asked for.

## Marketplace legitimacy rules

Physical goods only - tickets use the platform test in the Tickets section.

**Show normally** when ALL hold: platform buyer protection covers it (eBay Money Back Guarantee, Posh Protect, Mercari protection), seller ≥98% positive with ≥50 ratings, original photos (not stock-only), explicit condition (NWB/NWT/new-in-box), price ≥40% of mainstream new price.

**Omit entirely**: <40% of new on counterfeit-prone goods (assume branded apparel, shoes, electronics + accessories, and fragrance are counterfeit-prone), seller <95% or "not as described" pattern, off-platform payment requests, photo/spec mismatches, non-canonical domains (typosquat "outlet" sites), and every off-platform ticket sale.

**Needs human review** (own section in the report): everything in between - listings that don't fully qualify for "show normally" but don't hit an omit criterion. Typical cases: seller in the 95-98% band or with few ratings, stock photos only, vague condition, unexplained 40-60%-of-new price, weak-protection platform (Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, OfferUp, Nextdoor), or a local listing with no platform checkout.

From alexjmiller5/agent-config-public, MIT.

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