Questions
The ones testers actually ask. More as the beta turns up more.
Does Fetch buy things without me?
Only if you tell it to, product by product. By default it adds to your cart and stops there, and checkout is yours. If you set a price ceiling for a product and switch it to “Buy it for me”, Scout will complete that order without you — at Target and Walmart, never above the ceiling you set, and never for a product you have not armed. If you arm something that is in stock right now, Scout asks before acting rather than moving silently.
Do you hold my retailer login or my card?
No. Carting and checkout both run in your own browser, in your own session, with the card already on your retailer account. PackFresh never sees either, and no PackFresh server ever places an order.
Why did I get an alert but nothing was carted?
Almost always because the browser running your extension was asleep. Alerts reach you through the shared network, but carting only ever happens on a machine you are running. Your dashboard shows whether your browsers are checking in.
Should I run Scout on a second computer?
Yes — if it is on a different network. Two computers check on independent schedules, so a restock gets spotted roughly twice as fast, and one machine being asleep or mid-update no longer costs you the drop. What does not double is the buying: a lock on your account means exactly one machine ever carts an item, so a second computer improves your odds of seeing a drop rather than winning it twice. On the same Wi-Fi it is not worth doing. Both machines share one public address, so the shop sees double the requests from it — and when it throttles that address, both of your machines stop at once. You lose the backup exactly when you needed it.
Does a cart line hold the item for me?
No. On a real drop it is winnable by anyone until checkout completes. Treat the alert as a starting gun, not a receipt.
Which retailers does it cover?
Ten are watched today: Target, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Academy, Dollar General, Lowe’s, Micro Center, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Pokémon Center. Scout can add to a cart at Target and Walmart only. Everywhere else it watches and alerts, and you buy it yourself.
Can Scout predict when something will restock?
No, and it will not pretend to. It shows what actually happened — how often a product came back, how long the dry spells ran, which weekdays restocks landed on — and leaves the forecasting to you.
What does it cost?
Nothing during the beta. Paid plans have not been designed yet.