John Lewis

Complete guide on our John Lewis module

Preliminary Checklist

Before setting up tasks on John Lewis, make sure you have everything below prepared:

Profiles

• Create and save your checkout https://guides.stellaraio.com/stellar/navigating-stellaraio/what-is-the-profiles-tab/how-do-i-add-a-profile under the Profile tab in Stellar. These contain your billing, shipping and payment info.

Proxies

• Use high-quality ISP or Residential proxies for the best success rate.
• Low-quality, overused, or flagged proxies are likely to trigger Akamai protection and result in failed tasks.
• For the most reliable performance, use a mix of proxy types and providers rather than relying on a single proxy pool.

  • At the time of writing, the UK pools from Icey Proxies, Immaculate, Byte, and OneStop are all working well with John Lewis. As always, it's recommended to have multiple proxy providers, don't just rely on one.

Cook Group Access

• Joining a cook group isn't required, but it's highly recommended when running John Lewis.

  • A good cook group can provide:

    • Early restock alerts so you're notified as soon as products become available.
    • Product URLs, PIDs, and SKUs to help you set up tasks quickly.
    • Estimated stock numbers and release information to help you judge your chances of success.

Task Overview

Monitor Mode

Guest Mode

With PID

With SKU

• Which Mode do I use?

  • Monitor Mode continuously checks for product availability. When the item comes into stock, it will automatically trigger your linked Guest Mode tasks to begin checkout.

    • Only Product IDs (PID) are supported in this mode.
  • Guest Mode adds the specified product to your cart and completes the checkout process.

    • Both Product IDs (PID) and SKUs are supported in this mode.
• What does Profile mean?

  • A Profile contains your saved checkout information, including your billing address, shipping address, and payment details.

    • Select the profile you want to use, and the bot will use the information stored in that profile during checkout.
• What type of Proxies shall I use?

  • Both ISP and Residential proxies are supported.

    • We recommend testing with ISP proxies first using an in-stock item and invalid payment details to confirm everything is working correctly. If you encounter errors or poor success rates, switch to Residential proxies.
• What are PID and SKU, and how do I find them?

  • There are two supported product inputs for Guest Mode tasks: PID and SKU.

    • PID (Product ID)

      • A PID (also known as a pValue) is the easiest product identifier to obtain. It always starts with the letter p followed by a series of numbers and can be found directly in the product URL.
      • Example

        • https://www.johnlewis.com/lego-pokemon-72151-eevee-building-toy/p115302067

          • PID - p115302067

            • Note: A PID is only available once the product page is live on the John Lewis website.
    • SKU

      • A SKU is a backend product identifier that is separate from the PID. It is commonly shared by cook groups before or shortly after a product is loaded onto the site.

        • IMPORTANT: A common misconception is that the SKU is simply the PID without the leading p. This is incorrect.
      • PIDs and SKUs are completely different values and are not interchangeable.
      • If a SKU isn't provided by your cook group, you can find it by viewing the page source of the product page, where it is embedded in the site's data.

        • Example product page:

          • https://www.johnlewis.com/lego-pokemon-72151-eevee-building-toy/p115302067

            • The SKU can be located within the page source or developer tools.

  

  • As shown above, the PID and SKU are completely different values. A SKU is not the PID with the leading p removed—they are separate identifiers used for different purposes. Always use the correct value for the task mode you're running.
• Which input should I use?

  • Monitor Mode: Only PIDs are supported. Using a SKU in Monitor Mode will not monitor stock, and your task will not function correctly.
  • Guest Mode: Both PIDs and SKUs are supported. However, cook groups will often only provide the SKU if the product page has not yet gone live on the John Lewis website.
• Best Practice

  • For the highest chance of success:

    • If you only have a SKU, create your Guest Mode tasks using the SKU.
    • Once the product page goes live and a PID becomes available, create additional Guest Mode tasks using the PID.
    • If you already have both the PID and SKU, create tasks with both identifiers. This maximises compatibility and gives you the best chance of a successful checkout.
• What is Delay?

  • Delay is the amount of time, in milliseconds (ms), that a task waits before retrying after encountering an error.

    • Recommended starting value: 5000ms or lower.
    • Adjust as needed based on:

      • Proxy quality
      • Site performance
      • Error frequency
• What is Monitoring Delay?

  • Monitoring Delay is the interval, in milliseconds (ms), between each stock check.
  • Recommended starting value: 5000ms.

    • Adjust as required depending on proxy quality and monitoring needs
• What is QTY?

  • QTY is the number of units you want to purchase in a single order.
  • Recommended starting point: 1 QTY

    • Increase this only if the product allows multiple units per order.
• What is Reset Delay?

  • Reset Delay is the amount of time, in milliseconds (ms), that a task waits before resuming monitoring after stock has been detected.

    • Recommended starting value: 5000ms.

      • Adjust as required depending on proxy quality and monotring needs
• What is a watch task?

  • When Watch Task is enabled, the task remains idle until a linked Monitor Task detects stock.
  • Once stock is found, the Watch Task automatically wakes up and begins attempting checkout.
  • This helps reduce unnecessary proxy usage and allows you to run large numbers of checkout tasks efficiently.
• What is "Use TopCashback" box?

  • Optional option after following the Topcashback guide.

    • When configured correctly, eligible purchases may earn cashback through TopCashback while your task checks out.
• What is "Retry on Decline" box?

  • When enabled, the task will automatically restart if:

    • Your payment card is declined, or
    • The product goes out of stock before checkout is completed.
  • This allows the task to continue attempting checkout without requiring manual intervention.

Important notes

• PID and SKU are completely different values. A SKU is not the PID without the leading p. They are unique identifiers and are not interchangeable.
• Monitor Mode only supports PIDs. Using a SKU in Monitor Mode will not monitor stock and your task will not work correctly.
• Guest Mode supports both PIDs and SKUs. If you have both values, create tasks using both for the best chance of success.
• A PID only exists once the product page is live. Before then, cook groups will usually only provide the SKU.
• Use high-quality ISP or Residential proxies. Poor-quality or flagged proxies are likely to trigger Akamai protection and reduce your success rate.
• Always test your setup before a release. Run a checkout on an in-stock item using invalid payment details to confirm your profiles, proxies, and settings are working correctly without placing an order.