So, I’ve been using this awesome service called “Smartsteem” lately - and they claim to be different than your ordinary bid bot/voting service/delegation rental (or selling) service.
I decided to reach out to one of their founders/lead devs and ask him a few questions - a few of them are from me personally, and a few are from others that were curious to learn more about the service - aka, @TheRealWolf.
I’ve run it for about 2-3 weeks now, and just got whitelisted - which means I can earn even more for my votes!
Using their voting service typically doubles the amount I put in: i.e., I input 2 SBD, and it typically will upvote my post for about $3.80-$4+. Which is a great return, if you think about it (pre-curation, that is).
If you’d like to check out and sign up for @SmartSteem, please use my referral link here, as it costs you nothing, and helps me grow a little more, which will help me grow @GamersUnited (our gaming curation community) even more!
Their website promises upwards of 180%-210% returns on any votes purchased, which sounds extremely enticing.
Let’s begin!
@GetSlothyy: So, Smartsteem - what made you decide to create this service? Where did you draw the inspiration from/why did you make this project one that was something you HAD to do?
I actually started working on the base concept of Smartsteem around September 2017. After the first launch, it was called Wolf’s Voting Bot - without a website and a lot fewer options. In October 2017 - I relaunched a much-reworked version of my voting bot including a website as Smartsteem.
@GetSlothyy: What separates you from the rest of the “bid-bots” out there? A lot of people frown upon the idea of simply chucking money at bots and doubling it. How do you see your service as being different, or even, more ethical?
Well, if you buy votes from Smartsteem.com - which is connected to 
Our bid-bot is very similar to the rest in the way it works - but the biggest difference is our approach to abuse. We don’t want to be the judge of what content should look like, but def. what it shouldn’t look like - e.g. copied videos from youtube with nothing else added.
@GetSlothyy: Your website states that you’ve upped your return rate to 180%-210% - this is a massive ROI if it’s real. Why such a high return rate and how do you remain profitable?
180% - 210% is not the ROI - but the vote-value you receive. Right now - the ROI you make is around 20%, calculated on the USD price.
@GetSlothyy: You have a referral program in place - so far, I’ve personally referred 8 people, and it promises me .5% from each person I refer for each vote they “sell” - also stating that it comes out of Smartsteem’s profit, and now theirs. This is a generous referral program - is there a cap on the number of referrals one can do?
No cap ;) You can refer as many people as you’d like!
@GetSlothyy: Your site doesn’t easily explain or display how others can set up their account to sell their votes - I mean, I know how to, it’s not hard to navigate to, but for the complete beginner, are there some basic steps you could outline so that they know how to do so, and recommendations on the level of voting % they should set it to?
While I do think that everything is pretty much self-explanatory - there is a post, which is not completely up-to-date but explains how to become a vote-seller:
Understanding SmartSteem: How to Use SmartSteem
@GetSlothyy: I see that your service uses SteemConnect, which many trust, but others are (reasonably so) wary of using - does your service only require the posting key? This is obviously the safest method for using a service as if it’s phished/hacked, the hacker cannot drain the account or change the owner password. Thoughts/comments?
SteemConnect is as secure as it gets - since it’s officially developed by SteemitInc and Busy. For the login on Smartsteem.com, we only require the posting or memo-key and nothing is saved afterward. For the vote-selling: we recently switched the authorization system, which means you authorize Smartsteem now directly with your posting-authority.
@GetSlothyy: My final personal question is this: your service promises 85% profit goes back to the vote-seller, while they also receive all curation rewards for voting, and the other 15% goes to SmartSteem - are there plans in the future to change this, or will it remain at this level forever? Will you offer a higher percentage for those that sell votes often/are WhiteListed at higher levels?
It will remain at this rate forever (99% guarantee). But you can choose a lower value yourself in the settings to support us even more.
You might not imagine it, but it’s a very stressful job maintaining and developing Smartsteem. Just yesterday after I woke up in the morning, I realized that Smartsteem had a technical outage and in the next 2 hours, I did nothing else but to take care of the situation - no toast, no tee - just pure work… :P
But don’t get me wrong - I love my job and what I’ve built with Smartsteem!
Q: This question comes from the Steemit user @Carn: How do bid-bots help Steemit as a social media site?
They help users - especially new ones - who don’t have a lot of followers and without a large stake of Steem - to get visibility, followers, readers, and curators.
Q: 1 more question from user @Carn: Is it a good thing that bid-bots are required to get into trending? What are your thoughts on this personally?
It’s not a good thing - but otherwise only people with a large stake of Steem would reach trending. The system has to change so that bid-bots aren’t needed anymore.
Thanks so much for your time, @TheRealWolf - it’s truly appreciated, and by doing this interview, I’m sure it will bring your service more business and users, as it will provide a lot more transparency as to what you’re all about.
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Thanks for having me @GetSlothyy and I’m glad that you’re on Steem and Smartsteem as well!
Joining SmartSteem is easy, and you can do so by signing up here!
Please consider delegating SP to our cause:
25SP,50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP
Want to delegate more? Contact @GetSlothyy if you have or need help!
