chenhui-x/toolbox/deals-research

Deals & Promo Research

Trigger: user asks for current deals/promos — cheap VPS, overseas SIM / 保号卡, 薅羊毛 — either one-shot ("帮我找找XX优惠") or as the recurring daily digest cron (6d6f9537521d, every 9:00 CST).

Core principles (user-mandated, non-negotiable)

1. 时效性第一 (timeliness) — Only include items published/updated in the last ~7 days. Open the page and check its publish date. Black-Friday / Christmas / CNY promo articles linger in search results for months and are the #1 trap. Vendor official price pages (e.g. racknerd.com/specials) are acceptable if they show current pricing.
2. 多源交叉验证 (multi-source cross-verification) — Every item needs ≥2 INDEPENDENT sources (vendor official + forum post + independent blog — NOT the same press release re-published). Single-source items: mark "⚠️ 仅单源" or drop.
3. 负面排查 (negative-risk check) — Before recommending a card/vendor, search <name> 封号/风控/翻车/跑路. Recent mass-ban / exit-scam / refund-less wave → mark risk or drop. (Worked case: giffgaff mass-ban 2026 — see references/sim-card-alternatives.md.)
4. 不因一次失效就永久拉黑 — a provider that failed once is NOT blacklisted forever; re-verify every cycle. The principle is cross-verification, not permanent exclusion. (User: "不是不再推他了，而是多方面信息交叉验证".)
5. 常识校验 (sanity) — Absurdly-low prices (50%+ below market) are red flags; coupon codes without official provenance are dropped; marketing-fluff pieces (小红书/百家号 style) need independent corroboration.
6. 宁可少而精 — 3 fresh verified items beat 10 stale ones.

Output format

• Sections: 📡 VPS / 📱 保号卡 / 🦙 羊毛
• Each item: 名称 → 价格/折扣 → 参与方式 → 购买链接 + 教程链接 (how to buy/activate/keep-alive) → 信息发布日期 → 多源验证状态
• User hates stale promos with no links. Every claim ships with its link.

Implementation

• Daily digest = Hermes cron job `6d6f9537521d` (0 9 * * * CST, enabled_toolsets=[web], deliver=origin). Full verified prompt in references/cron-prompt.md.
• To change behavior, update the cron prompt (cronjob action=update) — never recreate the job blindly.
• One-shot requests: follow the same verification protocol inline.

Pitfalls

• SERP snippets look "recent" even when the article is months old — ALWAYS open and check the publish date.
• Overseas SIM risk profiles change fast (giffgaff ban was sudden, 12万+ accounts). Re-check for bans before every recommendation cycle; don't trust last month's knowledge.
• Don't call a deal "verified" on a single aggregator post — two independent sources minimum.
• 保号卡 requests mean giffgaff-style low-cost keep-alive cards (cheap annual hold, free SMS receive, zero/low monthly) — not necessarily giffgaff itself.

References

• references/cron-prompt.md — the exact verified cron prompt (freshness + cross-validation + negative checks) used by the daily digest
• references/sim-card-alternatives.md — giffgaff 2026 mass-ban case study + verified low-cost keep-alive SIM alternatives (HK/US/UK)