Walmart inventory "hack" for Google Chrome

[primalmu]

I came across a guy on a Facebook group trying to trade people his "super secret hack" for money/guns/ammo. I couldn't allow him to scam people, so I came up with my own instructions for how to do this in Google Chrome, free of charge!

This was performed on a Mac, and although Chrome SHOULD be the same on Windows, I can't guarantee that this method will work on Windows.

1) Go to Walmart.com and set your local store.
2) Search "ammo" (or a more specific term like "9mm") and click on the ammo you are interested in checking stock on.
3) Open up your Developer Tools (View -> Developer -> Developer Tools)
4) Bring up your Find prompt (Command+F in Mac OSX) and type "STORE_MSG"
5) The search should bring up a line of code that says:
6) Double click on "style="display: none;" and it will let you edit it.
7) Delete "display: none;" and hit enter, and it will show you if the ammo is in stock.

The only caveat is that you have to do this individually for each item you wish to check.

 

[ChaoSS]

It's not the same for developer tools. In chrome the easiest way to bring up developer tools is to hit F12. Then to bring up your find tool you click in the developer tools box and hit F3, which brings up the search box.

Then after you find the appropriate line, you single click on it, and it brings up a box on the right hand side where you can "unclick" the selection.


If this doesn't make sense to anyone let me know, I can clarify.

 

[Robert]

Never in my life did I ever think I'd see people hacking the web to stalk Walmart.

 

[primalmu]

For what its worth, I attempted to follow those instructions and couldn't find anything to unselect in the right pane. Maybe it is a difference in versions of Chrome? Anyway, that's when I decided to figure out my own method that I outlined above.

 

[primalmu]

Robert... times, they are a'changin'.

 

[jrhyne]

I've tried this, but there's no instance of "STORE_MSG" anywhere on the page.

 

[primalmu]

jrhyne, are you sure when you search that you are searching within the developer tools window rather than trying to search the actual displayed webpage?

One thing I noticed is that I had to use the keyboard command to bring up the correct Find box. If I went to Edit --> Find it would bring up the Find box for the displayed website instead.

 

[tarosean]

While your playing on the computer, Billy Bob and his cousins already bought it.

 

[bthest86]

Probably easier to just ask the employees?

 

[Midwest]

Probably easier to just ask the employees?

And the answer would be "we have no idea what will be on the truck, come back at 8pm and wait in line".

 

[primalmu]

Because in the time it takes to check on one of the calibers at the closest Walmart, I can go online and check all the local Walmarts for all the calibers I shoot.

Question the necessity of this trick all you want, but the fact is this is all over the net on multiple gun forums. I merely gave instructions for performing this trick in Chrome, whereas all the instructions I've seen were for Internet Explorer (which is a no-go for many people).

 

[bthest86]

And the answer would be "we have no idea what will be on the truck, come back at 8pm and wait in line".

Maybe but even nifty internet voodoo probably won't change that situation. I agree it could be useful to narrow stores down, but I guess it would only work if that info updated fairly regularly.

Though the idea that store is stocking products and then obstructing people from buying said product seems a little far fetched.

 

[Tipro]

Probably easier to just ask the employees?

Getting anyone at Walmart to answer the phone has always been impossible for me to do.

 

[MoMatt]

Neat! Thanks.

 

[hso]

Thanks for sharing that with the members of THR.

 

[red04montels]

Not exactly a hack, but that's cool I suppose lol

 

[MachIVshooter]

Never in my life did I ever think I'd see people hacking the web to stalk Walmart.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

A REAL hack would be a way to divert, say, 1 round out of every 10,000 from the manufacturer straight to an anonymous drop-box for a couple weeks.

Sort of a play on the infamous "half-cents" trick in the movies...

 

[red04montels]

Or you order 10 boxes they ship 15, after only paying for the original 10.

 

[primalmu]

Guys, I said "hack" in parentheses for a reason! I know its not a hack, but that's what the scammer called it, so I continued to call it that in jest.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Guys, I said "hack" in parentheses for a reason! I know its not a hack, but that's what the scammer called it, so I continued to call it that in jest.

No worries! Speaking for myself, my posting was meant solely in jest and was in no way meant to be taken offensively.