I just posted this as a comment but thought more people might have this question. You are indeed able to execute a purchase on sold-out items without having to outcompete bots by spamming the refresh button. Here is my strategy:
I had this problem when getting a red rebel a few weeks back. My trick was to spam refresh until the deal became available (I did this from the flea market screen, looking at Jaeger’s barter). Once able to click the “purchase” button you’ll be told that it’s out of stock. Just walk away at this point until the hour (or however long the reset timer is) goes by so that the “purchase” button remains clickable and does not register the “out of stock” status. Pretty much don’t leave the flea market screen so that the flea market is unable to refresh the stock count to zero and red out the purchase button, making it unclickable. You want the game to let you click the purchase button and tell you that it’s out of stock. After the reset timer is almost done start spamming the purchase button (as much as five minutes out from the end of the reset timer). That should let you make the trade as soon as the new stock is updated.
Sorry if this isn’t clear. I’m typing on mobile while “working” from home. It was successful the first time I tried it, and this was back when jaeger was only getting 80ish red rebels per reset. Anyway the general strategy is to be able to spam “Purchase” instead of the refresh button so that you aren’t reliant on any synchronization of clocks.
Cheers
