Are your IPs actually being blocked?
The most common reason for “no results” is that your IPs are already flagged or banned — you’re sending requests, but the target site is silently rejecting or misrouting them.
IP reputation check
Do fraud/bot databases flag your IPs?
IP reputation databases (Maxmind, IPInfo, IPQS) maintain blocklists that major websites query in real time. If your proxy IPs appear on these lists, you’ll get blocked before your request even reaches the site’s main logic — often getting back a fake 200 OK or a CAPTCHA loop.
How to check
Run your proxy IPs through ipqualityscore.com, scamalytics.com, or ipinfo.io. Look for “Proxy: Yes”, “VPN: Yes”, or a fraud score above 75. Any datacenter IP with a score above 50 is likely already burned for many targets.
How to fix it
- Request fresh IPs or a new subnet from your provider immediately — burned IPs rarely recover.
- Switch from datacenter to residential or ISP proxies if the target is a high-value site (e-commerce, sneaker sites, social).
- Ask your provider for “clean” IP pools — reputable providers maintain separate pools for sensitive targets.
- Implement IP rotation on every request or every session, not every hour.
✓ IPs look clean
✗ IPs are flagged
Response code analysis
What are you actually receiving back?
Blocks don’t always look like blocks. Sites often return misleading responses — a 200 OK that contains a CAPTCHA page, a 403 that looks polite, or redirects to a honeypot. You can’t fix what you’re not measuring.
How to check
Log the actual HTTP status codes, response body size, and a content hash for every request. If you see: 403/429 = rate limit or block. 200 with <5KB response = probably a CAPTCHA or decoy page. Redirects to /blocked or /challenge = active detection.
How to fix it
- Build response validation into your scraper — check body content, not just status code.
- If you see 429s, you’re hitting rate limits. Reduce request frequency, add randomized delays (3–15 seconds), and rotate IPs more aggressively.
- If you see CAPTCHAs, your fingerprint is triggering bot detection — see Check 3.
- Track success rate as a metric: (valid responses / total requests). Below 70% means something is actively broken.
✓ Responses look valid
✗ Getting blocks/CAPTCHAs
Is your proxy type wrong for the target?
The single biggest cause of wasted proxy spend: using datacenter proxies for targets that require residential or ISP IPs. The mismatch makes detection trivial.
Proxy type vs. target difficulty
Does your proxy tier match what the site requires?
Sites have different detection sophistication. Using a hammer where you need a scalpel burns IPs and money. Here’s the match you need:
Proxy tier matcher
Datacenter: Non-protected APIs, public data, speed-critical tasks where blocking risk is low.
ISP proxies: Sneaker sites, mid-tier e-commerce, moderate-protection sites. Fast + residential-looking.
Residential: Social media, protected e-commerce, high-value scraping targets, geo-restricted content.
Mobile proxies: The hardest targets — platforms that fingerprint device type, apps that require mobile IPs.
How to fix it
- Identify what tier your target falls into by testing a small batch with each type and comparing success rates.
- For sneaker/retail: don’t use plain datacenter — ISP or residential gives 3–5× better success rate on most platforms.
- For social media automation: residential is the minimum — mobile proxies give best results.
- Don’t overbuy: if datacenter works for your target, there’s no reason to pay for residential.
✓ Right proxy type for target
✗ Mismatch — need to upgrade
Is your browser/request fingerprint triggering detection?
A clean residential IP won’t help if your HTTP headers, TLS fingerprint, or browser behavior looks robotic. Advanced sites check both the IP and the client signature.
Request headers & fingerprint
Do your requests look like a real browser?
Modern anti-bot systems like Cloudflare, Akamai, and Datadome don’t just check IPs. They inspect TLS handshake patterns, HTTP/2 fingerprints (JA3/JA4 hashes), header order, and JavaScript behavior. A Python requests library call looks nothing like Chrome, even on a clean residential IP.
How to check
Visit browserleaks.com or pixelscan.net through your proxy setup. Check your JA3 hash against known bot fingerprints. Compare your User-Agent header against the browser version in your TLS fingerprint — they must match.
How to fix it
- Use a real browser engine: Playwright or Puppeteer with a proper Chrome profile, not raw HTTP requests.
- Set realistic headers — include
Accept-Language,Accept-Encoding,Sec-Ch-Uaheaders that match your User-Agent exactly.
- Use a library like
curl-impersonateortls-clientto mimic Chrome’s TLS fingerprint in Python.
- Add human-like delays, mouse movements, and scroll events if using a headless browser.
- Never use headless=True without stealth patches (use
playwright-stealthor equivalent).
✓ Fingerprint looks clean
✗ Headers/fingerprint detected
Is your pool size big enough?
Too few IPs for your request volume is one of the most overlooked causes of poor results. Sites track request frequency per IP — even clean IPs get flagged if overused.
IP pool size vs. request volume
Are you overloading each IP?
Most targets tolerate roughly 5–50 requests per IP before triggering rate limits, depending on site sensitivity. If you’re making 10,000 requests/day with 20 IPs, each IP is making 500 requests — that’s a guaranteed block regardless of IP quality.
How to check
Calculate: (daily requests) ÷ (IPs in pool) = requests per IP per day. For sensitive targets, aim for under 20 requests/IP/day. For easier targets, under 200 is usually fine. If you’re far above this, your pool is too small.
How to fix it
- Expand your IP pool — buy more IPs or switch to a provider with a larger residential pool.
- Use sticky sessions strategically: rotate IPs per task, not per account — keeps the same IP for one complete session, different IPs for different sessions.
- Reduce unnecessary requests — cache responses, deduplicate targets, avoid retry storms.
- For time-sensitive tasks (drops, releases), use a burst pool with fresh IPs reserved only for that window.
✓ Pool size is adequate
✗ Pool is too small
Is your proxy provider actually delivering quality?
Not all proxies sold as “residential” are residential. Some providers resell burned datacenter IPs or peer-to-peer networks with unpredictable quality. You need to verify what you’re actually getting.
Provider quality audit
Verify uptime, speed, and IP type claims
Providers vary massively in actual quality vs. marketing claims. The only way to know is to measure. Key metrics: connection success rate (should be >95%), average latency (<1s for residential, <200ms for datacenter), and IP type verification (your IPs should actually show as residential at
How to run a quality test
Make 100 test requests through your proxy pool to httpbin.org/ip. Log: response time, success/fail rate, and check each returned IP at ipinfo.io to confirm type. Compare against provider claims. Also test specifically against your target domain — some IPs are clean generally but burned for specific sites.
When to switch providers
Stay with your provider if
- Success rate >90% on test target
- IPs verify as correct type
- Latency is within claimed range
- Support resolves issues within 24h
- Fresh IPs available on request
Switch providers if
- Success rate <70% with right setup
- IPs show as datacenter despite “residential” plan
- Pool hasn’t been refreshed in 30+ days
- No trial or test option offered
- Support is slow or dismissive
✓ Provider quality checks out
✗ Provider underdelivering
Our methodology is built on real proxy user experiences. We collect community feedback, analyze real-world use cases, and transform those insights into unbiased expert guides. ProxyViews focuses on practical performance, limitations, and applications to help users make informed proxy decisions.
