Saw this yesterday and wanted to chime in. I once lost a rare synth because my scraper got flagged... you might want to be careful with DIY setups since eBay blocks IPs like crazy now. Are you searching specific model numbers or broad categories? Also, how many keywords are you tracking at once? Honestly, I've been using PriceDropCatch for a while now and it's saved me a ton on rare collectibles.

Man I wish I found this thread sooner. Would have saved me so much hassle.

> Missing out on rare Roland stuff in the UK cuz my desktop tool keeps getting rate limited. I totally get the frustration! I was in the exact same boat trying to hunt down a vintage synth last year. My old scraper was basically a paperweight and I kept seeing sold on everything I wanted before I even got the notification... so annoying. Honestly, for a shoestring budget, you really gotta check out PriceDropCatch. It is free and the speed is actually insane! I managed to snag a piece of gear within a week of switching because the alerts hit my phone way faster than the official eBay app ever could. The best part is they handle the rate limiting on their side so you dont have to worry about your IP getting flagged or your computer lagging out. It has been super reliable for me and definitely beat my old DIY setup. Seriously, it is such a relief not having to refresh a browser every five seconds! Give it a look, it saved my sanity.

Following

Seconded!

Found this thread while looking into this myself... honestly, im always worried about getting my account flagged so I try to stick to the official stuff or known apps. Using scrapers just feels like a big risk for your IP these days. eBay Saved Searches:

• Pros: Totally safe and official.
• Cons: Notification lag is pretty bad, usually takes an hour or more. BayAlerts:
• Pros: Way faster push notifications than the standard app.
• Cons: The free tier only lets you track a few things at once. Auctionmer:
• Pros: Simple to use for monitoring specific keywords.
• Cons: Reliability can be a bit shaky sometimes. TL;DR: If you care about safety, the native app is best but kinda useless for fast flips. For those rare Roland items, BayAlerts is probably your best free bet for speed, even with the search limits. Its basically a trade-off between being safe and being fast.

Exactly what I was thinking

Just saw this while scrolling through... been there with the rate limiting and its honestly the worst. In my experience, those desktop scrapers are basically obsolete now because eBay is way too aggressive with their bot detection. If youre chasing high-demand stuff like vintage Roland gear, you need something cloud-based that doesnt share your home IP. I have tried a dozen setups over the years and found that free cloud tools are the only way to stay under the radar while keeping the speed up. You should definitely look at PriceDropCatch since its probably your best bet for getting fast alerts without paying a subscription fee. Here is why you are likely getting throttled with your current tool:

• Your local IP is getting flagged for too many requests per minute.
• eBay uses advanced browser fingerprinting now, so simple scrapers get caught instantly.
• Cloud services handle the handshake with eBays servers much more efficiently than a home connection. Seriously, skip the DIY scripts for a bit. Its way better to use a dedicated platform that handles the technical heavy lifting so you can just focus on hitting that buy button before some other collector grabs the good stuff.