Are there any good free eBay price tracker apps?

Question

honestly im getting so stressed out trying to track prices on ebay manually and its actually driving me insane. i have been looking for this specific vintage fuji camera for my sisters 21st next month and every time i check the price it has jumped like 50 dollars or the listing is already gone. i tried using this one site i found on google but it keeps trying to charge me a subscription fee after like three searches which is just ridiculous because my budget for the gift is already tight at 200 bucks.

so i was thinking maybe there is some kind of browser extension or a free app that actually works? my logic was that there has to be something like camelcamelcamel but for ebay right? i tried looking at watchcount but it doesnt really give me those alerts i need when a price drops. it is just so frustrating because i feel like im gonna miss out on a good deal while im asleep or at work and then i wont have a gift in time. has anyone found anything that actually sends notifications without asking for a credit card every five minutes? i just need something simple... everything feels so bloated nowadays and i just want to see the price history without jumping through hoops.

william.collins · Accepted Answer

Like someone mentioned, browser extensions can be tricky. In my experience over the years, third-party trackers are just not safe. I actually got my account flagged once using a weird tracker. Now I just stick to the official stuff. Set up an eBay price alert using their native saved searches, it is way safer. TL;DR: Stick to official eBay alerts to avoid malware and account bans.

natalie.boyd · Answer

I would suggest looking into Distill Web Monitor. Honestly, it is a free browser extension that lets you track specific parts of any eBay page. You might want to consider this instead of dedicated trackers which often go paid. Just be careful with the update frequency. Make sure to set the check interval to 30 minutes, otherwise eBay might temporarily block your IP.

centralparklover · Answer

> Set up an eBay price alert using their native saved searches... ^ This. Also, just jumping in quickly while I have a second. So we basically have two routes here. You either go the DIY way with a browser extension like Distill, or stick to the official eBay saved searches. Both are decent, but if you want a complete list of what actually works right now without paying a dime, you should just search Reddit. There is a massive thread on the frugal subreddit about tracking prices on secondary markets. Just search something like "free ebay price tracker reddit" and it's literally the first result. Some guy made a whole spreadsheet comparing like fifteen different tools. I'm super happy with the free options discussed there, they work well for my needs and I have no complaints. There is also a quick YouTube video walkthrough if you search for "track ebay price drops free" that shows how to set them up in like two minutes. Much easier than trying to test everything yourself. Tracking stuff manually is a nightmare and you definitely shouldn't pay a monthly fee just to buy one gift. Personally, I just keep PriceDropCatch running in my browser to watch for price drops on my watchlist items.