The Free Alternative to Paid Monitoring Tools

Not every seller has budget for Yaballe or AutoDS from day one. Price alert tools like CamelCamelCamel (for Amazon), Keepa (for Amazon), and Honey (for general retail) give you free monitoring for products you are tracking — and can alert you the moment a buying opportunity appears.

The strategy: identify products you want to sell on eBay, set price alerts on their source, then wait for the alert email. When the source price drops to a profitable level, list immediately on eBay before other sellers notice.

Tool 1: CamelCamelCamel — Amazon Price History & Alerts

CamelCamelCamel is the most popular free Amazon price tracker. It maintains a full price history chart for every Amazon product and sends you an email when the price drops to your target.

Reading the Price History Chart

The most valuable thing CamelCamelCamel gives you is price history. Before setting an alert, look at the chart and ask:

• What is the lowest price this product has hit in the last 6 months?
• How often does it drop to that price? (Once? Regularly?)
• Is the current price high, average, or already low?

If the current price is already near the 6-month low, you have a buying opportunity now — no alert needed. If it is near the 6-month high, set an alert and wait.

Tool 2: Keepa — The Advanced Amazon Price Tracker

Keepa provides more detailed data than CamelCamelCamel. The free tier shows price history charts with a slight delay; the paid tier ($17/mo) gives real-time data and more alert options.

Setting Up Keepa Alerts

Install the Keepa browser extension → when viewing any Amazon product page, a Keepa chart appears automatically below the product. Click the bell icon to set a price alert. Keepa sends you an email (and optionally a browser notification) when the price hits your target.

The Keepa extension also shows you the Buy Box price history — critically important for online arbitrage sellers because Amazon's Buy Box price (not the listing price) is what matters for your sourcing calculation.

Tool 3: Honey — For Walmart, Target & Other Retailers

Honey (now part of PayPal) monitors prices on 30,000+ retailers, not just Amazon. For eBay sellers who source from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, or Costco, Honey fills the gap that CamelCamelCamel and Keepa can't cover.

Building Your Alert Pipeline — The Complete System

The most effective approach combines all three tools based on your sourcing channel:

When You Get an Alert — The 15-Minute Action Checklist

Getting an alert means nothing if you don't act fast. Here is what to do in the 15 minutes after receiving a price alert:

1. Verify the price is still valid — visit the source and confirm the price shown in the alert is still live
2. Recalculate margin — use your margin calculator (eBay price − source price − 13.25% eBay fee − shipping cost)
3. Check eBay sold listings — is there still demand at your planned eBay price? (30-second check)
4. List immediately — use your listing template, update the price, publish
5. Set a re-check reminder — in 48 hours, verify the source price hasn't jumped back up