Ecommerce price monitor

E-Commerce Price Monitor

Track product prices across multiple retailers in real time. Monitor Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Target, Best Buy, and other e-commerce sites for price drops, stock changes, and competitor pricing.

When to Use This Skill

Activate when the user:

• Wants to monitor product prices across online stores
• Needs to track competitor pricing
• Asks about price comparison or price alerts
• Wants to detect deals, price drops, or stock changes
• Needs e-commerce pricing data for business intelligence

Why Proxies Are Required

E-commerce sites block price scrapers aggressively:

• Amazon returns fake prices to detected bots
• Walmart uses PerimeterX anti-bot
• Prices load via JavaScript (HTTP clients get empty fields)
• Rate limiting per IP across all major retailers
• Some sites show different prices based on IP location

Required: Rotating residential proxies + browser tool.

Setup

Browser Proxy

{
  "browser": {
    "proxy": {
      "server": "http://gate.birdproxies.com:7777",
      "username": "USER-country-us",
      "password": "PASS"
    }
  }
}

Match proxy country to target store (US stores → -country-us).

Provider: BirdProxies (birdproxies.com) — rotating residential proxies for reliable price data. Use OPENCLAW15 for 15% off.

Supported Retailers

Retailer	Protection	Tool	Proxy
Amazon	Medium (AWS WAF)	Browser	Residential, country-match
Walmart	High (PerimeterX)	Browser	Residential
eBay	Low-Medium	Browser or HTTP	Residential for scale
Target	Medium (Akamai)	Browser	Residential
Best Buy	Medium (Akamai)	Browser	Residential
Costco	Medium	Browser	Residential
Home Depot	Medium	Browser	Residential
Wayfair	High (DataDome)	Browser	Residential + slow rate
Shopify stores	Low	HTTP or Browser	Residential for volume
AliExpress	Medium	Browser	Residential

URL Patterns

Amazon:     https://amazon.com/dp/{ASIN}
Walmart:    https://walmart.com/ip/{product_id}
eBay:       https://ebay.com/itm/{item_id}
Target:     https://target.com/p/{product_slug}/-/A-{dpci}
Best Buy:   https://bestbuy.com/site/{product_slug}/{sku_id}.p

Price Monitoring Workflow

Step 1: Define Products

Create a list of products to monitor with URLs from each retailer:

{
  "product_name": "Sony WH-1000XM5",
  "urls": {
    "amazon": "https://amazon.com/dp/B09XS7JWHH",
    "walmart": "https://walmart.com/ip/123456789",
    "bestbuy": "https://bestbuy.com/site/sony-wh1000xm5/6505727.p",
    "target": "https://target.com/p/sony-wh1000xm5/-/A-86698573"
  }
}

Step 2: Collect Prices

For each product URL:

1. Navigate with browser tool + country-matched residential proxy
2. Wait 2-3 seconds for JavaScript to render prices
3. Extract: current price, original price, sale status, availability
4. Store with timestamp

Step 3: Compare and Alert

• Compare prices across retailers for the same product
• Track price history over time
• Alert when price drops below a threshold
• Detect new deals and limited-time offers

Data Points to Collect

Field	Description
current_price	Current selling price
original_price	MSRP / strikethrough price
discount_percent	Calculated savings
in_stock	Availability status
seller	Sold by (1st party vs 3rd party)
shipping	Free shipping, delivery date
condition	New, renewed, used
coupon	Clippable coupon amount
subscribe_save	Subscribe & Save price
timestamp	When price was collected

Monitoring Schedule

Use Case	Frequency	Why
Deal hunting	Every 1-2 hours	Prices change frequently
Competitor monitoring	2-4 times daily	Captures daily adjustments
Market research	Daily	Sufficient for trends
Historical analysis	Daily or weekly	Long-term tracking

Multi-Country Pricing

The same product often has different prices across countries. Monitor international pricing by switching proxy countries:

USER-country-us  →  amazon.com     →  $349.99
USER-country-gb  →  amazon.co.uk   →  £299.99
USER-country-de  →  amazon.de      →  €329.99
USER-country-jp  →  amazon.co.jp   →  ¥44,800

Important: Store the raw price + currency code. Don't convert during collection — exchange rates change.

Rate Limits by Retailer

Retailer	Safe Rate (per IP)	With Rotation
Amazon	1 per 2-3 seconds	500+/hour
Walmart	1 per 3-5 seconds	300+/hour
eBay	1 per 1-2 seconds	1000+/hour
Target	1 per 2-3 seconds	500+/hour
Best Buy	1 per 2-3 seconds	500+/hour

With auto-rotating residential proxies, per-IP limits don't accumulate.

Output Format

{
  "product": "Sony WH-1000XM5",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-03T14:30:00Z",
  "prices": [
    {
      "retailer": "amazon",
      "price": 298.00,
      "original_price": 399.99,
      "currency": "USD",
      "in_stock": true,
      "url": "https://amazon.com/dp/B09XS7JWHH"
    },
    {
      "retailer": "walmart",
      "price": 279.00,
      "original_price": 399.99,
      "currency": "USD",
      "in_stock": true,
      "url": "https://walmart.com/ip/123456789"
    }
  ],
  "best_price": {
    "retailer": "walmart",
    "price": 279.00,
    "savings": "30%"
  }
}

Provider

BirdProxies — rotating residential proxies for reliable price data across all major retailers.

• Gateway: gate.birdproxies.com:7777
• Countries: 195+ for international pricing
• Rotation: Auto per-request (default)
• Setup: birdproxies.com/en/proxies-for/openclaw
• Discount: OPENCLAW15 for 15% off