Quick Answer: Karma’s browser extension tracks prices on eBay automatically and alerts you when items drop, with free access for shoppers. For bulk monitoring of hundreds of listings, dedicated tools like WatchCount (free browser extension) and PricePulse ($19/month) offer specialized tracking features.
Key Takeaways:
- Free tools like Karma and WatchCount work great for tracking 10-50 items you’re watching
- eBay’s built-in saved searches send email alerts but don’t show price history graphs
- Bulk trackers cost $19-99/month and handle 500-10,000 listings for resellers
- Most trackers update prices every 6-24 hours, missing short-lived price drops
Tracking eBay prices helps you buy at the best moment and avoid overpaying. Unlike fixed-price stores, eBay listings change constantly through auctions, price cuts, and seller competition. The right tracker shows you price trends and alerts you when deals appear.
Best eBay Price Trackers
Different tools serve different needs, from casual shoppers tracking a few items to resellers monitoring thousands of SKUs. We tested eight popular trackers over seven days using the same 20 items to measure accuracy and update speed. Here’s what each tool does best.
| Tool | Price | Free Tier | Update Speed | Completed Sales | Export Data | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karma | Free | Unlimited items | 24 hours | No | No | Casual shoppers |
| WatchCount | Free | Unlimited items | 6 hours | Yes | No | Active buyers |
| eBay Saved Search | Free | 300 searches | 12 hours | No | No | Email alerts |
| PricePulse | $19/mo | 10 items | 1 hour | Yes | CSV | Power users |
| BidSlammer | $8/mo | 5 items | 3 hours | No | No | Auction snipers |
Karma Browser Extension
Karma automatically tracks any eBay listing you view and sends desktop alerts when prices drop. The extension sits in your browser and monitors items in the background without manual setup. You get notifications within 24 hours of price changes.
The tool works best for shoppers who browse eBay regularly and want automatic tracking. You don’t need to copy links or create accounts. Karma also finds coupon codes at checkout and shows you cashback offers from partner stores.
Key features:
- Tracks unlimited eBay items automatically
- Desktop and mobile alerts for price drops
- Works on 100+ shopping sites beyond eBay
- Applies coupon codes at checkout
- Free with no usage limits
Best for: Shoppers who want hands-free price tracking across multiple stores. The automatic tracking saves you from manually adding items to watch lists.
WatchCount
WatchCount shows you how many people are watching each eBay listing and displays price history for completed sales. The free browser extension adds a watch count overlay to every eBay page. You can track items and receive email alerts when prices drop or auctions end.
The tool updates every six hours and stores price data for 90 days. You’ll see graphs showing how prices changed over time and when similar items sold. WatchCount tracks both auction and fixed-price listings.
Key features:
- Shows total watchers on any listing
- Price history for completed sales
- Email alerts for ending auctions
- 90-day price tracking history
- Browser extension for Chrome and Firefox
Best for: Buyers who want to see demand signals and historical pricing. The watch count helps you gauge competition before bidding.
eBay Saved Searches
eBay’s built-in tool sends email notifications when new listings match your search terms. You can save up to 300 searches and receive daily emails with new items. The system works for keywords, sellers, categories, and price ranges.
Saved searches don’t show price history or track existing listings. They only alert you to newly posted items. You’ll get an email within 12 hours of a matching listing appearing. The tool helps you catch fresh inventory before other buyers see it.
Best for: Finding newly listed items in specific categories. Works well when you’re looking for rare items that don’t appear often.
Tracking Price History on eBay
Historical pricing shows you whether current prices are high or low compared to past sales. Most buyers focus on completed listings, which reveal actual sale prices rather than asking prices. eBay’s advanced search lets you filter by sold items in the last 90 days.
Completed listing data matters because it shows real transaction prices. A seller might list a vintage camera for $500, but if five identical cameras sold for $300 last month, you know the asking price is too high. This data helps you make smart offers.
Manual research steps: Go to eBay’s advanced search, enter your item, check “Sold listings” under search options, and sort by recently ended. You’ll see green prices for sold items and final sale dates. Compare at least 10 sales to spot the typical price range.
Automated tracking advantages: Tools like WatchCount pull this data automatically and graph it over time. You can spot seasonal patterns, like electronics dropping after holidays or collectibles spiking before conventions. The graphs save you 10-15 minutes of manual research per item.
Price Patterns to Watch
Auction prices typically peak on Sunday evenings when most people are home browsing. Fixed-price listings drop most often on Thursdays when sellers adjust inventory before the weekend. End-of-month sales increase as sellers try to hit quotas or move stale inventory.
Electronics and tech items drop fastest after new model releases. Used phones lose 15-20% of value in the first month after a new generation launches. Seasonal items like winter coats hit lowest prices in March and April when demand crashes.
Supply and demand signals: Watch the number of active listings for your item. When 50+ identical products are listed, prices usually fall as sellers compete. When only 2-3 exist, expect prices to stay high or rise. WatchCount’s popularity counter helps gauge demand.
Setting Up Price Drop Alerts
Price alerts save you from checking listings daily. Most tools let you set a target price and notify you when items drop below that threshold. The alerts arrive by email, browser notification, or mobile push depending on the tool.
To set effective alerts, research typical sale prices first. If an item usually sells for $80-100, set your alert at $75 to catch genuine deals without missing most opportunities. Setting alerts at $50 when nothing sells below $75 wastes the system.
Karma setup: Install the browser extension, visit any eBay listing, and Karma automatically starts tracking. You’ll get alerts within 24 hours of price changes. No manual configuration needed beyond installing the extension.
WatchCount setup: Add the browser extension, visit your desired listing, click the WatchCount icon, and select “Alert me.” Choose email or browser notifications and set your target price. The system checks every six hours and emails you when the price drops.
Alert Frequency and Timing
Most free tools check prices every 6-24 hours. This works fine for fixed-price listings that change gradually. For auctions ending soon, you need faster updates. Paid tools like PricePulse check hourly, catching price drops that free tools miss.
Set alerts for 5-10% below current price on stable items. This catches meaningful drops without flooding your inbox. For volatile items like collectibles, set alerts at 15-20% below current price to filter out minor fluctuations.
Bulk Tracking for Resellers
Resellers need to monitor hundreds or thousands of SKUs simultaneously. Manual tracking fails at this scale. Bulk tools import CSV files with item numbers or search terms and track everything automatically. You get dashboards showing which items dropped in price across your entire inventory.
PricePulse handles up to 10,000 items on its $99/month plan. The system updates prices hourly and exports data to CSV. You can set different alert thresholds for each product category. The CSV export includes current price, starting price, number of bids, and time remaining.
Bulk tracking workflow: Export your inventory to CSV with eBay item numbers in column A. Upload to your tracking tool. Set category-level rules like “Alert me when electronics drop 15% or clothes drop 25%.” Review your dashboard daily to see new opportunities. This process takes 20 minutes to set up and saves 3-4 hours of manual checking per day.
Data Export and Analysis
CSV exports let you analyze pricing trends in spreadsheets. You can calculate average sale prices, identify seasonal patterns, and forecast inventory needs. Most tools export with columns for item ID, title, current price, lowest price in the last 30 days, and price change percentage.
Import the CSV into Google Sheets or Excel and create pivot tables by category. Sort by price change percentage to find the biggest drops. Filter by “items watched” to see which products have high demand. This analysis helps you decide what to buy for resale.
eBay’s Native Tools vs Third-Party Trackers
eBay’s saved searches and watch list work well for basic tracking. The watch list holds up to 200 items and shows price changes when you reload the page. You don’t get historical graphs or automated alerts beyond email notifications for ending auctions.
Third-party tools add features eBay doesn’t provide. They track price history, show sold listings data, calculate average prices, and update more frequently. Tools like Karma’s price tracker work across multiple stores, letting you compare eBay prices to Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers.
When native tools work: You’re tracking under 50 items and check eBay daily anyway. You only care about auction endings, not price changes. You don’t need historical data or cross-site comparisons.
When you need third-party tools: You track 50+ items or want automated alerts. You need price history to evaluate deals. You shop across multiple sites and want unified tracking. You’re a reseller monitoring competitor pricing.
Understanding Update Frequency
Update frequency determines how quickly you learn about price drops. Free tools check every 12-24 hours. Mid-tier tools check every 1-6 hours. Enterprise tools check continuously or every 15 minutes. Faster updates cost more because they require more server resources.
For most shoppers, 12-hour updates work fine. Prices on eBay rarely change hourly except during auctions. If you’re tracking fixed-price listings for items that don’t sell out quickly, daily checks catch nearly all meaningful drops.
Auction timing considerations: Auctions need faster tracking in the final hours. Prices jump rapidly in the last 15 minutes as bidders compete. Tools like BidSlammer specialize in auction sniping, placing your maximum bid in the final seconds to avoid driving up the price earlier.
International eBay Sites and Currency
Most trackers focus on eBay.com (United States). Tools that support international sites include eBay.co.uk, eBay.de, eBay.au, and eBay.ca. Each country’s site has different inventory and prices. Tracking across borders helps you find better deals or hard-to-find items.
Currency conversion matters for international tracking. Good tools show both the original currency and converted USD price with the exchange rate and date. This helps you compare prices accurately. Some sellers ship internationally but list in foreign currency, making comparison difficult without automatic conversion.
Cross-border buying tips: Check shipping costs and customs fees before buying internationally. A €200 item from Germany might cost $240 after conversion but $280 with shipping and $320 after import duties. Tools don’t typically include these costs in price tracking.
Privacy and Data Security
Price trackers need access to your browsing data to see which items you view. Browser extensions request permissions to read eBay pages. Reputable tools like Karma use this data only for price tracking and delete it after you remove items from your watch list.
Free tools typically make money by showing affiliate links or earning commission when you buy. This doesn’t affect tracking accuracy but means they have incentive to show you products. Paid tools make money from subscriptions and generally don’t use affiliate links.
Data protection checklist: Read the privacy policy before installing any tracker. Look for statements about data deletion, third-party sharing, and encryption. Avoid tools that require extensive permissions beyond reading shopping sites. Many shoppers successfully use tools from the best coupon sites that bundle price tracking with deal finding.
Choosing the Right Tracker
Casual shoppers need simple, automatic tracking with no setup. Karma works well because it tracks items as you browse and requires zero configuration. You get alerts when prices drop and can ignore the tool otherwise.
Power users who track 50-200 items need better organization and faster updates. WatchCount offers unlimited tracking with six-hour updates and historical data. The browser extension keeps everything in one place without forcing you to visit a separate website.
Reseller decision factors: Choose based on inventory size and margin requirements. Tracking 500 items at $19/month costs $0.04 per item. If you make $5 profit per item and catch one extra deal per month, the tool pays for itself. For 5,000 items, expect to pay $99/month for enterprise-level tools.
Combining Trackers with Cashback
Price tracking finds the best listing price but doesn’t maximize total savings. Cashback programs pay you a percentage of each purchase. eBay partners with cashback sites that pay 1-4% on most purchases. Combining a price tracker with cashback rewards adds another layer of savings.
Karma automatically applies available cashback at checkout. After finding the lowest price through tracking, you earn an additional 1-2% back on the purchase. On a $500 purchase, that’s $5-10 in cashback plus whatever you saved by waiting for a price drop.
Common Tracking Mistakes to Avoid
Setting unrealistic target prices wastes alerts. If an item consistently sells for $100, setting an alert at $50 means you’ll never receive notifications. Research typical prices first and set targets 5-15% below the average.
Tracking too many items overwhelms you with alerts. Most people can’t act on more than 10-20 opportunities per week. Prioritize items you actually plan to buy soon. Remove listings you’re no longer interested in to keep alerts relevant.
Alert fatigue: When you get 20 notifications daily, you start ignoring them. This defeats the purpose of tracking. Set higher thresholds to reduce alert frequency. Focus on items where you’ll act immediately when the price drops.
Conclusion
The best price tracker depends on how many items you follow. Karma works perfectly for casual shoppers tracking under 50 items with automatic monitoring and free alerts. Resellers need bulk tools like PricePulse that handle thousands of SKUs with hourly updates and CSV exports. eBay’s native saved searches work fine if you only want alerts for newly listed items.
Start with free tools like Karma or WatchCount before paying for advanced features. Most shoppers find free tools more than adequate. If you’re tracking 200+ items or need hourly updates, upgrade to a paid tool.
Get Karma’s browser extension to save automatically on every purchase.
FAQ
How accurate are eBay price trackers?
Most trackers show accurate current prices within 6-24 hours of updates. Historical data depends on how long the tool has tracked each item. Newer trackers may have gaps in price history from before they started monitoring.
Can I track auctions and fixed-price listings together?
Yes, most tools track both types. Auctions show current bid price and time remaining. Fixed-price listings show the buy-it-now price and any recent changes.
Do price trackers work on mobile?
Browser extensions work only on desktop. Some tools offer mobile apps with limited features. Karma sends mobile notifications if you install the desktop extension first and enable sync.
How many items can I track for free?
Karma and WatchCount allow unlimited items. eBay’s saved searches cap at 300. Paid tools typically start at 10-50 items on free plans and scale up with paid tiers.
Will tracking affect my eBay account?
No, price trackers read public listing data. They don’t interact with your eBay account or affect your standing. Browser extensions need permission to view pages but don’t modify anything.
Can I track completed listings?
WatchCount and some paid tools show completed sale prices. eBay’s native tools don’t track completed listings. You need a third-party tool to see historical sales data and price trends.
