How I Track 500 Products

By Lynx •

How I Track 500+ Products
The Simple System Behind Smarter Shopping

Why Tracking Matters

Prices shift constantly. Retailers adjust them every day, sometimes every hour, based on supply, demand, competitor activity, and even what you’ve looked at before. One minute an item costs $79.99, the next it’s $94.50, and a banner might still claim “limited time sale.”

That’s why tracking is essential. It cuts through the noise and helps you recognize what’s real. It gives you leverage. When you can see how often a price drops or spikes, you control the timing instead of letting marketing dictate it.

Tracking also builds awareness. It teaches you which retailers quietly inflate “original” prices before discounting them again, which ones actually run seasonal sales, and which brands never change their price at all. Once you understand those patterns, your shopping decisions become smarter and calmer.

You don’t need a PhD in data or twenty apps. My personal system grew from watching ten Amazon products in a spreadsheet to monitoring over five hundred items across multiple retailers, all automatically. The best part: no spam, no browser clutter, no wasted alerts.

Step 1: Pick Reliable Tracking Tools

Your tools are the foundation. Pick the wrong ones, and you’ll drown in false alerts or bad data. Choose wisely, and you’ll spot genuine savings with almost no effort.

1. Keepa (keepa.com)
Keepa is my go to for Amazon. It records price history on every product and lets you visualize months of changes instantly. The graphs reveal when a “deal” is actually lower than average or just another marketing trick. You can even track Lightning Deals and Warehouse resales separately.

2. CamelCamelCamel (camelcamelcamel.com)
For a simpler experience, CamelCamelCamel is perfect. It’s browser free and email driven. You paste a link, choose a target price, and it notifies you when that threshold hits. It’s slower to refresh than Keepa but ideal for anyone who doesn’t want constant notifications.

3. PriceBlink (priceblink.com)
This extension compares prices across stores automatically. You’ll see a small pop up showing whether Walmart, Best Buy, or Newegg has the same product for less. It’s especially helpful for electronics and household gear.

4. Slickdeals Alerts (slickdeals.net)
The human touch. Slickdeals is a community platform where users share and vote on discounts. Instead of algorithms, you get real world validation from shoppers who tested those deals themselves. You can follow keywords, categories, or even specific products.

5. Octoshop (octoshop.com)
Another solid multi retailer tool that sends quick comparisons while you shop online. It helps you see if that “exclusive” Amazon price is actually exclusive at all.

Use two at most. More adds confusion. Redundant trackers overlap and can trigger competing alerts, which means noise instead of insight.

Step 2: Organize Your Products

Once you hit more than twenty tracked items, organization becomes key. I use Google Sheets as the hub. It’s flexible, free, and cloud synced. My columns are simple: Product, Category, Retailer, Current Price, Target Price, Change %, and Notes.

Conditional formatting makes everything visual. Green rows mean “buy now.” Yellow means “almost there.” Red means “hold off.” It turns a long list into a quick glance dashboard.

If you want to get fancy, link Keepa exports to the sheet via CSV import. It updates automatically. You can filter by category, view only active drops, or track how often an item dips below your buy threshold.

This organization layer is what allows me to scale. Without it, 500 items would feel like chaos.

Step 3: Automate Notifications

Manual checking kills momentum. Automation keeps you informed without distraction. Here’s how to balance it.

I also set quiet hours. Price drops can wait until morning. The goal isn’t to react instantly, it’s to make informed decisions at your pace.

Step 4: Compare Across Retailers

Never assume the big names have the best price. I’ve seen B&H Photo undercut Amazon for months, while Walmart quietly lists clearance stock that doesn’t appear in Google Shopping results.

Use comparison engines like Google Shopping, ShopMania, or even Idealo. They scrape multiple listings at once. But always click through, aggregators sometimes lag a few hours behind real time prices.

If you’re buying high value tech, check manufacturer stores directly. Many brands match major retailers but include extras like warranties or accessories.

For international buyers, switch country domains in Keepa or CamelCamelCamel. Regional warehouses and currency conversions can swing prices by 15% or more.

Step 5: Identify Fake Discounts

Most “sales” aren’t sales at all. Retailers love artificial markdowns. They inflate a product’s “original” price just before cutting it again to look generous. Price tracking graphs expose these tricks immediately.

If you notice a sudden spike followed by a “half off” label, skip it. Real deals show a consistent baseline drop, not a theatrical plunge.

Also, beware of bundles. Sometimes stores package low demand accessories with popular items to make the deal seem bigger. Unless you need everything included, you’re paying more for less.

Lightning deals, daily drops, and “members only” coupons all rely on urgency. Always cross check the regular price before buying.

Maintenance and Cleanup

Maintenance is what keeps your tracking setup sustainable. Once a month, I prune my list. Anything I’ve bought or lost interest in gets archived. That keeps the data lean and the alerts relevant.

If you’re tracking multiple categories like tech, home, kitchen, or apparel, split them into separate tabs. This lets you focus without distraction.

Export your sheet quarterly. Even if everything’s cloud based, a local backup never hurts. I keep mine as both CSV and PDF for quick sharing.

It’s also smart to tag products you’ve already bought. I mark them with a gray background and date purchased. That helps track trends for future reference.

Step 6: Advanced Tweaks

Once your foundation works, you can refine it further.

FAQ

Isn’t this too much work?
Once you set it up, it runs itself. I spend less than 10 minutes a week maintaining it. Most of the system works passively through alerts and auto syncing.

Can I do this entirely on mobile?
Yes. Keepa and CamelCamelCamel both have mobile optimized sites. Google Sheets also works seamlessly on phones and tablets.

Are price trackers always accurate?
The good ones are. They pull directly from product databases instead of screenshots. Still, double check big ticket items before buying.

What about privacy?
Stick to reputable tools with transparent policies. Avoid extensions that demand full browsing permissions without clear justification.

Can I share or publish my tracker?
Absolutely. Sharing your setup helps others save too. Just strip out any personal info before posting.

Conclusion

Tracking isn’t just about saving a few dollars. It’s about awareness. When you know the real price history, you shop with confidence instead of guesswork. You stop chasing “limited time” deals and start buying on your own terms.

The right system turns every purchase into a data backed decision. Less impulse, more control.

Once you start tracking, you’ll never go back to guessing.

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