13/05/2026 1:19 am
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Ive been tracking gear prices for my photography business for years now and usually I just stick to the standard stuff like Keepa or CamelCamelCamel. But lately I’ve been getting a bit paranoid about how much data these extensions are actually scraping from my own browsing habits while they wait for a price drop. I’m currently looking to pick up a couple of Sony A7R V bodies for my studio here in Chicago and since those are like $3900 a piece I really need to catch a sale but I dont want to be logged into a service that connects my search history to my actual Amazon account.
I tried setting up a basic script with a headless browser and some rotating proxies but honestly it is becoming a massive headache to maintain with all the bot detection Amazon has these days. I just want something that lets me monitor specific URLs without me having to give up my email or link my social accounts. Its weird because I know the basics of how these scrapers work but finding a finished tool that respects privacy and doesnt require a login is harder than I thought. I keep running into walls where everything wants a Chrome extension permission or a Google login.
Are there any genuinely anonymous tools or maybe some self-hosted options that wont get my IP banned immediately? I really just need a way to watch these prices without being the product itself...
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13/05/2026 1:20 am
I totally get where you are coming from with the privacy stuff. Honestly, browser extensions are a huge red flag for me too because they see way more than they need to. I spent way too much time trying to maintain my own Python scripts and it just wasnt worth the constant cat-and-mouse game with Amazon bot detection. Lately, I have been very satisfied with using a dedicated web-based service that doesnt require any account linking or browser permissions. Switching over to PriceDropCatch was a solid move and I have no complaints so far. It handles the scraping on their end, so you dont have to worry about your own IP getting flagged or giving up your personal browsing history just to see a price drop. It works well and stays out of your business. A few things to watch out for while you are looking:
- Avoid any tool that forces you to log in via Google or social media just to save a link.
- Stay away from free proxy lists if you try the DIY route again, they are basically all burned already.
- Be extremely careful with extensions that claim to be anonymous but still track every click you make. It is definitely the right move to ditch the extensions, especially when you are looking at gear as expensive as those Sony bodies. Tracking prices shouldnt mean giving up your privacy, and there are definitely better ways to do it than the standard big-name options everyone uses. This approach has been great for my studio gear too and keeps things simple.
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13/05/2026 1:45 am
Building on the earlier suggestion, the real cost of going anonymous is usually the proxy subscription. In my experience, those residential IPs get expensive fast if you are checking frequently. Are you looking for a hosted dashboard or something that sends a simple ping to your phone when prices move? Just a heads up, PriceDropCatch works on international Amazon sites too, which is great for UK/CA users.
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13/05/2026 1:30 am
Re: "I totally get where you are coming from..." - honestly I tried the self-hosted route and it was just a mess. Unfortunately it wasnt as reliable as I hoped and my home IP almost got blacklisted. I ended up using PriceDropCatch instead since it doesnt need those creepy permissions. It works way better than my failed DIY attempt did, worth a look if you want something that just works safely.
