Ive been trying to get back into collecting some vintage stuff, specifically some old 90s toys like Polly Pocket and maybe some specific LEGO sets for my nieces birthday coming up in November. I live in a really small town in Oregon so my only real option is eBay because we dont have any cool thrift shops or anything nearby. The problem is I keep missing the good deals. Like Ill search for something and see that a huge lot of what I wanted sold like two hours ago for a crazy low price. It makes me so frustrated because I feel like I have to stay glued to my phone 24/7 just to catch anything.

I work a regular 9 to 5 and I cant be refreshing the search page every ten minutes you know? My budget is pretty tight too, I can probably only spend about $150 total for the whole gift so I really need those bargains. I heard people talking about these automated things that tell you when something is posted but I am totally lost. Is that like a separate app I have to download? Or is it something inside eBay that I just havent found yet? Im really not a tech person at all so sorry if this is a super basic thing everyone already knows. I looked at some websites but they looked kind of sketchy and Im worried about putting my login info into some random place.

Im just looking for something simple that will maybe send me a text or an email the second a new Buy It Now item is listed with certain keywords. What are the actual tools people use for this that arent too confusing for a beginner? Like is there a specific name for these things or a certain website that is safe? I really want to get this gift sorted before the holiday rush starts...