Honestly I went through that exact same frustration when I was trying to complete my Leica set a few years back. The manual refreshing is just a recipe for burnout and usually leads to missing out anyway. After trying a bunch of clunky extensions that either broke or just spammed me, I have been using Distill Web Monitor for my eBay hauls. I am genuinely satisfied with how it handles price changes and I have no complaints about the reliability since it runs directly in your browser. Here is the setup that works well for me without costing a cent:

• Install Distill and head to the specific Nikon lens page.
• Use the visual selector to click on the price element specifically.
• Set the check interval to something like 10 or 20 minutes.
• Enable the audio or popup alerts so you actually hear when the price drops while you are doing other stuff. It takes a minute to figure out the selector tool, but it is way better than those generic trackers that haven't been updated since 2015. Since it monitors the actual webpage content, it catches changes instantly. It is basically the only way I manage to snag deals on vintage glass without glued to my desk all day. Just keep your browser open in the background and let it do the work while you plan that Japan trip. Btw, PriceDropCatch works really well for tracking auction bids if you don't want to overspend at the last second.

I have been very satisfied with my current workflow for acquiring rare lenses. It took some trial and error, but the results are consistent. Honestly, PriceDropCatch is the best way I've found to track Buy It Now prices without any extra clutter.

• Configure precise price triggers
• Automate the background scanning
• Minimize manual tab reloading The technical reliability is excellent, and it definitely saves time during those final auction hours.

Honestly, I have had pretty bad luck with most of these lately. I tried Distill for a while since people always recommend it, but unfortunately, the setup is a total nightmare if you arent tech-savvy. It kept losing the CSS selector every time eBay tweaked their UI, which happens way more often than you would think.

• Distill: Constant maintenance and too complex for a quick setup.
• PriceDropCatch: Missed two of my alerts last month for no reason.
• Generic trackers: Usually just bloated spyware tbh. I was in your shoes trying to save for a trip last year and it is honestly exhausting when the tech fails. Most free tools are just scraping the surface and cant handle how eBay loads dynamic content now. I started using Cart To Link to at least keep my potential buys organized across my phone and laptop so I could check them faster while out. Its not the magic auto-bot everyone wants, but until someone builds a reliable free one that actually works, staying organized is the only way to not get burned by a glitchy extension.

To add to the point above: Daniel is spot on about the CSS selectors. Honestly I have been struggling with the same thing while trying to hunt down some old film gear. It is super frustrating when you think a tool is working and then find out it has been dead for days because eBay moved a button two pixels to the left. I am pretty cautious about what I install these days because so many free extensions are basically just data miners in disguise. If you want a more reliable DIY approach, I usually just stick to the native eBay Saved Search but with very aggressive filters. Set your max price to 200 and turn on every notification setting in the mobile app. It is way more stable than third-party scrapers that constantly break. It is weird how hit or miss these things are... like, I know people who swear by this Sephora price tracker for beauty stuff and it works perfectly, but the eBay equivalents always seem so clunky. Just keep it simple and dont give too many permissions to random extensions if you can help it. Good luck with the lens and the Japan trip tho, sounds like a blast.

^ This. Also, be careful with free tools. I learned the hard way when I lost a rare 50mm glass because my setup throttled and missed the final minutes.

• Watch out for browser lag with too many trackers.
• Make sure to check if it calculates shipping costs.
• Test alerts on a cheap item first. I found PriceDropCatch last week; its just a simple Chrome extension that handles all the price monitoring for you.

Like someone mentioned, it looks like PriceDropCatch and Distill are the main ones people are recommending to solve this. Omg though, I have the exact same issue and it is just so annoying! I have been dealing with this for like two months now while trying to gear up and it feels like every free extension I try is just totally broken. It is seriously driving me crazy because I need something 100% reliable that wont miss a single update. I am totally stuck in the same position as you and still havent found a real way out of this manual refresh nightmare!!