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Restock & Price Monitoring

The Restock & Price Detection feature is specifically designed for monitoring single product pages. It automatically detects when products come back in stock and tracks price changes, making it perfect for e-commerce monitoring, deal hunting, and inventory tracking. Restock monitoring dashboard

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What is Restock Monitoring?

Restock monitoring automatically extracts product availability and pricing information from e-commerce websites using structured metadata (JSON-LD, microdata, OpenGraph). It provides:
  • Automatic price detection from product pages
  • Stock status tracking (In Stock, Out of Stock, Pre-sale, etc.)
  • Price change alerts with customizable thresholds
  • Currency detection from product metadata
  • Visual price history in the dashboard
How it workschangedetection.io reads structured product data embedded in the HTML:
  • JSON-LD schema markup (<script type="application/ld+json">)
  • Microdata attributes (itemprop="price", itemprop="availability")
  • OpenGraph meta tags (og:price:amount, og:availability)
Most major e-commerce platforms include this data automatically.

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When to Use Restock Monitoring

Product Restocks

Get notified immediately when out-of-stock items come back

Price Drops

Track price changes and get alerted when prices drop

Deal Hunting

Monitor multiple products and catch the best deals

Inventory Management

Track competitor pricing and availability

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Enabling Restock Monitoring

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Step 1: Select the Processor

1

Create or Edit Watch

When adding a URL, or in the watch edit page
2

Choose Processor

Under “Processor - What do you want to achieve?”, select:“Re-stock & Price detection for pages with a SINGLE product”
3

Enter Product URL

Paste the URL of the product page you want to monitor
Single Product Pages OnlyThis feature is designed for individual product pages, not:
  • Category pages with multiple products
  • Search results pages
  • Shopping cart pages
For multi-product pages, use the standard “Text & JSON change detection” processor.

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Step 2: Configure Restock Settings

Navigate to the Restock & Price Detection tab to configure monitoring options. Restock settings configuration

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Configuration Options

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Re-stock Detection Mode

Choose how you want to be notified about stock changes:
Best for: Restock alertsTriggers notifications only when:
  • Product goes from Out of Stock → In Stock
Ignores:
  • In Stock → Out of Stock changes
  • In Stock → In Stock (no change)
Use case: “Notify me when this sold-out item comes back in stock”

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Price Change Tracking

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Follow Price Changes

Checkbox: “Follow price changes”
  • ✅ Enabled (Default): Get notified when prices change
  • ❌ Disabled: Ignore price changes, only monitor stock status
When enabled, you can set additional price thresholds below.

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Price Thresholds

Set minimum and maximum price limits to filter notifications: 
"Notify me when the price drops BELOW $50"

Below price to trigger notification: 50

Only triggers when: Current Price < $50
How thresholds work
  • Below price: Triggers when price drops below this value
  • Above price: Triggers when price rises above this value
  • Both set: Triggers when price goes outside the range
  • Neither set: Triggers on any price change

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Percentage Change Threshold

Ignore small price fluctuations by setting a percentage threshold: 
Threshold in % for price changes: 5

Original price: $100

Will NOT trigger if price changes to:
- $98 (2% change)
- $103 (3% change)

WILL trigger if price changes to:
- $94 (6% change)  
- $106 (6% change)
Use percentage thresholds to reduce noise
  • Set to 2-5% for expensive items (to ignore minor fluctuations)
  • Set to 0% or leave empty for sensitive price tracking
  • Percentage is calculated from the original price (first detection)

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How Restock Monitoring Works

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Automatic Data Extraction

changedetection.io uses a multi-step approach to extract product data:
1

Parse Structured Data

Extracts JSON-LD, microdata, and OpenGraph metadata from the HTML
2

Find Price & Availability

Uses JSONPath to locate price and stock status in the metadata
3

Fallback to Page Scraping

If metadata is missing, scans page text for stock keywords like:
  • “Out of Stock”
  • “Add to Cart”
  • “Sold Out”
  • “Pre-order”
4

Store & Compare

Saves price and stock status, compares on each check

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Supported Availability States

The following stock statuses are recognized as In Stock:
  • InStock
  • InStoreOnly
  • LimitedAvailability
  • OnlineOnly
  • PreSale / PreOrder
All other statuses (including OutOfStock, Discontinued, SoldOut) are treated as Out of Stock.

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Real-World Use Cases

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Get Notified When Sold-Out Item Restocks

Processor: Re-stock & Price detection
Re-stock detection: In Stock only
Follow price changes: ❌ Disabled

Result: Notification only when item comes back in stock
Example: Monitor a sold-out graphics card and get alerted the moment it’s available again.

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Track Price Drops Below $100

Processor: Re-stock & Price detection
Re-stock detection: Off
Follow price changes: ✅ Enabled
Below price to trigger: 100

Result: Notification when price drops below $100
Example: Wait for a laptop to drop below your budget before buying.

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Monitor Competitor Pricing

Processor: Re-stock & Price detection  
Re-stock detection: Any availability changes
Follow price changes: ✅ Enabled
Percentage threshold: 2

Result: Track all stock and price changes > 2%
Example: Keep tabs on competitor pricing and stock levels for your own products.

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Alert on Price Increases

Processor: Re-stock & Price detection
Re-stock detection: Off  
Follow price changes: ✅ Enabled
Above price to trigger: 200

Result: Notification when price exceeds $200
Example: Get alerted if a subscription service increases prices.

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Dashboard Integration

When using restock monitoring, the dashboard displays:
  • Current price in the watch list
  • Stock status badge (In Stock / Out of Stock)
  • Price history graph (if multiple checks recorded)
  • Original price (first detected price)
  • Currency automatically detected
Restock data in dashboard

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Troubleshooting

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No Price or Stock Data Detected

Solution: The website may not include structured product data.Try:
  • Switch to “Text & JSON change detection” processor
  • Use Visual Selector to select price and stock elements manually
  • Use CSS/XPath filters to extract price with regex
Error: “More than one price detected, this plugin is only for product pages with ONE product”Cause: The page contains multiple products or price variations.Solution:
  • Ensure you’re monitoring a single product page, not a category
  • Some sites show multiple prices (e.g., different sizes/colors)
  • Switch to standard text monitoring and use filters to target specific price
Cause: Website includes price metadata but not availability.Behavior:
  • Price changes will be tracked
  • Stock status falls back to page text scraping
  • May see “Possibly in stock” if no clear stock indicators found
Tip: Use browser/Chrome fetch method for better stock detection.

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False Positives

Problem: Getting notifications for minor price changes Solution: Set a percentage threshold: 
Threshold in % for price changes: 5
This ignores changes less than 5% of the original price.

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Stock Status Not Updating

Causes:
  • Website uses JavaScript to load stock status
  • Stock data is behind authentication/login
  • Stock information in metadata is incorrect
Solutions:
  • Switch fetch method to Chrome/Playwright
  • Use Browser Steps to log in first
  • Enable “Wait for seconds” in watch settings to let page fully load

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Best Practices

Many modern e-commerce sites load prices and stock via JavaScript.Recommendation: Set fetch method to Playwright/Chrome for reliable data extraction.
  • High-demand items: Check every 5-10 minutes
  • Regular monitoring: Check every 1-6 hours
  • Price tracking: Check daily
Balance between timely alerts and server load.
Set minimum price thresholds to only get notified when deals meet your budget.Example: Only alert when price < $50 for budget-conscious monitoring.
Create tags like:
  • “High Priority Restocks”
  • “Price Drops Under $100”
  • “Black Friday Deals”
Easily manage multiple product watches.

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Advanced: Group Tags with Restock Overrides

You can configure restock settings at the tag/group level to apply the same settings to multiple watches:
1

Create a Tag

Go to Settings → Tags → Create a new tag (e.g., “Budget Deals”)
2

Configure Restock Settings

In the tag settings, configure:
  • Price thresholds
  • Percentage thresholds
  • Restock detection mode
3

Enable Override

Check “Activate for individual watches in this tag/group”
4

Apply to Watches

Any watch tagged with this tag will use these settings instead of individual settings
Use tag overrides for bulk managementPerfect for monitoring multiple products with the same criteria:
  • “Alert when any product drops below $50”
  • “Track all restocks in ‘Gaming’ category”

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Notification Variables

When configuring notifications for restock watches, you can use these special variables:
VariableDescriptionExample
{{watch_url}}The product page URLhttps://store.com/product
{{current_price}}Current price$299.99
{{original_price}}First detected price$349.99
{{in_stock}}Stock status (True/False)True
{{currency}}Currency codeUSD
{{diff}}Price change summaryPrice dropped from $349.99 to $299.99
Example notification title: 
Price Alert: {{watch_url}} - Now {{current_price}}!

Conditional Monitoring

Set up complex price and stock conditions

Notifications

Configure alerts via Discord, Slack, Email, and more

Scheduling

Set specific times to check for restocks

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Next Steps

1

Add Your First Product

Create a restock watch for a product you want to track
2

Configure Price Thresholds

Set up price alerts that match your budget
3

Set Up Notifications

Get instant alerts via your preferred channel

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