Price is not a fixed attribute of a product. It fluctuates constantly — sometimes multiple times per day — based on competitor pricing, inventory levels, algorithmic adjustments, and promotional windows that open and close without announcement. The difference between buying a TV at the wrong moment versus the right moment can easily be $150–$300 on the same unit, at the same retailer, within the same 90-day window. Setting up price tracking alerts is how you stop guessing and start letting the data tell you when to buy.

This guide gives you the complete system: the tools, the setup steps, the alert thresholds, and the decision process for when an alert fires. Most of it requires less than five minutes per product to configure, and then runs entirely passively until it’s time to act.

Why Prices Fluctuate — and How Much

Amazon alone reprices hundreds of millions of items continuously using algorithmic systems that factor in competitor prices, sales velocity, time of day, and seasonal demand signals. A product on Amazon may change price dozens of times in a single month. This isn’t unique to Amazon — Target, Walmart, and Best Buy all use dynamic pricing systems that adjust automatically based on competitor moves and inventory pressure.

The practical impact is significant. A 65-inch Samsung TV might be $899 in September, drop to $649 in late October during a pre-holiday promotion, spike back to $829 after that window closes, hit $699 on Black Friday, and settle at $749 in January. A shopper who buys at $899 in September and one who buys at $649 in October bought the identical product with a $250 difference in outcome. Neither shopper “did anything wrong” — one just happened to look at the right moment.

For Amazon products specifically, it’s common for items to have 30–50 price changes in a single month. A bestselling kitchen appliance may oscillate between $89 and $64 on a near-weekly cycle. Without price history data, you have no way to know whether the price you’re seeing is a genuine low, a spike, or simply the median. Checking the price once and deciding is almost always a suboptimal strategy.

The Core Price Tracking Tools

CamelCamelCamel

What it tracks: Amazon product prices — new, used, and Amazon warehouse condition How alerts work: Email notification when the price drops to your set threshold Platform: Web (camelcamelcamel.com) + browser extension (The Camelizer) Best use case: Any Amazon purchase over $30 where you’re not in a hurry

CamelCamelCamel is the gold standard for Amazon price tracking and the first tool you should set up. Every Amazon product has a unique URL — paste it into CamelCamelCamel and you immediately see a full price history chart going back months or years. This chart is the most important thing in the system: it shows you visually whether the current price is at a historical low, near the average, or elevated relative to what this product normally sells for.

How to read the chart: The price history graph shows three lines — Amazon’s price, new third-party seller prices, and used prices. Focus on the Amazon line. Identify the historical low (the bottom of the chart’s range) and the typical price range the product oscillates between. If the current price is near the historical low, buying now is reasonable. If the current price is near the historical high, set an alert and wait.

Set your alert threshold at either the historical low or 15–20% below the current price — whichever is lower. This ensures the alert fires only when you’re genuinely getting a deal, not just a slight dip from an elevated baseline.

Honey / Capital One Shopping

What it tracks: Prices across thousands of retailers beyond Amazon — Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Nordstrom, and more How alerts work: Browser notification or email when a saved item drops in price Platform: Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) Best use case: Non-Amazon purchases, especially clothing, home goods, and electronics at major retailers

Honey and Capital One Shopping both function as browser extensions that passively watch prices on items you’ve viewed or explicitly saved. When you’re on a product page, clicking the extension lets you save the item to a watchlist. If the price drops, the extension notifies you.

The key difference from CamelCamelCamel is breadth: these tools work across far more retailers but provide shallower price history. They’re better for tracking current price movements than for establishing a long-term historical baseline. For a $150 Target item you’re planning to buy in the next few weeks, Honey’s price drop alert is the right tool. For a $600 appliance where you want to understand what the price has done over six months, CamelCamelCamel paired with the Amazon listing is more useful.

Note: if you’re using Rakuten for cashback on Amazon purchases, be aware that Honey can interfere with Rakuten’s tracking cookie. Use one or the other for cashback-eligible purchases — not both simultaneously.

Google Shopping Price History

What it tracks: Prices across multiple retailers for the same product How alerts work: No native alert system — this is a point-in-time check tool Platform: Built into Google Search results, no setup required Best use case: Quick pre-purchase check to see if the current price is typical or elevated

When you search for a specific product on Google, Shopping results often include a price history graph directly in the search results panel — no extension, no account, no setup required. Click on the price history graph to see 90 days of price movement across retailers.

This is the fastest tool in the kit for a quick sanity check: before you buy anything over $50 online, run a Google Shopping search and glance at the price history. If the current price matches the historical range, you’re probably fine. If the current price is unusually high, you know to wait. It takes 30 seconds and requires nothing except a Google search.

Rakuten / Cashback Portal Rate Alerts

What it tracks: Cashback rate changes at partner retailers — not product prices How alerts work: Email notification or in-app alerts when cashback rates increase Platform: Rakuten browser extension and account dashboard Best use case: Timing large purchases to coincide with elevated cashback rates

Some cashback portals, including Rakuten, notify you when cashback rates at specific retailers increase — either through “Double Cashback” promotions or standard rate bumps. This isn’t price tracking in the traditional sense, but it serves the same purpose: telling you when the effective cost of a purchase has dropped.

If you’re planning a $500 appliance purchase at Best Buy and Rakuten normally offers 2% cashback but occasionally runs 6% promotions, waiting for the rate increase saves an additional $20 on top of any price-based savings. Enable Rakuten notifications in your account settings to catch these windows automatically.

Retailer Wishlist and Save-for-Later Features

What it tracks: Price changes on specific items you’ve saved in a retailer’s native system How alerts work: Email notification (opt-in required) when a saved item drops in price Platform: Retailer website or app — Amazon, Target, Best Buy, Walmart all offer this Best use case: Purchases from a specific retailer where you already have an account

Every major retailer has a wishlist or save-for-later feature, and most of them will notify you by email when a saved item’s price drops — but opt-in is often required and buried in account settings. Amazon’s “Save for Later” in your cart and the “Add to List” function both trigger price drop notifications if you enable them in notification preferences. Target’s registry and list features do the same.

This is the most underused price tracking system available, because it requires no third-party tool — just your existing retailer account. Set it up once per retailer and it runs passively alongside your other alerts.

How to Set Up Your First Price Alert: Step by Step

Setting a CamelCamelCamel Alert (Amazon)

Step 1: Find the product on Amazon and copy the full URL from your browser’s address bar.

Step 2: Go to camelcamelcamel.com and paste the URL into the search bar. Hit Enter.

Step 3: Read the price history chart. Identify the historical low (the lowest point on the Amazon price line) and note the typical price range the product oscillates between.

Step 4: Scroll down to the “Set Price Alert” section. Enter the threshold price — either the historical low, or 15–20% below the current price, whichever is lower. If the current price is $89 and the historical low is $64, set the alert at $65. If the historical low is $84, set it at $72 (19% below $89).

Step 5: Enter your email address and click “Add Alert.” CamelCamelCamel will send you an email when the price hits your threshold. No account required.

Total setup time: under 90 seconds. From that point, the alert runs passively until it fires or you cancel it.

Setting a Honey Price Drop Alert (Non-Amazon Retailers)

Step 1: Install the Honey browser extension from joinhoney.com. It’s free and takes about 60 seconds.

Step 2: Navigate to the product page on any supported retailer — Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Nordstrom, and thousands more are supported.

Step 3: Click the Honey icon in your browser toolbar. A panel will open showing current price information.

Step 4: Click “Add to Droplist” (Honey’s name for its price watch feature). Enter the target price — the price at which you want to be notified. You can set this to a specific dollar amount or use Honey’s suggested target based on recent price history.

Step 5: Honey will send you an email or browser notification when the price drops to your target. Your saved items are visible in your Honey account dashboard.

Total setup time: under 2 minutes. The alert runs until the price hits your target or you remove the item.

Building a Tracking System for Planned Purchases

The biggest mistake shoppers make with price tracking is setting alerts reactively — after they’ve already decided to buy at full price, as a way to feel better about the decision. That’s not a tracking system; it’s a consolation mechanism.

The system that actually works is proactive: when you identify something you’ll need in the next 1–6 months, set the alert immediately, before you feel any urgency to buy. Urgency is the enemy of good pricing decisions. The alert removes urgency from the equation entirely — you don’t need to decide anything until the system tells you the price is right.

How far in advance to start tracking by category:

  • Electronics (TVs, laptops, smartphones): 60–90 days before you need it. Electronics have predictable sale cycles — back-to-school in July, pre-holiday in October–November, post-holiday in January. Starting 90 days out gives you enough runway to catch at least one sale window.
  • Large appliances (refrigerators, washers, dryers): 30–60 days. Appliance prices move on Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Black Friday cycles. Starting 45 days before your target purchase date typically captures at least one promotional window.
  • Seasonal and outdoor items: 2–4 weeks before the relevant sale event. Outdoor furniture is cheapest in late March–April and at Labor Day clearance; winter gear is cheapest in January. Set alerts 3–4 weeks before those windows open.
  • Clothing and apparel: 2–4 weeks before post-season clearance. For clothing, tracking current prices is less useful than knowing when clearance cycles happen — see the Holiday Sale Timing Guide for the full seasonal calendar.

Setting a realistic threshold: Use the price history chart to set an alert at a price that has actually occurred before, not a price you wish the item would reach. If a $200 blender has never been below $149 in two years of price history, setting a $99 alert means you’ll never buy it. Set the alert at $149 — the verified historical low — and you’ll get notified the next time that price recurs.

Price Tracking for Non-Amazon Retailers

Target: Honey’s Droplist works reliably for Target product pages. Alternatively, add items to your Target list in the Target app — Target sends email notifications when list items go on sale, which is the native equivalent of a price alert and requires no third-party tool.

Walmart: Capital One Shopping tracks Walmart prices and sends drop alerts. Walmart’s own app also has a save feature with optional price notifications — enable them in the app’s notification settings. For items sold on both Amazon and Walmart, CamelCamelCamel sometimes tracks Walmart pricing as well, though coverage is less complete than Amazon.

Best Buy: Add items to your Best Buy wishlist and opt into price drop emails in your account preferences. For products that are also sold on Amazon, CamelCamelCamel provides a useful cross-reference for historical pricing. Honey’s Droplist works on Best Buy product pages for a third-party option.

Grocery and CPG: The Flipp app aggregates weekly circulars from grocery chains and drugstores and lets you search for specific products across all stores in your area — useful for knowing which retailer has the best price this week on items you buy regularly. Store loyalty apps (Kroger, CVS, Walgreens) send personalized sale alerts on items you’ve purchased before, which functions as a passive price tracking system once your purchase history is established.

When a Price Alert Fires: What to Do Next

When an alert arrives, don’t automatically buy. Run through this quick checklist first:

Confirm it’s a genuine low. Open the price history chart (CamelCamelCamel for Amazon, Honey’s dashboard for others) and verify the alerted price is actually near the historical low — not just lower than yesterday’s spike. Occasionally alerts fire on prices that are technically below your threshold but still above the product’s true historical average.

Check whether a cashback portal rate is active. Before clicking through to buy, open Rakuten or check Cashback Monitor to see the current cashback rate at the retailer. If the rate is higher than usual, the effective savings compound. If it’s at baseline, the portal is still worth activating. See the How Cashback Portals Work guide for the full activation sequence.

Verify stock and shipping timeframe. Confirm the item is in stock in the condition you want (new, not third-party marketplace) and ships within your needed timeframe. Price lows on out-of-stock items or items that ship in 4–6 weeks are less useful.

Buy immediately. Genuine price lows — particularly on Amazon and during promotional windows at major retailers — rarely last more than 24–48 hours before the algorithm reprices upward or inventory at the sale price sells through. Once you’ve confirmed the price is real and the product meets your needs, don’t wait. The time you spend deliberating is the time the price is moving. If you want to layer in additional discounts first, see the Price Match Playbook for the fastest way to confirm no competitor has it lower.

Set It Up Once, Buy Better Forever

Price tracking is a one-time setup that pays off indefinitely. Install CamelCamelCamel’s browser extension, set Honey’s Droplist on your next planned non-Amazon purchase, enable price drop notifications in your retailer wishlists, and turn on Rakuten cashback rate alerts. After those four setups — which take under 15 minutes total — the system watches prices passively and tells you when to act.

The final layer is knowing when prices are structurally likely to drop, not just when an individual product fluctuates. CouponCommando’s merchant pages include promo calendars showing which months each major retailer runs their deepest sales — which helps you set smarter alert thresholds and start tracking at the right time. The Holiday Shopping Calendar gives you the category-by-category breakdown, and when you’re ready to maximize every purchase once the alert fires, the How to Stack Coupons Like a Pro guide shows you how to layer additional discounts on top of the low price you just caught.