Three free price checks a day: how to spend them

A small quota is not the problem. Wrong order is. With the same three checks, one seller gets complete price bands for three categories and another gets three unreadable results. The difference is the homework done before searching.

What the free tier shows you

A free account can run three live price checks per day. One check means one keyword against a group of marketplaces, returning what is actually on sale right now: marketplace, price, currency, product link and update time.

One thing stated up front: when a marketplace does not return a unit price, that row is marked price not provided. It is never filled with an estimate. A missing row is better than a wrong one, because you price off these numbers.

So the free tier does not show you less data per check. It caps how many checks you get.

• One check = one keyword plus a group of marketplaces
• Every row carries marketplace, price, currency, link, update time
• Missing prices are labelled, not estimated

How to split three checks

First check: test the keyword. Run your intended keyword once and see whether the result count and price range are workable. If the keyword is wrong, the other two checks are wasted.

Second check: the main combination. Select every marketplace you plan to sell on in one go and get the full comparison set at once. Do not split it into three single-marketplace checks.

Third check: the evening re-check. Use the morning results to shortlist one or two products, then re-check whether the price moved and whether the links still open.

• Check 1: is the keyword viable
• Check 2: three to five marketplaces at once
• Check 3: shortlist only, price movement and link health

Three things to prepare first

Write the keywords. Five long-tail phrases, not one broad head term. A phrase that pins down the actual product beats a category word.

Pick the marketplaces. Decide the three to five you will actually list on. Data from marketplaces you will never use is wasted quota.

Set the columns. Name them in a sheet before searching: category, marketplace, price, currency, converted value, shipping included. Improvising columns is how data gets muddled.

• Write five long-tail keywords
• Choose three to five marketplaces you will list on
• Name your sheet columns before the first check

What wastes a check

Repeating the same keyword within a day, since prices barely move in half an hour. Checking one marketplace at a time, which gives you a quarter of the information. Using broad head terms, which return incomparable rows. Treating checks as bookmarks, where nothing gets recorded.

The last one costs the most. A check only covers this moment; the record is what drives the decision.

• One check per keyword per day
• Multiple marketplaces per check
• Avoid broad head terms
• Write results into the sheet immediately

When upgrading actually makes sense

Three signals: you re-check more than ten products a week, you need price history rather than a snapshot, or you need to share the data with a team.

The reverse also holds. Two or three checks a week across one to three products fits comfortably in the free tier, and paying for a bigger quota buys nothing.

• More than ten SKUs a week: consider upgrading
• Trend rather than snapshot: consider upgrading
• Occasional checks: free tier is enough

What to do when the quota runs out

The quota resets daily, so do not idle. Use the rest of the day on the data you already have: compute the median, flag the outliers, write the conclusion.

Decide tomorrow's keywords and marketplaces at the same time, so the next day starts with a check instead of a test.

• Work the data you have
• Write three conclusions
• Prepare tomorrow's keyword and marketplace list