Product Monitor — Change Detection
Automatically watch product pages for price, availability, and specification changes across your supplier catalog.
Overview
AvidiaMonitor continuously polls product pages on a configurable schedule and alerts you the moment anything changes. Whether a supplier raises their price by 3%, marks a product discontinued, or adds a new specification, Monitor catches it — automatically.
Unlike one-off extractions, Monitor creates a persistent watch on a URL. Each time the page is checked, AvidiaTech compares the new extraction result against the previous snapshot. Differences are recorded as events in the event log and surfaced as alerts.
When to use Monitor vs. Extract
Use Extract for a one-time data pull. Use Monitor when you need ongoing awareness of what changes on a page over time — supplier price lists, competitor catalog pages, or manufacturer spec sheets.
What Changes Are Detected
Monitor compares the full structured extraction between check intervals. Detectable changes include:
Price changes
Absolute value change or configurable % threshold. Detects both increases and decreases.
Availability / stock status
In stock → out of stock, discontinued, backordered, or pre-order status.
Title / product name
Manufacturer renamed the product or updated the model designation.
Description changes
Updated product copy, new features added, compliance notices added.
Specification changes
Dimensions, weight, voltage, materials, certifications — any spec field.
Image changes
New images added, existing images replaced or removed.
New variants
Additional sizes, colors, or configurations added to the product page.
Page removal
HTTP 404 or page redirect — product may have been discontinued or moved.
Setting Up a Watch
- 1
Navigate to Monitor
Go to Monitor → Watches in the sidebar. Click Add Watch.
- 2
Enter the product URL
Paste the full URL of the product page you want to monitor. Example:
https://supplier.com/products/bosch-18v-drill - 3
Set check interval
Choose how frequently the page should be checked:
- Hourly — High-frequency for volatile pricing (Pro/Scale plans)
- Daily — Standard for most supplier catalogs
- Weekly — Low-frequency for slow-changing spec sheets
- 4
Configure alert thresholds (optional)
For price monitoring, set a minimum change threshold to avoid noise. Example: only alert if price changes by more than 5%.
- 5
Activate
Click Save & Activate. The first check runs immediately to establish a baseline snapshot. Subsequent checks run on your configured schedule.
Monitor Rules
Rules let you define automatic actions triggered by specific change events. Navigate to Monitor → Rules to configure them.
| Trigger | Condition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Price change | Increase > 10% | Email alert + flag product for repricing |
| Availability change | Out of stock | Email alert + pause pipeline for affected product |
| Any change detected | Any field | Trigger re-extraction and re-run SEO pipeline |
| Page removed (404) | HTTP error | Email alert + mark product as discontinued |
| Spec change | Any specification | Flag for manual review in dashboard |
Event Log
Every detected change is recorded in the event log at Monitor → Events. Each event includes:
- Timestamp of detection
- The product URL and watch name
- Which fields changed
- The previous value and the new value (side-by-side diff)
- Whether an alert was sent and to which recipients
Events are retained for 90 days. You can export the full event history as CSV from the Events page.
Bulk Monitoring
To monitor your entire catalog at once, use Bulk Watch Import:
- Go to Monitor → Watches → Import
- Upload a CSV with columns:
url,name(optional),check_interval(hourly/daily/weekly) - Review the import preview — AvidiaTech will validate all URLs before creating watches
- Click Create Watches — all URLs begin monitoring immediately
# Example bulk-monitor.csv
url,name,check_interval
https://supplier.com/products/3m-n95-mask,3M N95 Respirator,daily
https://supplier.com/products/bosch-18v-drill,Bosch 18V Drill,weekly
https://supplier.com/products/pulse-oximeter,Roscoe Pulse Oximeter,daily
Notifications
Alerts are delivered in two ways:
In-app alerts
Alerts appear in the Monitor → Events feed and in the dashboard notification center. No configuration needed.
Email notifications
Configure email recipients under Monitor → Notifications. You can add multiple addresses and filter by change type or severity.
Common Use Cases
Supplier price tracking
Monitor your top 500 supplier SKUs daily. When a supplier raises prices, get alerted before your customers notice the margin squeeze. Re-price on your platform before it costs you.
Competitor catalog monitoring
Watch competitor product pages for pricing strategy and feature changes. Know when a competitor launches a new variant or drops their price on a best-seller.
Restock / availability alerts
Watch products that go out of stock. Automatically trigger re-check when an out-of-stock product becomes available again — useful for medical and industrial supplies with long lead times.
Manufacturer spec sheet monitoring
Spec sheets for industrial and medical products change without notice. Monitor manufacturer URLs for spec updates to keep your product data current and compliant.
Auto-refresh pipeline on change
Combine Monitor with a Rule to automatically re-run AvidiaExtract + AvidiaSEO when any field changes. Your product catalog stays perpetually current without manual intervention.
Plan Limits
| Plan | Max watches | Min interval | Event history |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 25 watches | Daily | 30 days |
| Growth | 250 watches | Daily | 60 days |
| Scale / Pro | 2,000 watches | Hourly | 90 days |
| Enterprise | Unlimited | Hourly | 1 year |