Monitoring pokemoncenter.com - help with SELECTION_EMPTY error

Help and Support
1

So I’m trying to get Distill to monitor Pokémon Center website but I keep having the same issue. It will monitor it for an hour or two then show the SELECTION_EMPTY error. I’ve tried many different check intervals, and even tried the method of selecting something that doesn’t change on the site.

Is there any way to fix this? I would love to upgrade to get mobile notifications if I could get this to work.

The two pages I’m trying to get monitored:
https://www.pokemoncenter.com/search/elite-trainer-box?sort=best_seller%2Bdesc
https://www.pokemoncenter.com/product/290-85466/pokemon-tcg-scarlet-and-violet-151-pokemon-center-elite-trainer-box

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

Hello @neogalik,

SELECTION_EMPTY error can be encountered when the configured selector is no longer able to find the elements in the page. This can happen because of two reasons:

  1. The page no longer contains the selected elements.
  2. Or, one or more elements exist but the identifiers used in the selector to find the element changed. As a result, older selectors may stop working.

Can you check the page’s snapshot when the error was logged? Click the “view details” link next to the errored log entry to view error details. The error detail view shows the page’s snapshot.

If the page’s snapshot contains the content you are trying to monitor, then it will indicate that it was because of the second factor.

Let me know what you find out.

Cheers!

3

So when I look at the snapshot, it brings up a screen that says “Temporarily Unavailable”, so I’m thinking Pokemon Center did that purposely. Is there any way around that?

5

Not yet because it depends on how the website works. Are you running it locally or in the cloud?

6

I’ve tried both and get the same result. I want to run it locally so I can set the interval to 30 seconds, but I’m fine with longer as long as it works.

7

I see. Can you check if you use the Desktop app works?

Checkout https://monitor.distill.io/#/w/0/proxies/. Residential proxies worked in a few tests the cloud.

8

I’ve tried it with the Desktop App, still doesn’t work. So residential proxies with cloud is the only thing that will work?

10

Since local monitor is not working for you, cloud using residential proxies seems to be the only way.

11

Are you sure this will work? I just want to make sure before I spend $80/month on it. Is there a cheaper option?

12

It has worked today as well. But behaviors change with time. If you face any issues, feel free to reach out and I will see how we can help. Flexi plan is the only one offering residential proxies.

Note that we also let customers add and use their own proxies. This is a very handy option for power users.

13

I can use proxies without the Flexi plan? How?

14

That will be a bug. You can use this as an opportunity to test and see how it works out. :slight_smile:

15

I don’t think you understood the questions, or maybe I don’t understand the response.

Do I have to have a Flexi plan to use proxies?

16

Ah, I must have misunderstood. Checkout your account’s proxies page at https://monitor.distill.io/#/w/0/proxies/:

image
image2343×720 76.8 KB

Flexi plan is needed for residential proxies.

17

Damn, I was hoping I could use my own proxies from a proxy provider without having to use the Flexi plan.

18

I just upgraded to Flexi plan and it still isn’t able to do what we discussed here. Can I get a refund?

19

Sorry to hear to that. Here is what I tried and how it worked:

  1. Visual selector loading page’s content:

    image
    image1920×1297 160 KB

  2. Change history of the monitored content:

image
image2841×874 211 KB

Can you share what you tried that didn’t work? Did you face any problem adding your own proxy?

20

I am using the desktop app and set it to check every 2 minutes in the cloud. It should work since I set it to use US Residential proxies, but its not.

I want to use my own proxies and use my own local machine because 2 minutes each check is too far away from each other. Is there a way to do that?

I found a program that will switch proxies automatically for me but I have to find a good proxy list.

21

What problem are the monitors facing? Using mobile proxies is an option too if success rate needs to be higher.

Do you need to use local monitors using your own proxies? The browser extension could work if you can configure Chrome to use the proxies. Does that make sense?

22

I didn’t think of using chrome to use the proxies. Is there a way to do that without using a crazy amount of data for the proxies? I have to pay by the GB.