Not monitoring changes despite upgrading account

Help and Support
1

I originally started with a free account, which I understand has limitations. I wanted to monitor more products, and receive more e-mail notifications, so once I had my limitations, I upgraded to a paid account.

My products have not been monitored since the 20th July, and no e-mail notifications. Why has it stopped?

Thanks,
Brodie

1 Like
2

@brodiejay13 can you look into the check log and see what you find out? you will need to use the extension’s watchlist is case using the extension for checks.

the way a monitor is checked is not affected by the subscription level for local monitors. the only requirement is that the local device (browser or the desktop app) needs to be up and running.

cloud monitors can be throttled in case the number of checks has been exceeded. i am assuming that this is not the case since you upgraded the account very recently.

let me know what you find out. thanks!

3

The check log has dates from 10 days ago…it hasn’t monitored for over a week.

Is it because I disabled the extension in my browser?

I disabled the extension because a very frustrating glitch has started occurring in my browser when the extension is enabled - my browser is constantly opening and closing new tabs of the products I’m monitoring. When I disabled the extension, it stopped doing this.

If this is what has stopped the monitoring, how can I stop these tabs from opening constantly?

Thanks

4

Yes, browser extensions work only when the extension is enabled and the browser is open.

By default, the browser extension checks pages by opening them in a new tab. However, you can change this behavior to use a sticky window instead. Learn more here: https://distill.io/docs/web-monitor/extensions-open-new-tab-for-checks/

Once the extension is enabled, you have the following options:

  1. Use a sticky window: Change the default setting so that checks are performed in a sticky window instead of opening new tabs.
  2. Switch to cloud monitoring: Set the device to Cloud so that all checks are performed on the cloud, without depending on your browser.
  3. Use the Desktop app: Download and use Distill’s Desktop app to run checks. This won’t interfere with your browsing activity. Just make sure the app is running and the device is set to App.
1 Like
5

Hi,

So I updated to the sticky tabs which has helped with those tabs opening.

However, I am still not experiencing regular Monitor Updates. I realised now that I only get the monitor updates when my laptop is open. I find this frustrating - why should i have to have my laptop running constantly in order to get checks?

Is there a way for these checks to happen in the background no matter what state my laptop/phone is in? I have mine set to check every 24hrs, so I just want to receive e-mails once a day for price changes etc.

I don’t want to have to keep logging in daily for checks. Is this possible?

Thanks,

Brodie

6

You can use cloud monitoring as suggested above. Please see the article on change device to know how to switch to cloud monitoring.

7

Thanks - I switched this over, and now I’m continuously getting products error.

From what I can see, this is commonly occurring on monitors that are monitoring products on Amazon. I am based in Australia and will choose to monitor a product on Amazon Australia such as the price.

Distill is seeing the product, but it’s set to shipping to ‘United States’ and as such, Amazon is showing the product as unavailable even though it is available in Australia. So it’s erroring, as my ‘price’ monitor is not available.

How can I get it to monitor for Australia stock and prices? This is causing most of my products to error. Before I switched to Cloud, I didn’t have this problem.

Thanks,

Brodie

8

If a webpage’s content depends on location, here are some options for Cloud monitors:

  • Use proxies – Distill does not currently provide proxies for Australia, but with the Flexi plan, you can use your own proxy to fetch location-specific data.
  • Use a dedicated device in the cloud – This works like your own browser and can store preferences such as your Amazon location or PIN code. Once set, the location will be saved on that device and used for running the monitor. See the setup guide here: setting up dedicated cloud devices

For local monitors, Distill will use the preferences saved in your browser, so the page will display data exactly as you see when browsing normally.