🎯 Refurb Mac Sniper

Get pinged the moment a refurbished Mac Studio or Mac mini hits Apple's Certified Refurbished store — before it sells out again.

The Refurb Mac Sniper watches Apple's Certified Refurbished Mac storefront and fires instant Discord, Slack, or JSON webhook alerts when new units appear, sold-out configs come back, or prices drop. Built for the 2026 memory crisis, where refurbished Mac Studios and minis vanish within minutes of appearing — but useful for every refurb hunter, every model, in 10 countries.

You set up a schedule (every 5 minutes recommended), tell it what to watch — model families, a minimum unified-memory size, a price cap, or exact product URLs — and it remembers what it saw last time. Anything new, returned, or cheaper triggers an alert with a direct buy link first, because speed is everything.

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🤔 Why this exists (and why now)

The 2026 AI-driven DRAM shortage pushed Apple to pull high-memory Mac mini and Mac Studio configs from sale, raise upgrade prices, and confirm months of continued shortage. Marked-up units flood eBay while Apple's refurb store — with its 1-year Apple warranty, new battery and outer shell, and 15%+ savings — restocks in unpredictable bursts that sell out in minutes. Humans can't refresh a webpage all day. This actor can.

It's also the programmable refurb tracker that email-alert websites never built: structured JSON output, webhooks into n8n/Make/Zapier/Discord, spec-level filters ("only ≥64GB unified memory under $4,000"), price history via persistent state, and full AI-agent compatibility through the Apify MCP Server.

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⚡ What it does

• 🔍 Watches Apple Certified Refurbished — the full Mac grid, selected model families (Mac Studio, Mac mini, MacBook Pro/Air, iMac, Mac Pro, Displays), or exact product URLs (works even while the product is unavailable — you get the alert the moment it returns).
• 🧠 Spec-level filters: minimum unified memory (the LLM-builder filter), price band, keyword ("M3 Ultra").
• 🔔 Instant webhook alerts — Discord and Slack URLs auto-detected with rich formatted messages; any other URL gets a clean JSON POST (optional bearer token) for n8n, Make, Zapier, or your own endpoint.
• 📉 Four event types: new-listing, back-in-stock, price-drop, gone (sold out) — choose which ones alert you.
• 💾 Remembers between runs — per-watch persistent state means real diffs, first-seen timestamps, and previous-price tracking. The first run records a quiet baseline (no alert blast).
• 💰 Savings data straight from Apple — every listing carries current price, original new price, and savings in $ and %.
• 🌍 10 countries: US, UK, CA, DE, FR, AU, IT, ES, NL, JP.
• 🤖 Agent-ready — structured per-record output and MCP discoverability; "watch the refurb store for me" is a one-tool-call task.

⏱️ What to expect from a run

• Typical runtime: 2–5 seconds. One light page fetch per check (the grid covers every Mac refurb in a single request) — no browser, no proxy needed.
• Typical cost: well under a cent per check plus ~$0.02 per dispatched alert (unit prices drop on higher Apify plans). A 5-minute watch costs about $1.00–1.50/day — cheaper than missing a $1,500-off Mac Studio.
• Every run returns the matched inventory as listing records — what's in stock right now, with prices and savings. First run = baseline for alerting: no alerts fire (you don't want 130 pings when you create a watch); alerts start with the second run.
• Zero matching listings is normal during the shortage — Mac Studios are often entirely absent from the grid. That absence is exactly what makes the new-listing alert valuable.

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🚀 Quick start

1. Run the actor once with defaults — it watches Mac Studio + Mac mini on the US store and records a baseline.
2. Add your webhook URL (Discord channel webhook, Slack incoming webhook, or any HTTPS endpoint).
3. Create an Apify Schedule for the actor — every 5 minutes is the sweet spot:
   • Console → Schedules → Create new → cron */5 * * * * → attach this actor with your input.
4. Done. The next Mac Studio that appears will ping you with a buy link in seconds.

Watching one exact config (e.g. the M3 Ultra Studio)

Set watchMode to productUrls and paste the product URL — the default input already points at the Refurbished Mac Studio M3 Ultra 28-core/60-core. The page is monitored even while it shows "Unavailable"; the moment Apple flips it buyable you get back-in-stock.

📡 Calling via API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/pyralislabs~refurb-mac-sniper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "watchMode": "models",
    "models": ["macstudio", "macmini"],
    "minMemoryGb": 64,
    "maxPrice": 4500,
    "webhookUrls": ["https://discord.com/api/webhooks/…"],
    "notifyOn": ["new-listing", "back-in-stock", "price-drop"]
  }'

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⚙️ Input parameters

Field	Type	Default	Description
watchMode	enum	models	models (grid, filtered), productUrls (exact configs), or entireGrid
models	array	["macstudio","macmini"]	Model families to watch in models mode
productUrls	array	M3 Ultra Studio URL	Product pages to watch in productUrls mode
country	enum	us	Apple Store country (10 supported)
minMemoryGb	integer	0	Only listings with ≥ this unified memory
minPrice / maxPrice	integer	0	Price band (0 = no limit)
keywordFilter	string	—	Name must contain this text
webhookUrls	array	—	One or more alert endpoints
webhookFormat	enum	auto	Auto-detect Discord/Slack, or force a format
webhookBearerToken	secret	—	Bearer auth for generic JSON webhooks
notifyOn	array	new/back/drop	Which events fire webhooks
proxyConfiguration	object	off	Not needed; escape hatch only

📤 Output records

Each dataset record carries a record_type:

• alert — one per dispatched notification: event type, product, price, previous price, buy link, webhook delivery status.
• listing — one per currently-matched refurb unit, on every run: part number, title, model, chip, memory, storage, price, original price, savings $ / %, product URL, first-seen timestamp, and a status field (baseline on a watch's first run, then active / new / returned / price-dropped).
• run_summary — one per run: watch config echo, matched/grid totals, event counts, alerts dispatched, warnings, runtime.

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💰 Pricing

Unit prices get cheaper on higher Apify plans (standard tiered pricing):

Event	When it fires	Free plan	Gold+ plans
🔍 stock-check	Once per run	$0.005	$0.0035
🔔 alert-dispatched	Each webhook alert sent	$0.02	$0.014

A 5-minute schedule ≈ 288 checks/day ≈ $1.01–1.44/day depending on plan. A 30-minute hobbyist watch ≈ $0.17–0.24/day. Failed runs are never charged. Platform usage is included — no hidden compute or proxy fees. Your Maximum cost per run setting is honored: if a run hits your cap, remaining events simply go uncharged (you keep all delivered data).

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❓ FAQ

Why didn't I get alerts on my first run?

The first run of any watch configuration records a baseline silently — otherwise creating a watch would blast you with one alert per existing listing. Alerts begin with the second run.

How fast will I know about a restock?

Within one schedule interval. On a 5-minute schedule, you'll know within 5 minutes of Apple listing it — typically while units are still in stock. Paid Apify plans allow 1-minute schedules if you want the edge.

What's special about Apple Certified Refurbished?

1-year Apple warranty (AppleCare-eligible), new battery and outer shell, full accessories — at 15%+ below new. That's why units disappear in minutes during the 2026 shortage.

Does it buy the Mac for me?

No. This actor only watches public listing pages and alerts you — it never logs in, never adds to cart, never automates purchases.

Is it legal?

The actor reads the same public, login-free pages any visitor sees — prices and availability only, no personal data. Refurb-tracking services have watched these exact pages publicly for over a decade.

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🛠️ Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
🕳️ matched_listings: 0 every run	Normal during the shortage for Studio/mini — they're sold out. Your alert will fire when one appears. Widen models or remove filters to verify the watch works.
📭 No webhook received on a test	Check the alert record's webhookDeliveries field for the delivery status/error. Discord/Slack URLs must be full webhook URLs.
🔁 Duplicate alerts after changing input	Changing filters creates a new watch configuration with a fresh baseline — expected.
🧱 REFURB_GRID_BOOTSTRAP not found	Apple changed the page structure — report it on the Issues tab of this actor's Store page; fixes ship within days.

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🔗 Related PyralisLabs actors

• 🖥️ Newegg AI-Build Sniper — assembled AI-ready PC builds from live Newegg stock.
• 🏬 Micro Center In-Store AI-Build Sniper — same intelligence for in-store pickup + open-box GPU deals.

📜 Disclaimers

• This actor reads public apple.com listing pages. It does not log in, automate purchases, or collect personal data.
• Apple, Mac, Mac Studio, Mac mini, MacBook, and iMac are trademarks of Apple Inc. This actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apple Inc. — "Apple Certified Refurbished" is referenced descriptively.
• Prices and availability change by the minute; always verify on apple.com before purchasing.
• For bugs and feature requests, use the Issues tab on this actor's Apify Store page or contact dev@pyralislabs.io.