How to create a Searchbot?
 

I'm looking for a used FJ-100 and was wondering if there's a way to scour the Internet for relevant sources. I have eBay search set up for email notification and have an AutoTrader shortcut, but was wondering if there's a way to streamline the search while including more resources. I'd like classifieds and bulletin boards, and would like to filter by distance, mileage, price, etc. TIA...

Do you already have a list of sites that you'd like to check, or do you want the bot to try & find them? I've toyed with the idea of writing a program to harvest stuff off my favorite sites, but I think that having it find new sites + pull info would be trickier.

I was thinking to consolidate, so eBay, AutoTrader, Craig's List, all newspapers within 300 miles, and Land Cruiser boards with classifieds, for starters.

The only way I'd know how would be to script it, and since each website will be a little different it would take a while, but could be done. I'd dump the results into a database. Depending on how structured the results on each site are, you might be able to split $ into it's own column, mileage into it's own, etc & then come up with a rating system or something. Doing it this way would be a lot of work, but you might be able to use it for your future car purchases too.

Maybe someone else has an easier way.

Above my pay grade! I'll post the job to Scriptlance and see if there's interest.