Rate limiting controls how frequently automated software requests information from a website. For supplier monitoring, it helps balance two needs: keeping product information reasonably current and avoiding unnecessary load on the supplier's store.
Why one global limit is not enough
Imagine monitoring ten suppliers, with most products coming from only one of them. A single limit for the whole system can still send nearly every request to that busiest domain. Per-domain limits keep each supplier on its own schedule.
This also lets the monitoring process continue checking other suppliers when one source needs to slow down.
Errors are a reason to back off
Timeouts, server errors, and throttling responses are signals that the current pace may be too aggressive or the site is temporarily unavailable. Repeating the same request faster rarely helps.
A backoff rule increases the delay between attempts. If failures continue, the item should become an exception for review instead of remaining in an endless retry loop.
Faster is not always more useful
A supplier that changes inventory once per day may not need to be checked every minute. Monitoring frequency should reflect how often the source changes, how quickly your store must respond, and what request volume is reasonable.
- Supplier change frequency
- Catalog size
- Cost of stale information
- Published crawl delay
- Recent errors or throttling
Operators still need freshness information
Slower pacing is only safe when the merchant can see the age of the data. Show the last successful check and clearly identify sources that have fallen behind their expected schedule.
This article provides general operational information, not legal or professional advice. Test decisions against your own catalog, supplier terms, and business requirements.