Notifications

What you see

When a listing matches one of your watchers, you get a message in chat naming the item and its price, with a clickable [BUY NOW] button that jumps you straight to the listing. One click and you are looking at the item, ready to buy.

When it fires

An alert fires the moment a matching item is listed, and only then. A watcher looks for new listings, it does not scan what is already on the market, so set one up before the item you want appears.

While you are offline

Alerts arrive in chat, so they reach you only while you are online. A match that happens while you are away is not saved up and delivered later. For something you really do not want to miss, keep a watcher on it and check the auction house when you next log in.