# eBid Marketplace Scraper - Auction & Buy-Now Listings (`lulzasaur/ebid-scraper`) Actor

Scrape eBid.net (an eBay alternative) auction and buy-now listings by category. Get titles, prices, listing type, condition, location, close times, images, and listing URLs. Built for cross-marketplace arbitrage resellers and price researchers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/ebid-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## eBid Marketplace Scraper — Auction & Buy-Now Listings

Scrape listings from [eBid.net](https://www.ebid.net), a long-running eBay alternative marketplace. Pull auction and fixed-price ("buy now") listings by category for **cross-marketplace arbitrage**, price research, and resale sourcing.

### What it does

- Browses eBid category and subcategory pages and extracts every listing card
- Follows pagination automatically (`/pageN.htm`)
- Optionally opens each listing page for richer fields (exact condition, location, close time, full price)
- Works across eBid country storefronts (US, UK, CA, AU, NZ, IE)

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `startUrls` | array | eBid category/subcategory browse URLs (e.g. `https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/`) or individual listing URLs. The reliable entry point. |
| `category` | string | Convenience alternative — a category slug under `/buy/`, e.g. `collectibles`, `electronics`, `jewelry-watches`. |
| `searchQueries` | array | Best-effort keyword search. eBid's keyword search sits behind a bot-challenge and usually needs residential proxies; prefer category browsing. |
| `country` | string | eBid storefront: `us`, `uk`, `ca`, `au`, `nz`, `ie`. Default `us`. |
| `maxResults` | integer | Max listings to scrape (0 = unlimited up to ~5000). Default `50`. |
| `scrapeDetails` | boolean | Open each listing for exact condition, location, and close timestamp. Slower, richer. Default `false`. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Optional proxy. Recommended for large runs and keyword search. |

#### Example input

```json
{
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/disneyana/contemporary-1968-now/" }],
    "maxResults": 100,
    "scrapeDetails": true,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}
```

### Output

Each listing produces a record:

```json
{
    "listingId": "188807419",
    "title": "1969 House of Cartridges Cartridge Collector Catalog",
    "price": 9.0,
    "currency": "USD",
    "listingType": "auction-buynow",
    "condition": "Used",
    "location": "United States",
    "timeLeft": "06 days 18 hrs",
    "closeTime": "Thu 02 Jul 2026 00:48:11 (EDT)",
    "listingUrl": "https://www.ebid.net/us/for-sale/...-188807419.htm",
    "imageUrl": "https://pic.ebid.net/upload_big/...jpg",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-24T05:48:11.000Z"
}
```

`listingType` is one of `auction`, `buy-now`, or `auction-buynow` (eBid often allows both on one listing). `condition`, `location`, and exact `closeTime` are only populated when `scrapeDetails` is enabled (the category grid provides a relative `timeLeft` instead).

### Notes

- Uses HTTP + Cheerio (fast). Category browsing requires no proxy.
- Keyword search via eBid's CGI endpoint is protected by an anti-bot challenge and may fail without residential proxies — category Start URLs are the dependable path.
- Respect eBid's Terms of Service and rate limits.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

eBid.net category or subcategory browse URLs to scrape, e.g. https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/ or a deep leaf like https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/electronics/cell-phones-smartphones/. You can also paste individual listing URLs (/us/for-sale/...-ID.htm). Leave empty to use the 'category' field instead.

## `category` (type: `string`):

Convenience alternative to Start URLs. An eBid category path under /us/buy/, e.g. 'collectibles', 'electronics', 'jewelry-watches', 'coins-banknotes'. Combined with the country to build https://www.ebid.net/{country}/buy/{category}/. Ignored if Start URLs are provided.

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keyword searches via eBid's search endpoint. NOTE: eBid's keyword search is behind a bot-challenge and often fails without residential proxies; category browsing (Start URLs / category) is the reliable path. Each query is attempted separately.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Which eBid country storefront to scrape.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of listings to scrape across all start URLs / queries. Set to 0 for unlimited (up to ~5000). Default is 50.

## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

If enabled, opens each listing page to capture exact condition, location, close/end timestamp, availability and full description. Slower but richer data. If disabled, fields are read from the faster category grid only.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings. Not required for basic category scraping but recommended for large runs and for keyword search (which may need residential proxies).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/"
    }
  ],
  "category": "",
  "searchQueries": [],
  "country": "us",
  "maxResults": 50,
  "scrapeDetails": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/"
        }
    ],
    "searchQueries": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/ebid-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/" }],
    "searchQueries": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/ebid-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.ebid.net/us/buy/collectibles/"
    }
  ],
  "searchQueries": []
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/ebid-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lulzasaur/ebid-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/v1Z6saCJfmHxdVCId/builds/Y2iO1T1EKE3H6fla1/openapi.json