# Comic Book Price Scraper - GoCollect Data (`lulzasaur/gocollect-scraper`) Actor

Scrape GoCollect for comic book prices, fair market values, grade-based pricing, key issue details, and trending hot comics lists. Supports search, hot comics, and comic detail modes.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/gocollect-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 11 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 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

## GoCollect Comic Book Price Scraper

Scrape publicly available comic book pricing and trending data from [GoCollect](https://gocollect.com), the leading comic book price guide and market tracker.

### What It Scrapes

- **Hot Comics** — Weekly trending list with grade-based fair market values (FMV) at grades 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 9.0, 9.2, and 9.6
- **Search** — Find comics by keyword with sale record counts and publication dates
- **Comic Detail** — Full metadata per comic: title, publisher, writer, artist, key issue notes, price range from historical sales (via JSON-LD schema), and cover image
- **Publisher Browse** — Browse comics associated with a publisher name

### Modes

| Mode | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `hotComics` | Scrape the weekly hot comics trending list |
| `search` | Search GoCollect by keyword |
| `comicDetail` | Scrape specific comic detail pages by URL |
| `publisher` | Browse comics by publisher name |

### Input

```json
{
  "mode": "hotComics",
  "limit": 10,
  "comicAge": "all"
}
```

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "amazing spider-man",
  "limit": 20
}
```

```json
{
  "mode": "comicDetail",
  "comicUrls": [
    "https://gocollect.com/comic/spawn-1",
    "https://gocollect.com/comic/amazing-spider-man-300"
  ]
}
```

```json
{
  "mode": "publisher",
  "publisher": "image",
  "limit": 15
}
```

### Output Fields

#### Hot Comics / Search / Publisher modes

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `title` | Full comic title including issue number |
| `series` | Series name (parsed from title) |
| `issueNumber` | Issue number string |
| `coverImageUrl` | Cover image URL |
| `keyIssueDetails` | Key issue notes (first appearance, origin, etc.) |
| `grades` | Object of grade→price (FMV) mappings from the list view |
| `rank` | Hot list rank position (hot comics mode only) |
| `saleRecordsCount` | Number of historical sale records (search mode) |
| `publicationDate` | Publication month/year |
| `url` | GoCollect URL for this comic |
| `slug` | URL slug identifier |
| `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp |

#### Comic Detail mode (additional fields)

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `publisher` | Publisher name (e.g. "Marvel", "DC", "Image") |
| `year` | Publication year (integer) |
| `publicationDate` | Full publication date string |
| `writer` | Writer(s) |
| `artist` | Artist(s) |
| `coverArtist` | Cover artist(s) |
| `coverPrice` | Original cover price |
| `pageCount` | Page count |
| `priceRange` | Object with `lowPrice`, `highPrice`, `offerCount` from historical sales |

### Notes

- GoCollect requires a paid subscription ($9/mo Pro) for full FMV data, detailed sales history, and grade breakdowns. This scraper only extracts publicly available data.
- The hot comics list provides grade-based FMV at 7 grade points (2.0 through 9.6) without a login.
- Comic detail pages include price range (low/high) from JSON-LD schema data embedded in the page.
- A 1.5-second delay is applied between requests in detail mode to be respectful of the server.

### Pricing

Pay-per-result (PPE): $0.005 per result.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Scraping mode: hotComics (trending list), search (find comics by keyword), comicDetail (specific comic pages), or publisher (browse by publisher series).

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Search term for search mode (e.g. 'amazing spider-man', 'batman', 'x-men'). Only used when mode=search.

## `comicUrls` (type: `array`):

Full GoCollect URLs for comic detail pages (e.g. https://gocollect.com/comic/spawn-1). Only used when mode=comicDetail.

## `publisher` (type: `string`):

Publisher name for publisher browse mode (e.g. 'marvel', 'dc', 'image'). Only used when mode=publisher.

## `comicAge` (type: `string`):

Filter hot comics by age. Only used when mode=hotComics.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of results to return.

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

Optional proxy settings. GoCollect does not require proxy for public pages.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "hotComics",
  "comicAge": "all",
  "limit": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/gocollect-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/gocollect-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 '{}' |
apify call lulzasaur/gocollect-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lulzasaur/gocollect-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/C3bLBSqAHRyaSrNP1/builds/xIrmW1Rjv9uio7E5v/openapi.json