# Catch.com.au Product Scraper (`parseforge/catch-com-au-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes Catch.com.au product listings by search query or category slug. Returns each product as a flat row with price, rating, and availability. Supports price filters and sort options.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/catch-com-au-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Automation, Integrations
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 89.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $7.50 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Catch.com.au Product Scraper

**Scrape Catch.com.au product listings from any search query or category, up to a million items per run.** Every product comes with its price, rating, availability, and full listing details. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Catch.com.au has no public API for product data, and building a scraper means handling dynamic pages, pagination, and anti-bot measures. This Actor reads the public product feeds directly, filtered by price, category, or sort order, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Catch.com.au for |
|---|---|
| E-commerce analysts | Track competitor pricing and assortment on Catch.com.au |
| Dropshippers | Find trending products and monitor stock levels |
| Market researchers | Analyze product categories and customer ratings |
| Price monitoring tools | Feed daily price snapshots into internal dashboards |

### What it does

This Actor collects Catch.com.au product listings by search query or category slug, and returns each one as a flat row with price, rating, and availability.

- 🔍 **Search and category modes:** run by keyword query or by category slug from the Catch URL path.
- 💰 **Price filters:** set min and max price in AUD to narrow results before they are written.
- 📊 **Sort options:** relevance, price low to high, price high to low, newest, or top rated.
- 📦 **Flat output:** every product is one row, ready for CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML export.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Catch.com.au data

**📈 Monitor competitor prices.**

An e-commerce analyst runs the Actor daily on a list of search queries and compares Catch.com.au prices against other retailers to adjust their own pricing.

**🛒 Find trending products for dropshipping.**

A dropshipper scrapes a category like 'electronics' sorted by newest to spot products that are gaining traction and check supplier availability.

**📊 Analyze ratings and reviews.**

A market researcher pulls top-rated products in a niche and aggregates rating distributions to understand what customers value most.

**🔔 Track stock availability.**

A price monitoring tool scrapes the same query every hour and flags products that go out of stock or change price.

### Why choose this scraper

|  | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key** | Works on the public Catch.com.au site, no registration or tokens |
| **Up to 1M items** | Paid users can pull up to a million products per run |
| **Fixed schema** | Every row has the same fields, so downstream processing is predictable |
| **Free preview** | Free users get 10 items to test the output before paying |

### How it compares

No other Store actor targets Catch.com.au the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

| | Catch.com.au Product Scraper | Build it in-house | By hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Run it now, zero config | Days of engineering | None, but hours per pull |
| When Catch.com.au changes | Maintained for you | You fix it | You re-learn the page |
| Proxies, retries, anti-bot | Built in | Your problem | Browser only |
| Output | Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export | Whatever you build | Copy-paste |
| Cost | Pay per result | Engineering time | Analyst hours |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a search query or a category slug, and filters run as each product is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
  "query": "headphones",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
  "query": "headphones",
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.0085 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $0.85 |
| 1,000 results | $8.50 |
| 10,000 results | $85.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Catch.com.au Product Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/catch-com-au-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Catch.com.au through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/catch-com-au-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that your query or category slug is spelled correctly and that your price filters are not too narrow. Try removing minPrice and maxPrice to see if results appear.

**Why did the run stop at 10 items?**

Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Upgrade to a paid plan and set maxItems higher to scrape more.

**Why are some products missing fields?**

Catch.com.au may not show every field for every product. Missing values are returned as empty strings or nulls in the dataset.

**Why is the run slow?**

Large maxItems values take longer because the Actor must paginate through many pages. Reduce maxItems or narrow your filters to speed it up.

**Can I scrape by direct product URL?**

Currently the Actor supports search queries and category slugs, not individual product URLs. Use a search query that matches the product instead.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need a Catch.com.au account or API key? | No. The Actor reads the public product pages directly, so no login or API key is required. |
| How many products can I scrape? | Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Paid users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 per run. |
| Can I scrape a specific category? | Yes, pass the category slug from the Catch URL path, for example 'electronics' or 'home'. |
| What filters are available? | You can filter by min and max price in AUD, and sort by relevance, price ascending or descending, newest, or top rated. |
| What output formats are supported? | The Actor returns a flat dataset that you can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform. |
| Is the data real-time? | Yes, each run fetches the current public pages, so you get the latest prices and availability at the time of the run. |
| Can I schedule this Actor to run automatically? | Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run it hourly, daily, or at any custom interval. |
| Does it handle pagination? | Yes, the Actor automatically follows pagination until it reaches maxItems or the end of results. |
| What if my search returns no results? | Check your query or category slug. The Actor returns an empty dataset if nothing matches, and you can adjust filters to broaden the search. |
| Can I scrape product reviews? | The Actor returns product-level data such as rating and review count, but not the full text of individual reviews. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Catch.com.au Pty Ltd. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Keyword search (e.g. 'laptop', 'shoes', 'kitchen'). Leave empty to browse by category.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000

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

Optional category slug from Catch URL path (e.g. 'electronics', 'home', 'fashion').

## `minPrice` (type: `integer`):

Minimum price filter in AUD.

## `maxPrice` (type: `integer`):

Maximum price filter in AUD.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Sort order for results.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "headphones",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "sort": "relevance"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "headphones",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/catch-com-au-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 = {
    "query": "headphones",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/catch-com-au-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 '{
  "query": "headphones",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/catch-com-au-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/catch-com-au-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/O01Wela8MeCUapFH2/builds/Z8zVsTDa6YkRYO9HM/openapi.json