1688.com Scraper — B2B Wholesale Product Extractor

What does it do?

This actor scrapes 1688.com — Alibaba's B2B domestic marketplace and China's largest wholesale platform — extracting product listings by keyword. Get factory-direct pricing, bulk pricing tiers, MOQ (minimum order quantity), supplier ratings, and order volume data for dropshipping research, Amazon FBA sourcing, and competitive analysis.

Each search query returns up to 500 products with:

• 💰 Factory-direct prices in CNY + USD equivalent
• 📦 MOQ & tiered bulk pricing — see price breaks at different volumes
• 🏭 Supplier information — name, location, performance scores
• 📊 Demand metrics — order count and repurchase rate
• 🏅 Supplier quality scores — logistics, goods quality, dispute resolution

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Who is it for?

🚀 Dropshippers & Product Sourcers

Find products at factory-direct prices (typically 30–60% lower than Alibaba international). Validate demand with real order counts before placing bulk orders.

📦 Amazon FBA Sellers

Identify high-potential products by filtering for items with 500+ orders. Compare factory prices against Amazon selling prices to calculate exact margins before sourcing.

🔍 Competitive Intelligence Analysts

Monitor competitor product catalogs, track price changes over time, and identify trending categories in the Chinese wholesale market.

💼 B2B Procurement Teams

Automate supplier discovery. Search for specific product types, filter by supplier quality scores, and build a shortlist of pre-vetted manufacturers.

📈 E-commerce Entrepreneurs & AI Developers

Build product databases, train price prediction models, or feed AI pipelines with real wholesale pricing data from China's largest B2B platform.

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Why use this scraper?

• ✅ Extracts data competitors don't — tiered bulk pricing tiers, supplier score breakdowns, repurchase rates
• ✅ Fresh data — scrapes live 1688.com listings, not cached datasets
• ✅ Structured output — clean JSON/CSV ready for spreadsheets or databases
• ✅ Numeric fields — prices as numbers (not strings), scores as decimals
• ✅ Session cookie auth — uses your existing 1688.com browser session (easy copy-paste setup)
• ✅ Multi-keyword support — run multiple product searches in a single job

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What data does it extract?

Field	Description	Example
productId	1688 listing ID	549929725456
title	Product title (Chinese)	TWS无线蓝牙耳机5.0
url	Direct product URL	https://detail.1688.com/offer/...
thumbnailUrl	Main product image	https://cbu01.alicdn.com/...
priceCny	Price in CNY (numeric)	28.50
priceUsd	Approx USD price	3.93
moq	Minimum order quantity	10
currency	Always "CNY"	CNY
supplierName	Factory/supplier name	深圳市XX电子有限公司
supplierId	Seller member ID	b2b-2582465574
supplierUrl	Supplier storefront URL	https://b2b-xxx.1688.com/
province	Province (Chinese)	广东
city	City (Chinese)	深圳市
orderCount	Total orders placed	2547
repurchaseRate	Customer repurchase %	18%
compositeScore	Overall supplier rating (0–5)	4.2
logisticsScore	Shipping performance (0–5)	4.5
goodsScore	Product quality rating (0–5)	4.0
disputeScore	Dispute resolution (0–5)	4.3
consultationScore	Customer service (0–5)	4.1
returnScore	Return processing (0–5)	4.4
quantityPrices	Array of tiered bulk pricing	[{quantity: "1-99", priceCny: 28.5}]
serviceTags	Service terms (Chinese)	["退货包运费", "先采后付"]
productBadges	Certifications/badges	["认证工厂", "实力商家"]
searchKeyword	Search term that found this	"phone case"
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp	2026-04-01T12:00:00Z

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💰 How much does it cost to scrape 1688.com products?

This actor uses Pay Per Event (PPE) pricing — you only pay for what you scrape:

Event	FREE Plan	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD	PLATINUM	DIAMOND
Run start	$0.020	$0.019	$0.017	$0.015	$0.012	$0.010
Per product	$0.0040	$0.0036	$0.0030	$0.0024	$0.0016	$0.0011

Example costs:

• Scrape 50 products: ~$0.22 (FREE tier)
• Scrape 200 products: ~$0.82
• Scrape 1,000 products: ~$4.02

Free trial: New Apify accounts include a $5 free credit — enough to scrape 1,000+ products.

Tip: Use Apify's subscription plans for volume discounts (up to 72% off at DIAMOND tier).

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How to scrape 1688.com products

Step 1: Open the actor

Go to 1688.com Scraper on Apify Store.

Step 2: Enter keywords

Type your product keywords (Chinese or English — both work):

• phone case → searches for phone cases
• 手机壳 → same in Chinese (more results)
• bluetooth earbuds → earbuds
• led strip lights → LED strips

Step 3: Set max results

Set maxResults to control how many products to extract per keyword. Default is 48 (one page).

Step 4: Add session cookies (required)

1688.com requires a valid login session to return product data. In Chrome/Edge:

1. Go to www.1688.com and log in
2. Press F12 → Network tab → reload the page
3. Click any request to 1688.com → copy the Cookie header value
4. Paste the full cookie string into the Session Cookies field

Step 5: Choose sort order

• Best Selling (recommended) — finds proven products with high demand
• Price: Low to High — cheapest factory prices first
• Default — relevance sorting

Step 6: Run and export

Click "Start" and wait for results. Export to JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Results tab.

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Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keywords	array	required	Search keywords (Chinese or English)
cookies	string	required	Your 1688.com session cookies — required for search results
maxResults	integer	48	Max products per keyword (up to 500)
sortType	string	bestSelling	Sort: default, bestSelling, priceLow, priceHigh
proxyConfiguration	object	CN residential	Proxy settings (change only if needed)

Sort type options

Sort Type	Value	Best for
Best Selling	bestSelling	Finding proven high-demand products
Price Low	priceLow	Finding cheapest factory prices
Price High	priceHigh	Premium/high-value products
Default	default	Relevance-based results

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Output example

{
  "productId": "549929725456",
  "title": "TWS无线蓝牙耳机5.0降噪运动",
  "url": "https://detail.1688.com/offer/549929725456.html",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://cbu01.alicdn.com/img/ibank/O1CN01.../image.jpg",
  "priceCny": 28.50,
  "priceUsd": 3.93,
  "moq": 10,
  "currency": "CNY",
  "supplierName": "深圳市鸿达电子科技有限公司",
  "supplierId": "b2b-2582465574fd1bb",
  "supplierUrl": "https://b2b-2582465574fd1bb.1688.com/",
  "province": "广东",
  "city": "深圳市",
  "orderCount": 2547,
  "repurchaseRate": "18%",
  "compositeScore": 4.2,
  "logisticsScore": 4.5,
  "goodsScore": 4.0,
  "disputeScore": 4.3,
  "consultationScore": 4.1,
  "returnScore": 4.4,
  "quantityPrices": [
    { "quantity": "1~99件", "minQty": 1, "priceCny": 28.50, "priceUsd": 3.93 },
    { "quantity": "100~499件", "minQty": 100, "priceCny": 24.00, "priceUsd": 3.31 },
    { "quantity": "≥500件", "minQty": 500, "priceCny": 19.50, "priceUsd": 2.69 }
  ],
  "serviceTags": ["退货包运费", "先采后付"],
  "productBadges": ["认证工厂", "实力商家"],
  "searchKeyword": "bluetooth earbuds",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-01T12:34:56.789Z"
}

---

Tips for best results

🔍 Search tips

• Use Chinese keywords for more results (1688 is a Chinese-language platform)
• Combine searches: ["手机壳", "phone case"] gets overlapping results for more coverage
• Broad keywords work best: 耳机 (earphones) vs a specific model number

📊 Finding winning products

1. Use sortType: "bestSelling" to find proven sellers
2. Filter for orderCount >= 500 — high orders = proven demand
3. Check repurchaseRate — 10%+ indicates satisfied customers
4. Verify compositeScore >= 4.0 for reliable suppliers

🏭 Evaluating suppliers

• compositeScore 4.0–5.0 = Excellent (recommended)
• compositeScore 3.0–3.9 = Good (proceed with caution)
• compositeScore < 3.0 = Below average (higher risk)
• logisticsScore = Shipping reliability
• goodsScore = Product quality consistency

💰 Calculating margins

Use quantityPrices to find your break-even MOQ. Example:

• 1–99 units: ¥28.50 ($3.93) each
• 100+ units: ¥24.00 ($3.31) each — 15% discount for bulk
• 500+ units: ¥19.50 ($2.69) each — 31% bulk discount

⚙️ Service tags reference (Chinese → English)

• 退货包运费 = Free return shipping
• 先采后付 = Buy now, pay later
• 7天无理由退货 = 7-day no-reason returns
• 假一赔四 = Counterfeit product 4x refund guarantee

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Integrations

🤖 AI/LLM sourcing pipeline

Feed 1688.com data into an AI system to automate product research:

1688 Scraper → GPT-4 analyzer → Supplier shortlist → Order automation

📊 Price monitoring workflow

Schedule daily runs to track wholesale price changes:

1688 Scraper (daily) → Database → Price alert when > 10% change

🔗 Apify integrations

Connect to 500+ apps via Apify integrations:

• Google Sheets — auto-update a product research spreadsheet
• Zapier/Make — trigger downstream workflows
• Slack — notify your team when new products meet criteria
• Airtable — build a sourcing CRM with supplier contacts

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API usage

Node.js

const { ApifyClient } = require('apify-client');
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/1688-scraper').call({
    keywords: ['phone case', 'bluetooth earbuds'],
    maxResults: 100,
    sortType: 'bestSelling',
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Scraped ${items.length} products`);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_API_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('automation-lab/1688-scraper').call(run_input={
    'keywords': ['phone case', 'bluetooth earbuds'],
    'maxResults': 100,
    'sortType': 'bestSelling',
})

items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(f"Scraped {len(items)} products")
for item in items[:3]:
    print(f"{item['title']} — ¥{item['priceCny']} | Orders: {item['orderCount']}")

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~1688-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "keywords": ["phone case"],
    "maxResults": 50,
    "sortType": "bestSelling"
  }'

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Use with Claude (MCP)

Connect this actor to Claude via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to research 1688.com products conversationally.

Claude Code setup

$claude mcp add --transport http apify https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/1688-scraper

Claude Desktop / VS Code / Cursor setup

Add to your MCP config (Claude Desktop on macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/1688-scraper",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example prompts for Claude

Once connected, you can ask Claude:

"Find the top 20 best-selling phone accessories on 1688.com with prices under ¥50 and at least 500 orders"

"Search 1688.com for 'led strip lights' and summarize the price range, MOQ, and which provinces the suppliers are from"

"Compare 50 bluetooth earbuds on 1688.com — which have composite scores above 4.0 and what are their prices?"

"Find 30 products in the 'portable charger' category and calculate potential Amazon FBA margins assuming 3x markup"

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Is scraping 1688.com legal?

Web scraping publicly accessible product listings for personal use, research, and non-commercial purposes is generally considered legal in most jurisdictions. This actor scrapes publicly accessible product data (no private data, no user accounts accessed beyond your own session).

Important:

• 1688.com's Terms of Service may restrict automated access. Review their ToS before large-scale use.
• This actor does not scrape personal information, messages, or account data.
• Data is intended for research and business intelligence — not for republishing competitor supplier lists or for spamming.
• Apify's Responsible Data Collection Policy applies.

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FAQ

Q: Does this actor require a 1688.com account? A: Yes — 1688.com's search API returns empty results for unauthenticated sessions. You need to provide your session cookies from a logged-in 1688.com account. See the "Session Cookies" input field instructions for how to extract them from your browser in under a minute.

Q: Why are titles in Chinese? A: 1688.com is a Chinese-language platform. All product titles, service tags, and location data are in Simplified Chinese. You can use a translation API to convert them.

Q: What currency are prices in? A: Prices are extracted in CNY (Chinese Yuan). The priceUsd field provides an approximate USD equivalent using a fixed rate (~0.138 USD/CNY). Verify current rates before financial decisions.

Q: The actor returned 0 results for my keyword. Why? A: This can happen when:

1. The keyword has no results on 1688.com (try a broader term or Chinese equivalent)
2. Anti-bot protection blocked the session (retry once — the actor auto-rotates proxies)
3. Network issues with the CN residential proxy — retry after a few minutes

Q: Can I scrape product detail pages for more data? A: The current version scrapes search results (list view). Product detail pages (MOQ details, full spec sheets, more images) can be added in a future version.

Q: How many results can I get per keyword? A: Up to 500 products per keyword (approximately 10–11 pages of ~44–48 results each).

Q: Do I need a Chinese proxy? A: The actor uses Apify's CN residential proxies by default. This is required to access 1688.com's search pages, which are geo-restricted. Do not change the proxy settings unless you know what you're doing.

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Related scrapers

• Alibaba.com Scraper — International wholesale listings
• AliExpress Scraper — Consumer-facing retail prices
• Temu Scraper — Cross-border e-commerce platform
• Amazon Product Scraper — Calculate FBA margins from source to sale
• Amazon Reviews Scraper — Validate product demand with buyer feedback