HiBid Auction Lots Scraper

Export public HiBid auction lots for recurring resale inventory snapshots. Search by keyword and collect lot identities, displayed current bids, bid counts, estimates, auctioneers, locations, shipping indicators and observed timing into a structured dataset.

This Actor reads public search cards without signing in. It does not place bids, access watchlists, resolve sold-history records or calculate fair market value. A current bid is an observation, not a final sale price or the amount needed to win.

Who is it for?

• Resellers comparing a repeatable keyword inventory snapshot across days.
• Collectibles researchers building a watch spreadsheet of publicly listed lots.
• Auction-data teams importing displayed prices and source links into internal analysis.

Why use this Actor?

A row keeps the stable HiBid lot ID separate from the auction's lot number. The original bid text, displayed currency and numeric bid are preserved together. Timing remains the source's text rather than a fabricated closing timestamp, and missing fields remain null.

The included anonymous US residential browser route handles the public search page. You do not need to provide a proxy password, cookies or a HiBid account. Collection is sequential and bounded, with a maximum of three fresh browser/proxy attempts per page.

Getting started

1. Enter a keyword such as coins.
2. Use the editor's maxItems: 20 and maxPages: 1 sample for a first snapshot (the runtime default without that field is25).
3. Run the Actor and open the dataset in the Output tab.
4. Export JSON, CSV, Excel or another Apify dataset format.
5. To compare later snapshots, repeat the same input and join by lotId downstream.

{"keyword":"coins","maxItems":25,"maxPages":1}

Input parameters

Field	Default	Meaning
keyword	No runtime default; editor prefill coins	One native HiBid search string.
searchUrl	Unset	Alternative to keyword: https://hibid.com/lots?q=coins.
maxItems	25	Global unique-lot limit, 1–250.
maxPages	1	Search-page limit, 1–10, starting at page 1.

Supply exactly one of keyword or searchUrl. Empty keywords, conflicting inputs, unsupported fields and malformed limits fail before browsing. Search URLs may contain only a single q parameter: arbitrary filters, page parameters, fragments, credentials, subdomains and lot-detail URLs are rejected. The Actor constructs its own sequential pages with 25 cards per page.

Leading/trailing keyword whitespace is trimmed and internal whitespace collapsed. Matching is HiBid's native search, not a local exact-title, exact-phrase or whole-word filter. HiBid can rank related results and broaden searches; no independent relevance guarantee is imposed. The default source search includes open/upcoming listings, not a sold-price archive.

Collecting multiple pages

{"keyword":"vintage camera","maxItems":50,"maxPages":2}

Both limits apply globally. A 100-item limit with one page still returns at most the source page's available cards. Increase both values when collecting more. Zero and unlimited collection are unsupported. The run stops at source exhaustion, either configured limit, or the billing budget, whichever comes first.

Deduplication uses lot ID across the run. Auction inventories change while pages are collected, so a snapshot is not transactional or guaranteed exhaustive. If the source repeats a page without new records, the run fails rather than claiming complete coverage.

Extracted data

Field	Meaning
lotId, url	Stable source lot ID and public lot link.
lotNumber, title	Auction-specific lot label and displayed title.
currentBid, currentBidText, currency	Numeric bid, original bid display and currency code.
bidCount	Displayed bid count, including zero.
estimate	Displayed estimate text, possibly a range; not independent valuation.
seller, location	Public auctioneer display name and displayed location.
shippingAvailable	True when the source explicitly displays shipping available; null otherwise.
timing, lotType	Observed badge text and auction format.
searchUrl, page, scrapedAt	Fetched search URL, source page and UTC observation timestamp.

Null means absent or not interpretable from the search card. A missing shipping indicator does not prove shipping is unavailable. Timing can be a countdown or Webcast; it is not converted to a guaranteed deadline. Bid amounts are parsed from the source's English display, with grouping commas removed. No currency conversion is performed.

Output example

This illustrates a real observed card shape; prices and timing change:

{
  "lotId": "325183732",
  "url": "https://hibid.com/lot/325183732/1915--10-gold-indian-au-slider-uncertified",
  "title": "1915 $10 Gold Indian AU Slider Uncertified",
  "lotNumber": "286sc",
  "currentBid": 385,
  "currentBidText": "$385.00",
  "currency": "USD",
  "bidCount": 1,
  "estimate": "4,025.00 USD",
  "seller": "Seuyco",
  "location": "Forest Hills, NY",
  "shippingAvailable": true,
  "timing": "2d 11h 5m",
  "lotType": "Online Only",
  "searchUrl": "https://hibid.com/lots?q=coins&ipp=25",
  "page": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-28T07:17:07.248Z"
}

How much does it cost to extract HiBid auction lots?

Pay per event: a $0.009 one-time start fee, plus a price per saved lot. The BRONZE price is $0.002064 per lot. Other subscription tiers have their own displayed prices; check the Actor's Pricing tab before running. Spend tiers follow your qualifying aggregate monthly Apify Store spend, not a private per-Actor volume schedule.

At that BRONZE price, one lot costs $0.011064, 25 lots cost $0.0606, and 100 lots cost $0.2154. These are Actor-event examples, not an estimate of unrelated platform services or plan charges. The included residential route does not create a separate Actor proxy event. Duplicate or rejected rows have no item event. A valid empty search still incurs the start fee.

Set a maximum charge in Apify Console to bound event charges. The Actor checks the remaining item allowance before collecting another page and uses SDK-integrated dataset charging. A low budget may stop below your item limit.

Integrations

• Google Sheets or Excel: export lot ID, bid, count and observation timestamp, then compare matching IDs across saved snapshots.
• Make, Zapier or n8n: trigger this Actor, wait for completion and read the default dataset into your inventory pipeline.
• Database ingestion: upsert source identities while keeping price observations in a separate timestamped table.
• Apify schedules: repeat an input at your chosen interval. The Actor itself does not persist previous snapshots, issue alerts or detect changes.

API usage

Use your own Apify token. Do not share it in a dataset or public workflow.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~hibid-auction-lots-scraper/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"keyword":"coins","maxItems":25,"maxPages":1}'

The response is run metadata, not lot rows. Follow the returned run ID until terminal success, then read its defaultDatasetId through the dataset-items API. Do not restart the Actor merely to poll an existing run.

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/hibid-auction-lots-scraper')
    .call({ keyword: 'coins', maxItems: 25, maxPages: 1 });
if (run.status !== 'SUCCEEDED') throw new Error(`Run ${run.id}: ${run.status}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems({ limit: 25 });
console.log(items);

Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/hibid-auction-lots-scraper').call(
    run_input={'keyword': 'coins', 'maxItems': 25, 'maxPages': 1})
if run['status'] != 'SUCCEEDED':
    raise RuntimeError(f"Run {run['id']}: {run['status']}")
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items(limit=25).items
print(items)

MCP usage

Select the Actor-specific hosted endpoint rather than a growing default tool collection:

claude mcp add --transport http apify \
  "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/hibid-auction-lots-scraper"

For Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code, use the equivalent client configuration where streamable HTTP is supported:

{"mcpServers":{"apify":{"url":"https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/hibid-auction-lots-scraper"}}}

Configure authentication securely in your client. Discover actual tool names and argument schemas using tools/list. Selection also includes run/dataset helpers; it does not expose exactly one tool. Discovery is read-only and not authorization to execute anything.

Example prompts for an authorized consumer: “Run a small snapshot for vintage camera and return the first20 rows.” Or: “Collect up to 25 public HiBid lots for coins, then show title, current bid, currency and source link.” Start once and retain the returned run ID and storage IDs. A call may wait only 0–45 seconds, so if still running, follow the same run with bounded backoff (2,4,8 seconds, capped at10) and a total deadline such as120 seconds. Set the client timeout above the chosen server wait plus transport margin. On timeout recover the known run; if its ID is unknown, report uncertainty rather than blindly start another.

After success, read dataset pages of20 rows with explicit offset/limit/fields. A consumer can impose a100-row and64KiB serialized UTF-8 context budget, whichever comes first, enforcing the byte cap host-side before model injection. Track source offsets, disclose omissions or oversized rows, and report continuation offset and partial status. Keep full exports outside model context. If the client cannot intercept oversized responses, do not claim a hard byte guarantee. These are consumer context limits, not Actor collection limits or token-savings guarantees.

Limits and failure behavior

HiBid can change markup or challenge an anonymous browser. Each page has up to three fresh US residential sessions. Exhaustion, unexpected page identities or unrecognizable empty pages fail the run. Earlier delivered rows remain partial and must not be treated as a completed collection. A verified zero-match source response is a successful empty dataset.

This Actor supports the public hibid.com keyword-search surface only. It does not promise Canada/Australia/UK portal filtering, individual detail enrichment, bidding history, final hammer prices, private watchlists, authentication or bidding actions. No automatic purchase or valuation recommendation is made.

Legality and diagnostics

Use public data only where you have the right to process it, comply with applicable terms and laws, and verify prices, shipping and deadlines on the original listing before acting. This independent tool is not affiliated with HiBid. Public visibility does not guarantee unrestricted reuse rights.

Failed operations send sanitized diagnostic input, exceptions and Actor/build/run IDs to our private GlitchTip service for repair. Secret fields and URL query strings are removed. Reports are retained for30 days. Cookies, proxy passwords and buyer identities are not dataset fields. No AI is used in Actor runtime or lot extraction. Results and input remain in your Apify run storage under your account's retention settings until deleted there; this Actor does not keep a cross-run cache or copy successful datasets to an external service. Browser cookies are ephemeral. Apify provides execution, proxy and storage; our private GlitchTip receives only sanitized failure diagnostics.

FAQ

Why did a coin keyword return a title without that word?

HiBid controls matching and can search more than the displayed title. This Actor does not apply an additional local phrase filter. Inspect the source URL and use downstream filtering when your analysis requires it.

Why fewer lots than maxItems?

The source can have fewer matches, or maxPages/billing allowance can stop collection first. One page currently provides25 cards. Records repeated across pages are deduplicated, and inventory can move while collecting.

Is the current bid the next bid or final price?

No. It is the displayed current bid at observation time. Fees, taxes, shipping, reserves and later bidding are not included. Estimate text is the auctioneer's display, not a fair-value calculation.

What should I do after a challenge failure?

Inspect the failed run and any partial rows. Retry later with a small input; do not assume a zero-row failure means no inventory. Contact support with the run URL if the problem persists.

Related Actors

For different auction sources, consider Goldin Auction Lots Scraper or Fanatics Collect Auction Lots Scraper. Their inventories and field contracts differ; they are not substitutes for HiBid coverage.