Bring a Trailer Auctions Scraper

Returns: one row per auction with title, status, year, currentBid, soldPrice, mileage, engine and transmission. Input: {"searchTerms": ["porsche 911"], "auctionStatus": "completed", "result": "sold", "maxItems": 10} Best for: collector-car price history, tracking live auctions that are about to end, and building dealer or buyer research lists from public Bring a Trailer listings.

{
  "id": "123054328",
  "sourceUrl": "https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-porsche-911-turbo-222/",
  "title": "1996 Porsche 911 Turbo 6-Speed",
  "status": "sold",
  "soldPrice": 239000,
  "currency": "USD",
  "engine": "Turbocharged 3.6L Flat-Six",
  "transmission": "Six-Speed Manual Transaxle"
}

What does Bring a Trailer Auctions Scraper do?

This Bring a Trailer scraper turns the public auction pages of bringatrailer.com into a clean dataset. Think of it as a Bring a Trailer API for people who need rows instead of web pages. It collects live auctions that are still running and completed auctions with their final result, for any make, model or keyword.

You can start from a keyword such as "porsche 911", from a make or model page such as /porsche/911/, from the live auctions page, from a results search URL, or from individual listing URLs. For every auction the Actor returns the headline facts (title, year, status, bids, sold price) and, when listing details are switched on, the facts that only live on the listing page: make, model, bid count, mileage, VIN, seller, location, lot number, views, watchers and comments.

It works without a login, an API key or a browser. The data comes from public pages and the public listings endpoint that the site itself uses, so runs need no browser. The Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by Bring a Trailer.

Typical jobs:

• Pull the sold history of one model to see how prices moved over time.
• Watch live auctions for a model and see the current bid, bid count and end time.
• Compare reserve-not-met results with sold results for the same car.
• Export seller usernames and locations to see who lists which cars.

What data can you get?

Each row has the fields below. Fields that need the listing page are empty when you turn off includeDetails. Live-only fields such as latitude and longitude are empty for completed auctions.

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Stable record id, the Bring a Trailer post id as text
sourceUrl	string	Listing page the record came from
listingId	integer	Bring a Trailer post id
title	string	Listing title with HTML entities decoded
status	string	live, sold, reserve_not_met, withdrawn or ended
year	integer	Model year taken from the listing data or title
make	string	Vehicle make from the listing page
model	string	Bring a Trailer model label, for example Porsche 991 911 Targa 4 GTS
era	string	Decade label such as 2010s
origin	string	Country-of-origin group such as German
categories	array	Category labels, often empty
currentBid	number	Live: current high bid. Ended: final high bid
soldPrice	number	Final sale price from the result text when status is sold (usually equals currentBid; differs when a post-auction deal changed the price), otherwise empty
currency	string	Currency code (USD, EUR or GBP), amounts are never converted
bidCount	integer	Number of bids
highBidder	string	Public username of the high bidder or buyer
commentCount	integer	Number of comments on the listing
viewCount	integer	Listing views
watcherCount	integer	Number of watchers
mileage	integer	Odometer number parsed from the listing details
mileageText	string	The raw mileage line, for example 32k Miles or TMU
vin	string	Chassis or VIN line from the listing details
location	string	Seller location
countryCode	string	Two-letter country code
seller	string	Public seller username
sellerUrl	string	Seller profile link (the profile page is never fetched)
sellerType	string	Private Party or Dealer
lotNumber	integer	Lot number
noReserve	boolean	True for no-reserve auctions
endDate	string	ISO 8601 end time, scheduled for live and actual for ended
resultText	string	Result line for ended auctions, such as a sold-for line with the amount and date
engine	string	First matching engine specification line from Listing Details, or null.
transmission	string	First matching transmission specification line from Listing Details, or null.
listingDetails	array	The bullet list from the Listing Details block
thumbnailUrl	string	Thumbnail image link
excerpt	string	Short listing summary
imageUrls	array	Full-size gallery photo URLs (needs includeDetails)
imageCount	integer	Number of gallery photos found
description	string	Seller summary paragraph from the listing page (needs includeDetails)
latitude	number	Live auctions only
longitude	number	Live auctions only
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of the scrape

The mileage number keeps the unit of the listing. A line such as "12k Kilometers Shown" gives 12000 and the text stays in mileageText, so you can tell kilometers from miles.

Engine and transmission are separate nullable columns copied verbatim from the first matching Listing Details line. They preserve the seller's wording, including modifications; they are not decoded from the VIN or inferred from the title. Location and seller type also support the older listing essentials layout. Engine matching accepts ordinary and typographic hyphens while preserving the original listing text. Unrecognized or absent specifications stay null. The original listingDetails array remains available, and includeDetails=false leaves both columns null. No additional requests or enrichment service are used.

How to use Bring a Trailer Auctions Scraper

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and go to the Input tab.
2. Enter one or more search terms, or paste start URLs. If you enter neither, the Actor searches for "porsche 911" so a first run always returns data.
3. Choose which auctions you want: completed, live, or both.
4. Optionally filter by result, time frame and model year range, and pick a sort order.
5. Set Max items. The default is 50.
6. Click Start. Results appear in the Output tab and can be downloaded as JSON, CSV or Excel.

A few practical tips:

1. Start small. Ten items finish in well under a minute and show you the exact shape of the data.
2. For bulk price history, turn off includeDetails. The run then needs only one request per 60 auctions instead of one per auction.
3. Use make or model pages (such as /mercedes-benz/190sl/) when you want every auction for one model without guessing the right keyword.
4. For monitoring, schedule the Actor with auctionStatus set to live and compare runs by listingId.

Speed matters here: the Actor keeps to about one request per second to be polite to the site. Fetching the listing page for each auction therefore takes about one second per item, so 1,000 items with details take roughly 17 minutes. List-only runs are much faster.

Input

Field	Type	Default	What it does
searchTerms	array of strings	empty	Keywords such as "porsche 911". Completed auctions use the site search, live auctions need every word to appear in the title or description.
startUrls	array	empty	Listing, make, model, category, live list or results search URLs. Plain strings and {"url": ...} objects both work.
auctionStatus	string	completed	completed, live or all (live first, then completed)
result	string	any	Completed only: sold, unsold (reserve not met) or any
timeFrame	string	all	Completed only: all, 7D, 30D, 1Y, 2Y or 5Y
yearFrom	integer	none	Earliest model year
yearTo	integer	none	Latest model year
sortBy	string	recent	recent, oldest, highestBid or popular
vehiclesOnly	boolean	true	Skip parts, wheels and automobilia
includeDetails	boolean	true	Fetch each listing page for the detail fields
maxItems	integer	50	Total auctions to return, 1 to 100000
maxConcurrency	integer	3	Parallel listing page fetches, 1 to 10
proxyConfiguration	object	no proxy	Optional Apify Proxy settings

Supported start URL shapes:

URL	Result
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/{slug}/	That single listing, whatever its status
https://bringatrailer.com/porsche/911/	Auctions for that model or make, honouring auctionStatus
https://bringatrailer.com/auctions/	All live auctions
https://bringatrailer.com/auctions/results/?search=land%20cruiser&result=sold&timeFrame=1Y	Completed auctions for that search

Unsupported URLs are skipped with a warning and listed in the RUN_SUMMARY record.

Example input:

{
  "searchTerms": ["bmw m3", "toyota supra"],
  "auctionStatus": "completed",
  "result": "sold",
  "yearFrom": 1985,
  "yearTo": 2002,
  "sortBy": "highestBid",
  "maxItems": 20
}

When you pass several terms or URLs, the same auction is only returned once. Max items is a total across everything you provide.

Output

Results are stored in the default dataset, one item per auction. The overview view shows title, status, year, make, model, bids, price, mileage, location, seller and end date. Here is a live auction from a real run:

{
  "id": "119269832",
  "sourceUrl": "https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1982-amc-eagle-13/",
  "listingId": 119269832,
  "title": "1982 AMC Eagle Standard Wagon",
  "status": "live",
  "year": 1982,
  "make": "AMC",
  "model": "AMC Eagle",
  "era": "1980s",
  "origin": "American",
  "categories": ["Station Wagons", "Truck & 4x4"],
  "currentBid": 6666,
  "soldPrice": null,
  "currency": "USD",
  "bidCount": 7,
  "highBidder": "r32fan",
  "mileage": 111000,
  "mileageText": "111k Miles Shown",
  "location": "Elmsford, New York 10523",
  "seller": "JD65DartGT",
  "sellerType": "Private Party",
  "lotNumber": 266403,
  "noReserve": true,
  "endDate": "2026-10-03T17:03:00.000Z"
}

Two extra records are written to the key-value store. RUN_SUMMARY lists, for every input, how many auctions were found, pushed and skipped as parts, plus any warnings. If you used the verification option, SNAPSHOTS holds the source text for the first records.

How much does it cost?

The Actor is charged per result: you pay for each auction row it returns, and nothing for requests that return no rows. See the Pricing tab on the Actor page for the current rate. Apify's free plan credit is usually enough for a first test run.

To keep cost down, set Max items to what you need, and turn off includeDetails when list-level fields are enough.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

You can call this Actor from any MCP-compatible assistant through the Apify MCP server. Use this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=axiomworks/bringatrailer-auctions-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

1. "Get the last 30 sold Porsche 911 auctions on Bring a Trailer from the past year and tell me the median sold price."
2. "List the live Ford Bronco auctions on Bring a Trailer with their current bid and end time."
3. "Find reserve-not-met results for the Mercedes-Benz 190SL and show the high bids."

Integrations and API

Run the Actor from code with the Apify API clients.

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("axiomworks/bringatrailer-auctions-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchTerms": ["porsche 911"],
    "auctionStatus": "completed",
    "result": "sold",
    "maxItems": 20,
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["title"], item["soldPrice"])

JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('axiomworks/bringatrailer-auctions-scraper').call({
    searchTerms: ['ford bronco'],
    auctionStatus: 'live',
    maxItems: 15,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((i) => process.stdout.write(`${i.title}: ${i.currentBid}\n`));

cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/axiomworks~bringatrailer-auctions-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchTerms": ["porsche 911"], "maxItems": 10}'

The Actor also works with Apify schedules, webhooks, and integrations such as Make, Zapier and Google Sheets, so you can push new sold prices into a spreadsheet every day.

FAQ

Does it need a proxy? Normally no. The Actor works from a datacenter address with a modest request rate. If the site answers with a block page repeatedly, the Actor switches to Apify datacenter proxy by itself. You can also turn on a proxy in the input.

Why is a run with details slower? Make, model, bid count, mileage, seller, location and lot number exist only on the listing page, so the Actor fetches one page per auction at about one request per second. Turn off includeDetails for a fast list-level run.

What does an empty result mean? No auction matched. The run still succeeds, the status message names the search, and RUN_SUMMARY records the details. Check the spelling of the term or loosen the filters.

Why are some fields empty? Not every listing has every detail. Mileage can be TMU (true mileage unknown), VIN may be absent on old cars, and high bidder is empty when there are no bids or the reserve was not met. Live-only fields stay empty for completed auctions.

Are amounts converted to dollars? No. Amounts are in the listing's own currency, shown in the currency field. Most listings use USD, a few use EUR or GBP.

Why did I get fewer items than Max items? Only that many auctions matched your filters, or listing pages were not found. Direct listing URLs that no longer exist are skipped.

Does it include parts and wheels? Not by default. vehiclesOnly drops parts and wheels lots. Motorcycles and boats are Bring a Trailer auctions and are kept.

Can I get bid-by-bid history or comments? No. The Actor returns one row per auction with bid, view, watcher and comment counts, not the individual bids or comment text.

Does it scrape member profiles? No. Seller and bidder usernames are shown as they appear on the listing, and the profile pages are never requested.

Is it legal to scrape Bring a Trailer?

The Actor collects only data that any visitor can see without logging in, and it keeps to a low request rate. It does not log in, solve CAPTCHAs or reach private data. The output contains public usernames shown on the listings, and no emails or phone numbers.

Whether your use is lawful depends on your jurisdiction, your purpose and the site's terms of use, which may restrict automated collection. Check the terms yourself, avoid republishing copyrighted photos or descriptions, and handle any personal data according to the privacy rules that apply to you, such as GDPR. This is general information, not legal advice.

Feedback

Found a missing field, a wrong value or a page shape that does not work? Open an issue from the Actor page in Apify Console, with the input you used and the listing URL involved. Reports with a concrete example are the quickest to fix.