# Shopify Variant Price & Stock Check (`candied_breakwater/shopify-variant-check`) Actor

Paste Shopify product URLs, one per line, to check exact variant prices and availability. Get clear results and next steps. Optional snapshot comparison via JSON. Up to 1,000 checks; no automatic alerts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/candied\_breakwater/shopify-variant-check.md
- **Developed by:** [Herry](https://apify.com/candied_breakwater) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 url check 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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Check the exact Shopify variant before comparing prices

### Start here — no JSON required

1. Paste product page URLs into **Product URLs**, one per line. Choose the size/colour on the shop first, then copy a URL that includes ?variant=ID when available.
2. Set the run charge limit to cover your small sample, then click **Start**.
3. Open the results table. Read **Result summary** and **Next step**, then export using **Download CSV** or **Download Excel** in the output links.

Pasteable example:

```text
https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-runners-true-black?variant=32956152545360
```

If you do not know the variant ID, run the product URL once. For a multi-variant product, the result says needs\_variant and gives variantOptions. Add ?variant=ID and rerun; this second run is separately billed. The checker never guesses a size or calls a missing variant sold out. Advanced checks still accept variantId and a previous snapshot.

**Sample cost:** One URL produces one charged diagnostic row: $0.00305 including start. Set a first-run cap of at least $0.01. 1,000 checks cost $3.00005; use at least $3.01 for that full batch. Unknown or needs\_variant results are also charged. Platform usage is included. These examples are independent technical samples, not customers or partners. To use Advanced JSON, clear the beginner text fields; do not fill two input methods at once. Existing API inputs remain supported.

Only treat results as complete when the run succeeded and OUTPUT.status is complete. An unknown result needs review; it is not a verified negative. Start small: network timeouts and access blocks can still occur.

Use a product URL and optional variant ID to read a public Shopify variant's price and availability. This is useful when a product has different prices for different sizes or colours and a cheapest-price comparison would be misleading.

It reads Shopify's public product Ajax endpoint and the matching locale's cart currency. It does not log in, add items to a cart, change a store, or inspect a customer's cart. There are no session cookies. Results reflect the anonymous context served to the Actor, which can differ from your browser, country, tax or logged-in pricing.

### Input

```json
{
  "checks": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-runners-true-black",
      "variantId": "32956152545360"
    }
  ]
}
```

Use your own public product URL. The example is an independent technical test; the store is not a customer or partner and its live data can change. Supported paths are /products/handle and /en/products/handle (also locales such as /en-us/). A variant query parameter is supported; explicit variantId takes precedence. Other market/currency/selling-plan query parameters are rejected rather than silently ignored. utm\_ tracking parameters are discarded. Localised redirects require using the final product URL explicitly.

If multiple variants exist and you provide no variant, status is needs\_variant and variantOptions lists the choices. The Actor does not guess the cheapest or first available option. A single-variant product can be checked without a variant ID. A missing variant or blocked endpoint is not reported as out of stock.

### Output and comparisons

One row per check: productUrl, productId, variantId, title, variantTitle, priceRaw, compareAtPriceRaw, currency, available, status, issues, snapshot and optional changes.

priceRaw preserves Shopify's integer money representation; it is not a formatted major-currency amount. Do not format currencies by blindly assuming every currency has the same exponent. available is the endpoint's purchasability flag, not an inventory count or measured sales. Unknown values remain null. compareAtPriceRaw is the published comparison price, not evidence of a real previous selling price.

To compare observations, pass a previous result's snapshot as the same check's previous object. Product URL, product ID, variant ID and currency must match and both prices must be valid; otherwise comparisonValid is false. Changes include price\_increase, price\_decrease, became\_available and became\_unavailable. priceDeltaRaw is the difference between the two priceRaw values. A first run produces a snapshot with no claimed change.

No previous-run lookup, persistent watchlist, scheduling, email or messaging is created automatically. In an n8n or other workflow, store each result's snapshot and pass it back on the next run. This is a component for an existing workflow, not a complete alerting service or a catalog crawler.

Official endpoint reference: https://shopify.dev/docs/api/ajax/reference/product

### Pricing and completion

$3 per 1,000 URL check results ($0.003 per dataset row), plus $0.00005 per run start at the supported memory settings. Platform usage is included. Each supplied check produces one billable diagnostic row, including blocked, unavailable, invalid and uncertain results. This price is per check, not per detected change. A 10-check completed run costs $0.03005 at these prices.

Use a small sample first. Set the maximum run charge to cover all checks plus the start fee. Before fetching URLs, the Actor checks the budget against the run's active price snapshot. If insufficient, it fails with no URL requests and no result records; the start fee can still apply. A storage failure after a dataset write may leave charged partial results. Writes are not retried. Start a fresh run rather than resurrecting a partially delivered one.

Only treat the export as complete when the run succeeded and the OUTPUT key-value record has status complete. SUMMARY contains counts; dataset rows can be exported through Apify. Completion means every requested diagnostic row was delivered, not that every remote page was reachable or passed its checks.

### Limits and handling

1–1,000 checks per run; 1 MB input; 256 MB default memory, 512 MB maximum; 3,600-second default run timeout. Public HTTP/HTTPS on standard ports only; up to five redirects and 2 MB of response content. Static HTTP requests only: no browser rendering, login, proxy, CAPTCHA handling, or retries. Private/network-local destinations are rejected on every hop, and DNS answers are pinned to the connection. URLs and results remain in the initiating account's Apify stores under its storage/access policies. The Actor contacts supplied public websites and its own Apify stores; it sends no user credentials to target sites. Use non-confidential URLs.

An early product, tested with synthetic edge cases and a small public sample. No customer time savings, revenue, or complete website coverage are claimed. For support, use the Actor's Issues tab with a non-confidential input example, expected result and actual result.

# Actor input Schema

## `productUrls` (type: `string`):

Paste 1–1,000 public Shopify product URLs. Include ?variant=ID for a specific size/colour. Missing IDs return choices rather than a guessed price.

## `checks` (type: `array`):

Existing API format supported. Clear all beginner text fields before using checks. Each object contains url and, for redirects, expectedUrl.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "productUrls": "https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-runners-true-black?variant=32956152545360"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

## `completion` (type: `string`):

No description

## `csv` (type: `string`):

No description

## `excel` (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 = {
    "productUrls": "https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-runners-true-black?variant=32956152545360"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("candied_breakwater/shopify-variant-check").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 = { "productUrls": "https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-runners-true-black?variant=32956152545360" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("candied_breakwater/shopify-variant-check").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 '{
  "productUrls": "https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-runners-true-black?variant=32956152545360"
}' |
apify call candied_breakwater/shopify-variant-check --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,candied_breakwater/shopify-variant-check"
        }
    }
}
```

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/iPHYmDcSNOaYukNR5/builds/Fyed9r1xccdIQqyWf/openapi.json