BBB Scraper

BBB Scraper creates a structured dataset of business profiles collected from Better Business Bureau search results. Each dataset item is one business and can include the business name, street address, city, state, postal code, phone numbers, category, letter rating, rating score, coordinates, and the public report URL. Query the source with a search phrase, a location, and a country of USA or Canada, then retrieve records through the Apify Dataset API or export them as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another supported format.

Dataset at a glance

Property	Value
Source	bbb.org search results
Record unit	One business profile from search
Input methods	search_query, location, country
Main identifiers	id and businessId
Delivery	Apify Dataset and API
Export formats	JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, and other Apify dataset exports
Update model	Fresh records per Actor run
Pricing	$1.00 per 1,000 results (dataset-item). Platform usage is billed separately.

Coverage and available records

The Actor searches BBB with search_query, location, and country. The saved sample used the query garden and the location California. In that file, city is the town name California and state is MO, so the location string is a place name, not a guaranteed US state filter.

Supported:

• United States (USA) and Canada (CAN)
• Business name, address, city, state, postal code, and phone list
• Type-of-business text and a categories array
• Letter rating, numeric ratingScore, and a separate score
• Report URL, review URL, BBB office id and name, member flag, and charity flags
• location as a latitude,longitude string
• Distance text such as 0.9 mi on the saved results

Not currently collected:

• The full complaint or review text from the profile page
• A maxItems limit. The input schema does not define one
• A historical rating series

businessName can contain HTML from the search highlight, such as <em> around the matched word. phone is null when the result has no number. rating can be an empty string.

Data dictionary

Fields match a saved BBB search result. categories is an array of { "id", "name" }.

Field	Type	Nullable	Description	Example
id	string	No	Result id. Bureau, business, and a third segment. Best field for deduplication.	0734_310607482_125163
businessId	string	No	BBB business number.	310607482
businessName	string	No	Business name. May include search-highlight HTML.	Dent Contracting and Lawn Care
address	string or null	Yes	Street or mailing address.	PO Box 31
city	string or null	Yes	City name.	California
state	string or null	Yes	State or province code.	MO
postalcode	string or null	Yes	Postal code.	65018-0031
phone	array of strings or null	Yes	Phone numbers. Null when none are listed.	null
tobText	string or null	Yes	Type-of-business label.	Lawn Maintenance
tobId	string or null	Yes	Type-of-business id.	00157-000
categories	array	No	Category objects with id and name.	Lawn Maintenance
rating	string	Yes	Letter rating. Empty string when unrated in the sample.	""
ratingScore	number	Yes	Numeric rating score. 0 on the unrated sample row.	0
score	number	Yes	Search score, separate from the letter rating.	11251.702
bbbMember	boolean	Yes	Member flag.	false
reportUrl	string	Yes	Public profile URL.	https://www.bbb.org/us/mo/california/profile/...
leaveReviewUrl	string or null	Yes	Customer-review URL.	Profile /customer-reviews URL
location	string or null	Yes	latitude,longitude.	38.61751,-92.56141
distance	string or null	Yes	Distance text from the search center.	0.9 mi
bbbId	string	Yes	Local BBB office id.	0734
bbbName	string	Yes	Local BBB office name.	BBB Serving Greater Missouri & Southern Illinois
logoUri	string or null	Yes	Logo URL. Null on the sample row.	null
charitySeal	boolean	Yes	Charity seal flag.	false
isCharity	integer	Yes	Charity marker. 0 on the sample row.	0
accreditedCharity	boolean	Yes	Accredited charity flag.	false
outOfBusinessStatus	integer or null	Yes	Out-of-business code. Null on some rows, 4501 on the sample row.	4501
raqEnabled	boolean	Yes	Request-a-quote flag.	true
requestAQuoteUrl	string or null	Yes	Quote URL. Null on the sample row.	null
hasServiceArea	boolean	Yes	Service-area flag.	false
serviceAreaDescription	string or null	Yes	Service-area text. Null on the sample row.	null

Example dataset record

This row is from a search for garden with location California. The stored categories list is longer. This example keeps one category. phone is null on this row.

{
  "id": "0734_310607482_125163",
  "businessName": "Dent Contracting and Lawn Care",
  "address": "PO Box 31",
  "city": "California",
  "state": "MO",
  "postalcode": "65018-0031",
  "tobText": "Lawn Maintenance",
  "rating": "",
  "bbbMember": false,
  "charitySeal": false,
  "isCharity": 0,
  "accreditedCharity": false,
  "reportUrl": "https://www.bbb.org/us/mo/california/profile/lawn-maintenance/dent-contracting-and-lawn-care-0734-310607482",
  "phone": null,
  "location": "38.61751,-92.56141",
  "businessId": "310607482",
  "ratingScore": 0,
  "score": 11251.702,
  "logoUri": null,
  "tobId": "00157-000",
  "bbbId": "0734",
  "bbbName": "BBB Serving Greater Missouri & Southern Illinois",
  "distance": "0.9 mi",
  "outOfBusinessStatus": 4501,
  "categories": [{ "id": "00157-000", "name": "Lawn Maintenance" }],
  "hasServiceArea": false,
  "raqEnabled": true
}

Query and input reference

Input	Type	Required	Default	Accepted values	Description
search_query	string	No	None	Search text	Prefill: garden.
location	string	No	California	Place name	Location sent with the search.
country	string	No	USA	USA, CAN	United States or Canada.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Apify residential proxy	Apify proxy editor	Proxy for the search request.

Minimal request:

{
  "search_query": "garden",
  "location": "California",
  "country": "USA"
}

There is no second filter set. The schema does not include a result cap or a category filter.

Retrieve the data through the API

1. Start datascrapers/bbb-scraper with the JSON input.
2. Wait until the run finishes, or call the synchronous dataset endpoint.
3. Read items from the run's default dataset.
4. Paginate with dataset offset and limit, or export from the Apify console.

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("datascrapers/bbb-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "search_query": "garden",
        "location": "California",
        "country": "USA",
    }
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["businessId"], item["businessName"], item["state"])

Other languages are listed on the Actor's API tab. This is the Apify Actor API, not a BBB API.

Data quality and record handling

• One dataset item is one search result. Each pushed result charges one dataset-item event.
• Deduplicate on id. businessId is the business number inside that id and can repeat if more than one result row is returned for the same business.
• businessName is not stripped. A highlighted match can contain <em> tags.
• An empty rating and a ratingScore of 0 mean the sample row had no letter rating. They are not a confirmed F rating.
• location is one string, not separate latitude and longitude fields.
• phone is either an array of strings or null. It is not a single string.
• outOfBusinessStatus is null on some saved rows and an integer on others. The Actor does not translate that code.
• There is no internal result cap.

Pricing and cost examples

Each business pushed to the dataset charges one dataset-item event at $0.001 ($1.00 per 1,000 results) on every Apify plan. There is no separate price file in the Actor folder. Apify bills platform usage, including compute units and residential proxy traffic, in addition to that event.

Records	Actor event cost
1,000	$1.00
10,000	$10.00

Limitations and responsible data use

• The dataset is the current BBB search page, not a national dump and not a complaint archive.
• location is a place string. In the saved file it matched a town named California in Missouri, not the state of California.
• Business names, phones, and addresses are public profile fields. Use them in line with the privacy rules that apply to your project.
• Ratings change. Store a run yourself if you need the rating as of a date.
• You are responsible for complying with BBB's terms and applicable law.

Dataset questions

What does one dataset item represent?

One business returned by a Better Business Bureau search.

Which field should I use as a unique identifier?

Use id. businessId is the business number embedded in that id.

Are fields nullable or conditional?

Yes. Phone, logo, quote URL, and service-area text are null on the saved row. Rating can be an empty string.

Can I retrieve the records as CSV or JSON?

Yes. Export the default dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another Apify format.

How do I paginate large datasets?

Use limit and offset on the dataset items endpoint. The Actor input has no maxItems field.

Does the Actor return historical data?

No. Each run returns the search results available at request time.

What counts as a billable result?

One dataset-item event per business saved to the dataset, at $0.001. Platform usage is billed separately.

Related datasets from Data Scrapers

• Clutch Scraper collects company profiles you can compare with BBB ratings.
• BizBuySell Scraper collects business-for-sale listings with location and category fields.
• Amazon Scraper collects seller and product records for commercial research.
• AppSumo Scraper collects software-business listings from a different directory.

Data Scrapers support

Need an additional field, record type, or export workflow? Contact Data Scrapers at stardustspotlight@gmail.com. Include a sample source URL, required fields, expected record volume, and preferred delivery format.