# Amazon Category New-Entrant Watch - Competitor New ASIN Alerts (`dominvo/amazon-category-new-entrant-watch`) Actor

Amazon competitor analysis as a monitor: track a keyword search or category and get new ASIN alerts only for competitor products that entered since your last check — with title, brand, price, and cross-run baseline evidence — plus which dropped out. Not a one-time scrape.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dominvo/amazon-category-new-entrant-watch.md
- **Developed by:** [Domin Vo](https://apify.com/dominvo) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $30.00 / 1,000 product checkeds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Amazon Category New-Entrant Watch

Amazon competitor analysis as a monitor: track a keyword search or category and get only the new competitor products (ASINs) that entered since last check — and which dropped out.

### Which new competitor products just entered my Amazon category or search?

Give this Actor a search term or category URL and a `monitorId`. On each run it compares the current ASIN set against your saved baseline and returns only the new entrants — with title, brand, price, and the product URL as evidence — plus the products that dropped out. You learn *what's new*, not what ranks today.

### When an MCP agent should use this

- "Which new competitor products entered my Amazon category this week?"
- "Alert me when a new ASIN shows up in my tracked keyword search."
- "Watch this Amazon search for new competitors before they rank."
- "Which products dropped out of and which entered my category?"

### When to use something else

| You want | Use instead |
|---|---|
| New size/color/pack variants on products you already track | `Amazon Variant Launch Watch` |
| Price / stock / buy-box / rating drift on known ASINs | a free Amazon product monitor |
| Opportunity scoring, sales estimates, or a product research / finder tool | a dedicated Amazon product research tool |
| A one-off pull of every product in a category | a raw Amazon category scraper |

### How it works

1. **Collect** — fetches the current products in each tracked search or category, with title, brand, and price.
2. **Snapshot & diff** — compares the ASIN set against your saved baseline for this `monitorId`.
3. **Classify** — turns each new ASIN into a `new_entrant` row and each gone ASIN into a `dropped_off` row.
4. **Emit** — writes export-ready rows (JSON / CSV / XLSX) and updates the snapshot.

### Inputs

| Field | Required | Example |
|---|---|---|
| `searchTermsOrCategoryUrls` | yes | `["wireless gaming mouse", "https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mechanical+keyboard"]` |
| `marketplace` | yes | `"US"` |
| `monitorId` | yes | `"gaming-mice-niche"` |
| `mode` | no | `"check_for_changes"` (default) or `"reset_baseline"` |

**Baseline run:**

```json
{ "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": ["wireless gaming mouse"], "marketplace": "US", "monitorId": "gaming-mice-niche", "mode": "reset_baseline" }
````

**Refresh run (the recurring job):**

```json
{ "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": ["wireless gaming mouse"], "marketplace": "US", "monitorId": "gaming-mice-niche", "mode": "check_for_changes" }
```

### Example output

A detected new entrant:

```json
{
  "asin": "B0CXYZ1234",
  "marketplace": "US",
  "productTitle": "RGB Wireless Gaming Mouse",
  "brand": "Logitech",
  "price": 29.99,
  "firstSeen": "2026-06-05",
  "evidence": ["Not present in 2026-05-28 baseline ASIN set", "New entrant in 'wireless gaming mouse' search"],
  "sourceUrls": ["https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXYZ1234"],
  "snapshotDate": "2026-06-05",
  "changeType": "new_entrant"
}
```

### Modes

- `check_for_changes` *(default)* — compare against the baseline and return which ASINs newly entered (and which dropped out). Auto-creates the baseline on the first run, so use this almost every time.
- `reset_baseline` — save a fresh starting point and report nothing. Use only to re-baseline after you intentionally changed the searches you monitor.

### Billing

| Event | Price | When |
|---|---:|---|
| `product-checked` | `$0.030` | One product in the tracked category is checked against the ASIN baseline and a result row is emitted. |

First 10 result rows of every run are free — track at least 30 products so billable rows clear the free tier.

### FAQ

**Is this an Amazon product research or competitor analysis tool?**

It's the new-entrant layer of one — an Amazon product tracker for a niche. It doesn't score opportunity or estimate sales — it watches a fixed search or category for brand monitoring and tells you which competitor ASINs are new since your last check, with title, brand, price, and URL.

**How is this different from a raw category scraper?**

A raw scraper returns what ranks *now*. It can't tell you which products are new without remembering last week's set. This Actor holds the ASIN baseline across runs and diffs it, so you spot new entrants before they gain rank.

**Can I track a keyword search and a category page together?**

Yes. `searchTermsOrCategoryUrls` accepts plain keywords or full Amazon search/category URLs in the same list.

**Does it tell me when a product leaves the category?**

Yes — drop-outs come through as `dropped_off` rows alongside the new entrants.

### Limits & support

- Tracks category entry and exit only — no keyword-rank / A9 position or BSR / sales-rank tracking.
- No price, stock, buy-box, or rating monitoring of known ASINs.
- The first run on a new `monitorId` is a baseline; the diff begins on the next run.
- A failed fetch is reported clearly, never silently treated as "no new entrants".

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTermsOrCategoryUrls` (type: `array`):

The Amazon keyword searches or category/search page URLs to monitor for new entrants. Use either plain keywords or full Amazon search/category URLs.

## `marketplace` (type: `string`):

Two-letter Amazon marketplace/country code for the tracked searches. Use uppercase.

## `monitorId` (type: `string`):

A stable name for this watch. The Actor stores one ASIN baseline per monitorId, so reuse the same value every run to keep tracking the same category.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Select the buyer outcome. check\_for\_changes (default) compares against the saved baseline and returns which new competitor ASINs entered the tracked category/search since the last check (and which dropped out) — auto-creates the baseline on the first run — use this almost every time. reset\_baseline saves a fresh starting point and reports nothing — use only to re-baseline after you intentionally changed the searches you monitor.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": [
    "wireless gaming mouse"
  ],
  "marketplace": "US",
  "monitorId": "gaming-mice-niche",
  "mode": "check_for_changes"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": [
        "wireless gaming mouse"
    ],
    "marketplace": "US",
    "monitorId": "gaming-mice-niche",
    "mode": "check_for_changes"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dominvo/amazon-category-new-entrant-watch").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 = {
    "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": ["wireless gaming mouse"],
    "marketplace": "US",
    "monitorId": "gaming-mice-niche",
    "mode": "check_for_changes",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dominvo/amazon-category-new-entrant-watch").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": [
    "wireless gaming mouse"
  ],
  "marketplace": "US",
  "monitorId": "gaming-mice-niche",
  "mode": "check_for_changes"
}' |
apify call dominvo/amazon-category-new-entrant-watch --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=dominvo/amazon-category-new-entrant-watch",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Amazon Category New-Entrant Watch - Competitor New ASIN Alerts",
        "description": "Amazon competitor analysis as a monitor: track a keyword search or category and get new ASIN alerts only for competitor products that entered since your last check — with title, brand, price, and cross-run baseline evidence — plus which dropped out. Not a one-time scrape.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "r0AMWQQhtlcibUVwY"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/dominvo~amazon-category-new-entrant-watch/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-dominvo-amazon-category-new-entrant-watch",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/dominvo~amazon-category-new-entrant-watch/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-dominvo-amazon-category-new-entrant-watch",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/dominvo~amazon-category-new-entrant-watch/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-dominvo-amazon-category-new-entrant-watch",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls",
                    "marketplace",
                    "monitorId"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "searchTermsOrCategoryUrls": {
                        "title": "Search terms or category URLs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "The Amazon keyword searches or category/search page URLs to monitor for new entrants. Use either plain keywords or full Amazon search/category URLs.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "marketplace": {
                        "title": "Amazon marketplace",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Two-letter Amazon marketplace/country code for the tracked searches. Use uppercase.",
                        "default": "US"
                    },
                    "monitorId": {
                        "title": "Monitor ID",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "A stable name for this watch. The Actor stores one ASIN baseline per monitorId, so reuse the same value every run to keep tracking the same category."
                    },
                    "mode": {
                        "title": "What to do",
                        "enum": [
                            "check_for_changes",
                            "reset_baseline"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Select the buyer outcome. check_for_changes (default) compares against the saved baseline and returns which new competitor ASINs entered the tracked category/search since the last check (and which dropped out) — auto-creates the baseline on the first run — use this almost every time. reset_baseline saves a fresh starting point and reports nothing — use only to re-baseline after you intentionally changed the searches you monitor.",
                        "default": "check_for_changes"
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```