eBay Search Prompt (No Details)

What does eBay Search Prompt do?

eBay Search Prompt lets you scrape eBay listings from a plain-English prompt — no URL building required. Describe what you're looking for (for example, "gaming laptop under 1000 USD with RTX 4060"), and the Actor uses AI to turn your prompt into multiple targeted eBay search URLs, scrapes the matching listings, and stores them as a structured dataset.

Under the hood, it chains two Actors together:

1. AI Scraper Input Generator converts your prompt into eBay search URLs.
2. An eBay scraper crawls those URLs and extracts the listings.

Because it runs on the Apify platform, you get API access, scheduling, monitoring, and integrations (Make, Zapier, webhooks, Google Drive, and more) out of the box.

Why use eBay Search Prompt?

• No manual URL construction — describe your intent in natural language, and the AI handles eBay's search URL format, filters, and query variations.
• Better coverage — one prompt becomes several targeted search URL variations, surfacing listings a single query would miss.
• Price monitoring made simple — schedule a daily run of "used iPhone 15 Pro under $700" and feed the results into a spreadsheet or alerting workflow.
• Market and competitor research — track what's listed, at what price, and in what condition across an entire product category.
• Automation-ready — predictable JSON output that plugs straight into data pipelines and integrations.

How to use eBay Search Prompt

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. In the Input tab, enter your search prompt in plain English.
3. Optionally adjust Max items to limit how many listings are scraped.
4. Set the Actor's memory to 128 MB or less in the run options (the Actor enforces this limit, since the heavy lifting happens in the chained Actors).
5. Click Start and wait for the run to finish.
6. Open the Output tab or the dataset API URL to view and export your results.

Input

Set the input in the Actor's Input tab. Only the prompt is required.

{
    "prompt": "gaming laptop under 1000 USD with RTX 4060",
    "maxItems": 50
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
prompt	string	Yes	Plain-English description of what to search for on eBay. Be specific — brand, condition, budget, and category all improve results.
maxItems	integer	No	Maximum number of listings to scrape (default 10, maximum 5000).

Output

Each scraped eBay listing is stored as one item in the default dataset. You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Example dataset item:

{
    "itemUrl": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/1234567890",
    "title": "ASUS TUF Gaming A15 RTX 4060 16GB RAM 512GB SSD",
    "price": 899.99,
    "currency": "USD",
    "condition": "New",
    "image": "https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/abc/s-l500.jpg",
    "location": "United States",
    "seller": "example-seller"
}

Data table

Field	Type	Description
itemUrl	string	Direct link to the eBay listing
title	string	Listing title
price	number	Listing price
currency	string	Price currency code
condition	string	Item condition (New, Used, Refurbished, ...)
image	string	Main listing image URL
location	string	Item location
seller	string	Seller username

Exact fields may vary slightly by listing, since not all eBay listings expose the same attributes.

How much does it cost to scrape eBay with a prompt?

A run consists of three parts: this orchestrator Actor (very light — it runs at 128 MB and mostly waits), one short AI Scraper Input Generator run, and the eBay scraper run whose cost scales with Max items. For small runs (tens of items) the total cost is typically a few cents. Use Max items to cap the scraping cost of each run. If you are on the Apify free tier, start with a small maxItems value to see actual consumption before scaling up.

Tips

• Be specific in your prompt. "Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, used, under $200" produces much better search URLs than "headphones".
• Mention a country to target a regional marketplace. A UK-focused prompt can produce www.ebay.co.uk search URLs automatically.
• Schedule it. Add the Actor to a Schedule to monitor prices or new listings daily, and connect a webhook or integration to act on the results.
• Keep memory at 128 MB. The Actor intentionally refuses to run with more, because the chained Actors do the actual work — extra memory would only add cost.

FAQ, disclaimers, and support

Is it legal to scrape eBay? This Actor extracts publicly available listing data. You are responsible for reviewing and complying with eBay's Terms of Service and applicable laws (including data protection regulations) before using the results, especially in automated or commercial workflows.

Why did my run fail with a memory error? This Actor requires memory of 128 MB or less. Lower the memory setting in the run options and start it again.

Why are there no results? If the AI could not generate valid search URLs from your prompt, the run fails with a clear error — rephrase the prompt with more specific product terms and try again.

Found a bug or need a custom feature? Open an issue in the Actor's Issues tab — custom solutions and tailored versions are available on request.