1688 Image & Link Search: find the factory behind any product

Paste an Amazon or Shopify product link (or just a photo) and get the 1688.com factories selling the same product, with the wholesale price in USD/EUR, supplier trust signals and your estimated margin. Every match is checked by an AI vision model and labelled exact, similar or different, so you don't waste time on look-alikes.

No 1688 account, no Chinese, no VPN.

What makes it different

	Typical 1688 scrapers	This Actor
Input	Chinese keywords or a photo	Product link (Amazon, Shopify, most shops), photo, or photo + title
Finding the product	Keyword or image lookup, unchecked	AI writes the Chinese queries a 1688 buyer would use, searches them in parallel, then an AI vision model compares every candidate with your photo
"Is it really the same product?"	You check by hand	AI-verified exact / similar / different on every match, exact matches first
Duplicates	20 copies of the same listing	"This design is sold by N suppliers", exact matches ranked first
Business answer	Price in CNY	Price in USD/EUR/GBP, landed cost (AI-estimated weight × shipping to US/EU/UK + duty) and margin vs your selling price
"Can I trust this supplier?"	Raw badges	Supplier trust score (0-100) with reasons
No exact match?	Empty result	Second search pass: the AI learns the sellers' wording from the closest listings and searches again
Titles	Chinese	English + original Chinese

Benchmarks (October 2026): on 24 dropshipping products the right factory listing was in the top 5 for about 80% of photos and 96% of photo + title inputs; on 28 current Amazon best-sellers, about 85% of the generic / private-label products had the right listing in the top 5. A typical product takes 20-40 seconds.

Built for generic and private-label products

The Actor finds manufacturers of generic products (the kind sold under many store brands). For branded designs (e.g. Apple, Stanley) the AI detects the brand, labels 1688 results as lookalike instead of exact and adds a brandWarning: those listings are not the original product, and selling copies of a protected design or trademark may infringe intellectual-property rights. Don't use this tool to source counterfeits.

Who it's for

• 🛒 Dropshippers & Shopify sellers: find the real factory behind a trending product and its true price.
• 📦 Amazon / private-label sellers: compare several factories for one product before ordering samples.
• 🧭 Sourcing agents: turn client links into supplier shortlists in minutes.
• 🤖 AI agents & automations: one API call, structured JSON, works through the Apify MCP server.

How to use it

1. Put product links in Product links, photos in Product photos, or both.
2. Optional: set your currency and shipping cost per unit to get margins.
3. Run. Each product returns its best matches, exact matches first.

Tip: for AliExpress, Etsy and Temu (they block automated reading), use Photo + title: {"imageUrl": "...", "title": "Electric can opener", "price": 24.99}. The title tells the AI what the product is; the price enables the margin.

Input example

{
  "productUrls": ["https://toolvik.com/products/cocktail-smoker-kit"],
  "products": [{ "imageUrl": "https://example.com/can-opener.jpg", "title": "One-touch electric can opener", "price": 24.99 }],
  "maxResultsPerItem": 10,
  "currency": "USD",
  "shippingCostPerUnit": 4,
  "enrichTopResults": 3
}

Output example (one row per match)

{
  "inputUrl": "https://toolvik.com/products/cocktail-smoker-kit",
  "inputPrice": 43.99,
  "identifiedAs": "Wooden cocktail smoker kit with wood chips",
  "searchQueries": ["木盒鸡尾酒烟熏套装 木屑", "鸡尾酒烟熏器", "威士忌烟熏套装礼盒"],
  "rank": 1,
  "aiMatch": "exact",
  "matchScore": 100,
  "suppliersSellingThisDesign": 6,
  "titleEn": "Cross-border wooden cocktail smoker gift box set",
  "priceCny": 76,
  "priceUsd": 11.36,
  "estimatedMarginPerUnit": 28.63,
  "estimatedMarginPct": 65.1,
  "minOrderQty": 1,
  "soldApprox": 3400,
  "supplierName": "深圳市创领达家居用品有限公司",
  "url": "https://detail.1688.com/offer/....html"
}

With Read full supplier pages (enrichTopResults) the top matches also get price tiers (MOQ ladder), stock, ship-from city, dropshipping and free-sample flags.

Pricing

Pay per event: you pay per product searched (only when matches are returned) plus, optionally, per supplier page read in full. No subscription. Prices are shown on the Pricing tab.

Audit a whole Shopify store

Put a store URL in Whole Shopify stores (yours or a competitor's): every product is matched to its 1688 factory and the run's SUMMARY gives one row per product with the typical factory price and estimated margin. Products are processed in parallel (4 at a time by default).

Landed cost and real margin

Set Ship to (US, EU or UK) and, if you know it, the import duty %. The AI estimates the shipping weight of one unit, we apply a typical small-parcel air rate from China and return landedCostPerUnit and the margin on it. Know your real shipping cost? Put it in shipping + fees per unit and it replaces the estimate.

Keep your suppliers in check

Turn on Start price monitoring of the exact matches (or schedule the ready-made MONITOR_INPUT) and pair it with 1688 Supplier & Price Monitor: schedule it daily and get Telegram or webhook alerts when a supplier changes price, MOQ or stock, or when a new, cheaper factory appears for your keywords.

FAQ

Do I need a 1688 account or a Chinese phone number? No.

How accurate is it? On our benchmark of 24 real store products: about 80% (photo only) and 96% (photo + title or product link) had the right factory listing in the top 5. Very generic products (a plain black tyre inflator) are the hardest. Check the aiMatch label (exact, similar, lookalike for branded designs).

Why do some 1688 prices look too low? 1688 shows the price of the cheapest variant, which can be an accessory or spare part. The per-product summary uses the median price of the exact matches, and enrichTopResults reads the real price tiers (MOQ ladder) of the top matches.

Is the margin exact? It's an estimate: your selling price minus the factory unit price (converted at the daily ECB rate) minus the shipping cost you enter. Duties, payment fees and MOQ tiers are not included unless you add them to the shipping cost.

Which shops work with links? Amazon, Shopify stores and most shops that publish product data. AliExpress, Etsy and Temu block automated reading: use photo + title.

Is the data public? Yes. The Actor reads publicly visible 1688 listings; it does not log in or collect personal data.

More FactoryLens tools

• 🧾 1688 Product Search: search 1688 by keyword in any language, with English titles, USD/EUR prices and supplier trust scores.