# eBay Catalogue by Category (`ikmal_suzali_atr/ebay-catalog`) Actor

Every product on a eBay category listing (Germany (ebay.de), United Kingdom (ebay.co.uk), France (ebay.fr), Italy (ebay.it), Spain (ebay.es)): id, name, brand, price, original price, rating, seller and sponsored flag, page by page, optionally with subcategories.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ikmal\_suzali\_atr/ebay-catalog.md
- **Developed by:** [AtTheRate AI](https://apify.com/ikmal_suzali_atr) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 1,000 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

## eBay Catalogue by Category

Pulls every product on an eBay category listing across five European storefronts (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain), one row per product with price, currency, seller, stock and the position it held on the page. Built for brand and category teams who need a complete, repeatable snapshot of an eBay category instead of a hand-picked sample.

### What you get

- Full coverage page by page, with `category`, `category_title`, `breadcrumbs`, `page` and `position` on every row, so the exact shelf order is rebuildable.
- Prices as numbers, not strings: `price`, `original_price` and `currency` per storefront (EUR on .de, .fr, .it and .es, GBP on .co.uk).
- Identity you can join on: `id` is the eBay listing id, plus `product_url` and `image_url`.
- `is_sponsored` on every row. eBay serves category pages from its browse grid, which carries no promoted marker, so this reads `false` there. Use the eBay Keyword Rank Tracker for paid slots.
- `expandSubcategories` walks the child categories eBay exposes and tags each row with its `parent_category`.
- Nothing is silently dropped: run stats count `failed_categories`, `non_listing_pages` and `not_found`.

### Input

Give it one or more category ids or listing URLs and a storefront. Everything else has a working default.

```json
{
  "categories": ["177661"],
  "locale": "de",
  "maxPages": 1,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "DE"
  },
  "expandSubcategories": false,
  "delayMs": 1200,
  "callsPerSession": 60
}
```

- `categories` (required): ids such as `177661`, or URLs such as `https://www.ebay.de/b/Shampoos/177661/bn_7005421`. Ids are listed at `https://www.ebay.de/n/all-categories`.
- `locale`: `de`, `uk`, `fr`, `it` or `es`. Default `de`.
- `maxPages`: pages per category. `0` means every page the category has.
- `expandSubcategories`: also crawl the children eBay links from the category page.
- `proxyConfiguration`: residential in the storefront's country, already the default.

### Output

One dataset row per product, in listing order.

```json
{
  "platform": "ebay",
  "locale": "de",
  "category": "177661",
  "category_title": "Shampoos & Spülungen",
  "breadcrumbs": "eBay > Beauty & Gesundheit > Haarpflege & Haarstyling",
  "page": 1,
  "position": 1,
  "id": "397279406802",
  "name": "125ml Plantur DMG CLINICAL Serum Kopfhaut Leave-in Coffein Formel",
  "brand": null,
  "price": 19.99,
  "original_price": null,
  "currency": "EUR",
  "in_stock": true,
  "is_sponsored": false,
  "seller": null,
  "product_url": "https://www.ebay.de/itm/397279406802",
  "fetched_at": "2026-09-12T03:24:15.531Z"
}
```

eBay category cards publish no brand and no star rating, so `brand`, `rating`, `rating_count` and `original_price` come back null on most rows. `parent_category` is null unless the row came from `expandSubcategories`.

### Use cases

- Assortment tracking: count listings per category over time from `id`, `category` and `fetched_at`.
- Price and discount monitoring across five storefronts on one schedule, from `price`, `original_price` and `currency`.
- Shelf-share analysis: `position` and `page` show who occupies the visible top of a category.
- Delisting alerts by diffing `id` sets between two runs.

### Notes and limits

- A verified run on `ebay.de` category `177661` returned 102 products from a single page. Pages are requested at 120 items each.
- Category listings carry no promoted marker, so `is_sponsored` is `false` on every catalogue row. Sponsored data lives in the keyword rank actor.
- Only category ids and category URLs are accepted. A search URL is rejected with a clear log line and counted in `failed_categories`.
- eBay refuses a share of residential exits when the session is created. The actor retries on a fresh exit up to six times, which is why a first page can take a few minutes.
- `seller` is read from the feedback line on the card and is often null on browse grids.

### FAQ

**Do I need a proxy?** Yes. Residential in the storefront's country (DE, GB, FR, IT or ES). That is the default in the input.

**How many results can I get?** `maxPages: 0` walks the whole category, at 120 items per page. One verified page returned 102 rows.

**Does it need a login or an API key?** No. No eBay account and no API key.

**How is a category resolved?** From the numeric eBay category id. Paste a `/b/...` or `/sch/...` URL and the id is read out of it.

# Actor input Schema

## `categories` (type: `array`):

eBay category ids or URLs, e.g. "177661", "https://www.ebay.de/b/Shampoos/177661/bn\_7005421" or "/sch/177661/i.html". Find ids on https://www.ebay.de/n/all-categories.

## `locale` (type: `string`):

Which storefront / locale.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

0 = all pages.

## `expandSubcategories` (type: `boolean`):

Also crawl each category's subcategories when the site exposes them.

## `delayMs` (type: `integer`):

Pause between page fetches.

## `callsPerSession` (type: `integer`):

Re-mint the session after this many page fetches.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

On the Apify platform this decides egress. A residential proxy in the storefront's country is recommended (DE for the default). On our own servers it is ignored and our residential proxy is used.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "categories": [
    "177661"
  ],
  "locale": "de",
  "maxPages": 0,
  "expandSubcategories": false,
  "delayMs": 1200,
  "callsPerSession": 60,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "DE"
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per product.

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

Counts for the run: what was requested, captured, skipped and failed.

# 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 = {
    "categories": [
        "177661"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ikmal_suzali_atr/ebay-catalog").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 = { "categories": ["177661"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ikmal_suzali_atr/ebay-catalog").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 '{
  "categories": [
    "177661"
  ]
}' |
apify call ikmal_suzali_atr/ebay-catalog --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ikmal_suzali_atr/ebay-catalog"
        }
    }
}
```

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/AzXY92rQAQ89zsLkQ/builds/38UchcwUKKCe5nU2B/openapi.json