1688 Wholesale Analyzer — Sourcing Intelligence Engine

One-click 1688 product analysis: AI labels, supplier trust scoring, cross-platform price comparison, MOQ optimization, and profit calculation — everything a cross-border seller needs.

Why This Actor?

Other 1688 scrapers dump raw data. This actor is a complete sourcing decision engine built on top of the best scraping API:

• 🏷️ AI Smart Labels — Auto-tag products as 🔥 Hot, 💰 High-Profit, 🆕 New Arrival, ⭐ Best Value, 📦 Volume Seller
• 🛡️ Supplier Trust Score — 0-100 score with A/B/C/D grade based on years, ratings, verification, repurchase rate, scale
• 📊 Scoring Engine — profitScore (0-100), competitionScore (0-100), riskLevel, and natural-language summary
• 💱 Cross-Platform Comparison — Compare 1688 wholesale prices vs Taobao & AliExpress retail, with margin analysis
• 📦 MOQ Advisor — Analyze quantity pricing tiers, recommend optimal order quantity with marginal ROI
• 💰 Profit Calculator — Estimate net profit after shipping, platform fees, and customs for cross-border resale
• 🧠 LLM Deep Analysis — Optional AI-generated English summary, market positioning, and sourcing advice
• 🧹 Data Cleaning — Deduplication, price normalization, invalid item filtering

Input

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keywords	string[]	["手机壳"]	Search keywords (Chinese or English)
offerIds	string[]	[]	Specific product IDs to fetch directly
maxResults	integer	20	Max products to return (1-500)
sortBy	select	relevance	Sort order: relevance / sale / price_asc / price_desc / credit
includeSkuDetails	boolean	false	Extract SKU variants with stock & tier pricing
priceMin	number	0	Minimum price in CNY (0 = no limit)
priceMax	number	0	Maximum price in CNY (0 = no limit)
enableAiLabels	boolean	true	Apply AI smart labels & scoring
enableDataCleaning	boolean	true	Clean & deduplicate results
enableLlmAnalysis	boolean	false	Enhance with LLM-generated insights (requires API key)
llmApiKey	string	""	OpenAI-compatible API key (or set LLM_API_KEY env var)
llmBaseUrl	string	https://api.openai.com/v1	API base URL (change for DeepSeek, etc.)
llmModel	string	gpt-4o-mini	Model name (gpt-4o-mini, deepseek-chat, etc.)
enableCrossPlatformComparison	boolean	false	Compare 1688 prices vs Taobao & AliExpress
compareTaobao	boolean	true	Include Taobao retail prices in comparison
compareAliexpress	boolean	true	Compare with AliExpress retail prices
productWeightGrams	integer	50	Product weight (grams) for profit calculation
shippingRatePerGram	number	0.35	Shipping cost per gram (CNY) for profit calculation
platformFeePercent	number	0.12	Platform commission (0.12 = 12%) for profit calculation
customsPercent	number	0	Customs duty rate (0 = no duty) for profit calculation

Output Example

{
  "offerId": "1234567890",
  "title": "LDNIO Bluetooth Earbuds TWS Wireless",
  "price": {"min": 62.8, "max": 62.8, "currency": "CNY"},
  "saledCount": 2500,
  "wantBuyCount": 180,
  "supplier": {
    "name": "LDNIO Official Store",
    "verified": true,
    "years": 5
  },
  "aiLabels": {
    "isHot": true,
    "isProfitable": false,
    "isNew": false,
    "tags": ["🔥 Hot Product", "🔄 High Repurchase"],
    "profitScore": 0,
    "competitionScore": 90,
    "riskLevel": "low",
    "summary": "Strong seller with high demand and verified supplier."
  },
  "llmInsights": {
    "englishSummary": "Established TWS earbuds with proven 2500+ sales and strong buyer interest — a reliable sourcing choice.",
    "marketInsight": "The TWS earbuds segment on 1688 is highly competitive. This product's 2500+ sales signal validated demand, but the high competition score means margins may be thin without differentiation.",
    "sourcingAdvice": "Negotiate bulk pricing — at 2500+ units sold, the supplier likely offers better tier prices. Consider custom packaging to differentiate from competitors.",
    "riskFactors": ["High competition in TWS segment may compress margins", "Verify Bluetooth certification before bulk order"]
  }
}

AI Label Rules

Label	Criteria
🔥 Hot Product	Sales > 1,000 & WantBuy > 100
🔥 Rising Star	Sales > 500 & WantBuy > 50
💰 High Profit	Price range ratio > 50%
🆕 New Arrival	Sales < 10 & has supplier
⭐ Best Value	Price < ¥20, rating ≥ 4.5, sales > 100
📦 Volume Seller	Price < ¥5, sales > 500
🔄 High Repurchase	Repurchase rate > 30%
⚠️ High Risk	Multiple risk factors (out-of-stock, no supplier, low rating)

Use Cases

• Dropshippers — Find hot products with low competition before they trend
• Wholesale Buyers — Compare factory-direct pricing with AI scoring
• Market Researchers — Clean, deduplicated data ready for analysis
• E-commerce Operators — Source products with profit & risk scores built in

LLM Deep Analysis (Phase 2)

Enable enableLlmAnalysis to get LLM-generated insights for each product:

• englishSummary — Concise English summary of sourcing potential with key specs
• marketInsight — Market positioning, demand signals, competitive landscape with data references
• sourcingAdvice — Clear buy/avoid/negotiate recommendation considering supplier trust, MOQ, and profit margin
• riskFactors — Array of specific risks to watch out for (e.g., "High MOQ requires significant upfront investment")

The LLM receives full context including supplier trust grade, MOQ tiers, profit analysis, and cross-platform comparison data — so its advice is grounded in real numbers, not generic observations.

Supported Providers

Provider	llmBaseUrl	llmModel	Cost
OpenAI	https://api.openai.com/v1	gpt-4o-mini	~$0.15/1K products
DeepSeek	https://api.deepseek.com/v1	deepseek-chat	~$0.01/1K products
Any OpenAI-compatible	Your URL	Your model	Varies

Products are batched (8 per call) to minimize token usage. Features automatic retry on rate limits (429) and robust JSON parsing. If the LLM call fails, the actor falls back gracefully — you still get rule-based labels.

Cross-Platform Price Comparison (Phase 3)

Enable enableCrossPlatformComparison to see how 1688 wholesale prices compare against retail:

• Taobao — Same currency (CNY), direct price comparison
• AliExpress — USD prices auto-converted to CNY for margin analysis

Output

Each product gets a crossPlatformComparison field:

{
  "crossPlatformComparison": {
    "searchQuery": "M10TWS Bluetooth Earbuds",
    "taobao": [
      {"title": "M10 TWS Earbuds...", "price": 89.0, "sales": 1200}
    ],
    "aliexpress": [
      {"title": "M10 TWS Earbuds...", "price": 8.99, "currency": "USD", "sales": 500}
    ],
    "priceAnalysis": {
      "margins": {
        "taobao": {"avgRetailPrice": 89.0, "wholesalePrice": 16.5, "marginPercent": 439.4},
        "aliexpress": {"avgRetailPriceUSD": 8.99, "avgRetailPriceCNY": 64.7, "marginPercent": 292.1}
      },
      "bestPlatform": "taobao",
      "bestMarginPercent": 439.4,
      "verdict": "excellent"
    }
  }
}

Verdict Scale

Verdict	Margin
excellent	≥ 100%
good	≥ 50%
fair	≥ 20%
thin	≥ 0%
loss	< 0%

Note: Cross-platform comparison runs Taobao + AliExpress scrapers in parallel (~30s total, not per product).

Supplier Trust Score

Every product gets a supplierTrust field with a 0-100 score and A/B/C/D grade:

{
  "supplierTrust": {
    "score": 80,
    "grade": "A",
    "tags": ["🏭 10+ Years", "⭐ Top Rated", "✅ Verified Super Factory", "🔄 High Repurchase"],
    "breakdown": {
      "years": 6,
      "rating": 4.9,
      "verified": true,
      "repurchaseRate": 0.6,
      "salesVolume": 2000,
      "wantBuyCount": 150
    }
  }
}

Scoring Weights

Signal	Weight	Source Field
Years in business	25pts	supplier.tpYear
Platform rating	25pts	supplier.scores.composite
Verification	15pts	supplier.flags.isSuperFactory/isFactory
Repurchase rate	15pts	repurchaseRate / supplier.stats.repeatRate
Sales volume	10pts	saledCount
Demand signals	10pts	wantBuyCount
Scale (fans + offers)	10pts	supplier.fans, supplier.stats.totalOffers

MOQ Advisor

Analyzes quantity pricing tiers and recommends the optimal order quantity:

{
  "moqAdvisor": {
    "recommended": {"quantity": 500, "price": 3.8, "totalCost": 1900, "dropFromBase": "24.0%", "savingPerUnit": 1.2},
    "basePrice": 5.0,
    "bestPrice": 3.5,
    "maxSaving": "30.0%",
    "tiers": [
      {"quantity": 10, "price": 5.0, "totalCost": 50, "dropFromBase": "0.0%", "savingPerUnit": 0},
      {"quantity": 100, "price": 4.2, "totalCost": 420, "dropFromBase": "16.0%", "savingPerUnit": 0.8},
      {"quantity": 500, "price": 3.8, "totalCost": 1900, "dropFromBase": "24.0%", "savingPerUnit": 1.2}
    ]
  }
}

Profit Calculator

Estimates cross-border resale profit based on wholesale cost, shipping, platform fees, and customs:

{
  "profitAnalysis": {
    "profitable": true,
    "retailPrice": {"cny": 38.82, "source": "aliexpress"},
    "costBreakdown": {
      "product": 1.6,
      "shipping": 4.0,
      "platformFee": 4.66,
      "customs": 0,
      "total": 10.26
    },
    "profit": {
      "grossCNY": 28.56,
      "roiPercent": 278.4,
      "marginPercent": 73.6
    },
    "assumptions": {
      "shippingRatePerGram": 0.2,
      "platformFeePercent": 0.12,
      "customsPercent": 0,
      "productWeightGrams": 20
    }
  }
}

Adjust cost assumptions via input parameters: productWeightGrams, shippingRatePerGram, platformFeePercent, customsPercent.

Tips

• English keywords tend to return more stable results on 1688 (e.g., "bluetooth earbuds" vs "蓝牙耳机")
• Use offerIds for precise product lookups when you already know what you want
• Enable includeSkuDetails to get variant-level pricing for margin analysis
• Set priceMin/priceMax to filter out irrelevant price tiers

Pricing

This actor runs on the Apify platform. Usage is billed per compute unit based on your Apify plan. No hidden API fees — the upstream scraping is handled internally.

Support

Found a bug or need a feature? Open an issue on the Actor page or contact the developer.