# EchoMTG Scraper - Magic: The Gathering Card Prices (`lulzasaur/echomtg-scraper`) Actor

Scrape EchoMTG for Magic: The Gathering card prices by set. Get card name, set, collector number, rarity, TCG market & low price, foil price, artist, TCGplayer ID, image and card URL. Scrape specific sets or the entire 600+ set catalog.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/echomtg-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## PriceCharting Scraper

Scrape video game, trading card, comic book, Funko Pop, LEGO, and coin prices from [PriceCharting.com](https://www.pricecharting.com). Get current market prices across multiple conditions plus full historical price chart data spanning years of price trends.

### Features

- **Multi-query search** across video games, trading cards (Pokemon, MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh), comics, Funko Pops, LEGO sets, and coins
- **Current prices** for all conditions: Loose, CIB (Complete in Box), New, Graded, Box Only, Manual Only
- **Historical price data** extracted from embedded VGPC chart data — track price trends over months and years
- **Product metadata** including genre, publisher, release date, ASIN, ePID codes
- **Category filtering** — narrow results to video games, trading cards, comics, toys, or coins
- **Two scraping modes**: fast search-only or detailed per-product scraping with full price history
- **Pay-per-event pricing** — you only pay for results you get

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `searchQueries` | String\[] | Search terms (e.g. "super mario bros", "charizard") |
| `maxListings` | Integer | Max products per query (1-100, default 100) |
| `scrapeDetails` | Boolean | Visit detail pages for price history + metadata (default: false) |
| `category` | Select | Filter: all, video-games, trading-cards, comics, toys, coins |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Object | Optional proxy settings |

### Output

#### Search-only mode (scrapeDetails: false)

Fast — extracts data from search results page only:

```json
{
    "title": "Super Mario Bros 3",
    "platform": "NES",
    "loosePrice": 17.84,
    "completePrice": 64.72,
    "newPrice": 651.37,
    "gradedPrice": null,
    "imageUrl": "https://storage.googleapis.com/images.pricecharting.com/.../240.jpg",
    "productUrl": "https://www.pricecharting.com/game/nes/super-mario-bros-3",
    "searchQuery": "super mario bros",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

#### Detail mode (scrapeDetails: true)

Richer data with price history from each product page:

```json
{
    "title": "Super Mario Bros",
    "platform": "NES",
    "category": "video-games",
    "productId": "9889",
    "asin": "B00004SVV7",
    "epid": "4444",
    "loosePrice": 16.57,
    "completePrice": 184.75,
    "newPrice": 3434.09,
    "gradedPrice": 21174.68,
    "boxOnlyPrice": 103.38,
    "manualOnlyPrice": 23.67,
    "priceHistory": {
        "loose": [
            { "date": "2007-10-01", "price": 4.99 },
            { "date": "2008-01-01", "price": 5.49 }
        ],
        "cib": [...],
        "new": [...],
        "graded": [...]
    },
    "productUrl": "https://www.pricecharting.com/game/nes/super-mario-bros",
    "searchQuery": "super mario bros",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Use Cases

- **Price tracking** — monitor collectible values over time
- **Arbitrage** — compare PriceCharting prices against eBay, Mercari, etc.
- **Collection valuation** — calculate total collection worth across platforms
- **Market research** — analyze price trends for specific game consoles or card sets
- **Investment analysis** — identify appreciating collectibles using historical chart data
- **Inventory pricing** — auto-price game store or card shop inventory

### How It Works

1. Searches PriceCharting for each query (up to 100 results per search)
2. In search-only mode, extracts loose/CIB/new prices directly from search results
3. In detail mode, visits each product page to extract all 6 price conditions plus full historical VGPC chart data
4. Historical prices are parsed from the embedded `VGPC.chart_data` JavaScript object containing timestamped price arrays

### Notes

- PriceCharting returns up to 100 results per search query
- Historical prices are in USD. Zero-value entries are filtered out.
- Price history spans from ~2007 to present depending on the product
- Chart data prices are stored in cents and converted to dollars
- No proxies typically needed — PriceCharting has no anti-bot protection

# Actor input Schema

## `setCodes` (type: `array`):

List of EchoMTG / MTG set codes to scrape (e.g. 'MH2', 'NEO', 'DMU', 'LEA'). Each set returns all its cards with market, low and foil prices. Ignored when 'Scrape All Sets' is enabled.

## `maxCardsPerSet` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of cards to scrape per set. Use 0 for all cards in the set (up to 5000).

## `scrapeAllSets` (type: `boolean`):

If enabled, ignores 'Set Codes' and iterates every MTG set in EchoMTG's catalog (600+ sets). Use 'Max Cards per Set' and the run time limit to bound the output.

## `includeCardText` (type: `boolean`):

If enabled, also returns the full rules/oracle text for each card. Slightly larger responses.

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

Proxy settings. EchoMTG's public JSON API returns 200 directly, so proxies are usually not needed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "setCodes": [
    "MH2"
  ],
  "maxCardsPerSet": 500,
  "scrapeAllSets": false,
  "includeCardText": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "setCodes": [
        "MH2"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/echomtg-scraper").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 = { "setCodes": ["MH2"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/echomtg-scraper").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 '{
  "setCodes": [
    "MH2"
  ]
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/echomtg-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/echomtg-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/RKO4SpHd8nZKlISYO/builds/qicd4FcV52mflBLnF/openapi.json