1688.com Scraper

The only pay-per-event 1688.com search scraper on Apify Store. Extract B2B wholesale product data — titles, prices, sales volume, return rates, supplier years, location, factory/verified flags — from China's largest wholesale marketplace, without an API key, login, or browser.

Every other 1688 scraper on Store is monthly subscription ($30+/month). This one charges only when you actually run it. No commitment, no idle-month bills.

What does 1688.com Scraper do?

• Searches 1688.com for one or many keywords (Chinese or English).
• Extracts 22 fields per product card including title, price, 30-day sales count, return rate, supplier years on platform, city, image, free-shipping/return tags, and factory/verified-supplier flags.
• Supports filters that match 1688's UI: price range, MOQ, sort by sales / price / composite score, and toggling between consumer (pcmarket) and industrial (pcindustry) marketplaces.
• Runs without a 1688 account, login, or API key. Pure HTTP via Apify's CN-region residential proxy network.
• Bills per product extracted (PPE) — pay only for what you actually scrape.

Try it on the Try Actor tab in Apify Console with the prefilled wireless headphones example.

Why use 1688.com Scraper?

• Source directly from Chinese manufacturers. Bypass middlemen and find factory-direct pricing for retail or private-label work.
• Compare suppliers at scale. Pull thousands of cards across keyword variants in one run; sort by 30-day sales to filter for proven products.
• Industrial procurement. The searchType: pcindustry mode targets equipment, raw materials, and high-MOQ B2B listings.
• No subscription. Run the actor once a quarter, once a day, or once an hour — you only pay per product extracted, not a flat monthly fee. Other 1688 scrapers charge $30+/month flat. This is the only PPE option in the category.

How to use 1688.com Scraper

1. Open the actor on Apify Console and click Try Actor.
2. Either fill Search keyword for a single search, or use the Search array field for multiple queries (e.g., one row per keyword variant).
3. Set filters: Max pages per search (1 page = 20 cards on the mobile route), price range, sort, MOQ, marketplace (pcmarket vs pcindustry).
4. Leave Proxy on the default RESIDENTIAL group with country CN — 1688's mobile route only serves SSR product data to CN-region residential traffic.
5. Save & start. When the run completes, click the Output tab to view the dataset, or download as JSON / CSV / Excel / XML / JSONL.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
keyword	string	one of keyword/searchArray	A single search term. Chinese or English. UTF-8.
searchArray	array	one of keyword/searchArray	Run multiple searches in one execution. Each entry can override maxPages, priceStart, priceEnd, sortType, descendOrder, quantityBegin, searchType.
maxPages	integer	no (default 1)	Pages per search. Max 50. 1 page = 20 mobile cards; 1688's mobile pool recycles offers past ~50 pages.
priceStart / priceEnd	string	no	CNY price bounds. Numeric strings.
sortType	enum	no (default normal)	normal / va_sales360 (sales-30d) / pricedesc / priceasc / composite.
descendOrder	boolean	no (default true)	Flips the sort direction.
quantityBegin	integer	no (default 0)	MOQ filter.
searchType	enum	no (default pcmarket)	pcmarket (consumer) or pcindustry (industrial).
maxRequestRetries	integer	no (default 5)	Retry budget for failed requests.
proxyConfiguration	object	no	Standard Apify proxy config. RESIDENTIAL with country=CN required.

Example input

{
    "searchArray": [
        {
            "keyword": "wireless headphones",
            "maxPages": 5,
            "priceStart": "50",
            "priceEnd": "200",
            "sortType": "va_sales360"
        },
        {
            "keyword": "bluetooth speakers",
            "maxPages": 3
        }
    ]
}

Output

You can download the dataset in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML, or JSONL from the Storage tab.

Sample record

{
    "searchKeyword": "LED",
    "id": 41565957172,
    "shop_id": "",
    "url": "https://detail.1688.com/offer/41565957172.html",
    "shop_url": "",
    "title": "外贸跨境爆款LED熔岩手表二进制led学生情侣表LED电子手表链条手",
    "price": 7.03,
    "original_price": 7.03,
    "currency": "CNY",
    "image": "https://cbu01.alicdn.com/img/ibank/O1CN01ulHSGA1kLzlQzDss6_!!1943604668-0-cib.jpg_270x270xzq60.jpg",
    "seller": "",
    "location": "深圳市",
    "seller_type": "",
    "seller_years": 12,
    "sales": 1000,
    "return_rate": "55",
    "position": 1,
    "tags": [],
    "price_tiers": [],
    "is_factory": false,
    "is_verified": false,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-29T14:17:19.376Z"
}

Data table

Field	Type	Description
searchKeyword	string	The keyword that produced this record.
id	number	1688 offerId.
shop_id	string	Empty in v0.1 — supplier memberId requires a detail-page fetch.
url	string	Canonical product detail URL.
shop_url	string	Empty in v0.1 — storefront URL requires a detail-page fetch.
title	string	Product title (Chinese; HTML highlight tags stripped).
price	number	Single-unit displayed price (CNY).
original_price	number	Equals price in v0.1 (mobile search doesn't expose discount info).
currency	string	Always CNY.
image	string	Primary product image (CDN).
seller	string	Empty in v0.1 — supplier loginId requires a detail-page fetch.
location	string	City (mobile route omits the province).
seller_type	string	Empty in v0.1 — bizType requires a detail-page fetch.
seller_years	number/null	Years on the platform (when card displays the trust badge).
sales	number/null	Recent sales count (parsed from 已售N件).
return_rate	string/null	Repurchase rate as a numeric string (no %).
position	integer	1-based rank within search results.
tags	string[]	Service/promo tags (包邮, 深度验商, etc.).
price_tiers	array	Empty in v0.1 — quantity-tiered prices are only on detail pages.
is_factory	boolean	Factory inspection passed (when card has 深度验厂 tag).
is_verified	boolean	Business inspection passed (when card has 深度验商 tag).
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 run timestamp.

Why some fields are empty in v0.1: the 1688 mobile search page exposes ~22 useful fields per card; the rest (shop_id, shop_url, seller, seller_type, price_tiers) live on the per-product detail page. Detail-page enrichment 4× the per-record runtime and cost; it is deferred to a separate "1688 Product Details Scraper" actor. Open an issue if you need this in v0.1.

Pricing — premium pay per event

This actor is the only PPE 1688 scraper on Store — every alternative is a $30+/month subscription.

Event	FREE	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD	PLATINUM	DIAMOND
actor_start	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05
product	$0.025	$0.020	$0.015	$0.010	$0.0065	$0.0045

How much does it cost to scrape 1688.com?

Workload	Products	Approx. cost (FREE tier)
1 search × 1 page	~20	~$0.55
1 search × 5 pages	~100	~$2.55
1 search × 25 pages	~500	~$12.55
5 searches × 5 pages	~500	~$12.55

PPE vs $30/month subscription breakeven: ~1,200 products extracted at FREE tier. If you scrape <1.2k products/month, this actor is cheaper. If you scrape >1.5k/month consistently, a competitor's monthly subscription will be cheaper — that's the trade-off PPE makes explicit.

DIAMOND tier ($4.50/1k) is roughly 5× cheaper than FREE; Apify's standard plan-tier dilution applies.

Tips and advanced options

Working around the 3,000-result cap

1688 caps total search results at ~3,000 items per query (the mobile pool is even shallower at ~1k unique offers). To pull more in a single keyword:

• Split by price range. Run the same keyword twice with priceStart: "10", priceEnd: "50" and priceStart: "50", priceEnd: "100".
• Use multiple narrower keywords. Instead of "electronics", scrape "wireless earbuds" and "smart watches" separately.
• Sort and slice. Use sortType: "pricedesc" and sortType: "priceasc" runs to capture the high-end and low-end tails.
• Use searchType: pcindustry. The industrial market has a separate result pool from pcmarket.

Combining filters

Combine quantityBegin, priceStart, searchType, and sortType for highly targeted searches — e.g. industrial procurement of hydraulic valves with MOQ ≥ 100:

{
    "searchType": "pcindustry",
    "searchArray": [{ "keyword": "hydraulic valves", "quantityBegin": 100, "maxPages": 10 }]
}

Why RESIDENTIAL + CN proxies?

1688's mobile route only SSRs offer cards for CN-region residential traffic. PC route is fully client-rendered + login-walled outside CN. Datacenter ranges are hard-blocked. CN-region residential is the only reliable choice — and the actor's default.

FAQ

Does this work without a 1688 account? Yes. The scraper hits 1688's public mobile search results — no login required.

Why are titles and locations in Chinese? 1688 is a domestic Chinese marketplace. Translation is intentionally out of scope — run the dataset through an LLM downstream if you need English titles. Keeping the source language preserves accuracy for procurement workflows.

Why is shop_id / seller / price_tiers empty? v0.1 scrapes the mobile search-results page only. Those fields live on the per-product detail page and require an extra fetch per offer (4× the runtime + cost). Deferred to a separate detail-page actor. Open an issue if you need these in this actor.

What if a search returns 0 products? The run completes successfully with an empty dataset and only the actor_start charge.

Can I cancel a run mid-way to stop charging? Yes. The actor handles the abort signal cleanly and exits within ~1 second. You're charged only for products already pushed to the dataset.

Disclaimers

This actor accesses publicly available 1688.com mobile search-result pages. Users are responsible for complying with 1688.com's Terms of Service, Chinese law, and any applicable data-protection regulations. The scraper does not bypass authentication, login walls, or paid memberships, and does not extract personally identifiable seller information beyond what 1688 publishes openly.

Support and feedback

Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab in Apify Console for bugs, parsing regressions, or feature requests (e.g., per-product detail enrichment, additional fields).