# Google Shopping Price Monitor: Track Products & Drops (`southern-data/google-shopping-monitor`) Actor

Search Google Shopping for product prices and track changes/drops. First page only. Works in Australia.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/southern-data/google-shopping-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Southern Data](https://apify.com/southern-data) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Automation
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.60 / 1,000 product returneds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Google Shopping Price Monitor: Track Products & Drops

Search **Google Shopping** and get structured product prices — title, seller, current price, was-price, rating and a Google Shopping link. Optional **monitor modes** remember last prices so a daily schedule only returns **changes** or **drops**.

Works in **Australia** (Harvey Norman, Myer, Kogan, Bing Lee, Bunnings and others) as well as the US, UK and more.

### Limits (read these first)

1. **First Shopping page only (~20–40 products per search).** Google’s HTML often shows “Failed to load more results”. Version 1 does not paginate (both Google’s card and grid Shopping layouts are supported). Use several focused queries instead of expecting deep pages.
2. **No stable merchant checkout URL in the HTML.** Cards rarely expose a direct store link we can scrape reliably. Each row includes a `googleProductUrl` (Google Shopping search for that title) plus your original `searchUrl`.
3. **Same legal grey area as any Google SERP tool.** We use Apify’s official **GOOGLE_SERP** proxy, public prices only, no login and no CAPTCHA bypass. Google’s terms still restrict automated access — you are responsible for how you use the results.
4. **Monitor first run returns 0 products.** In `mode=changed` or `mode=drops`, the first run saves a baseline and returns nothing (no false alerts). The next run returns only real price moves.
5. **Obscure or nonsense queries may still return product cards.** Google Shopping often shows related or popular items even when nothing matches your exact words. We return the cards Google shows; we do not invent a fake “0 results” page.
6. **Not every country is verified.** US and Australia were probed successfully. Other countries are best-effort; if Google shows no product cards you still pay for the page load and get 0 products.

### Quick start

```json
{
  "queries": ["dyson v15", "iphone 16 pro 256gb"],
  "country": "us",
  "mode": "all"
}
```

Australia price-drop monitor (schedule daily):

```json
{
  "queries": ["dyson v15 detect"],
  "country": "au",
  "mode": "drops",
  "monitorName": "dyson-au-daily"
}
```

First scheduled run: baseline saved, **0 rows**. Later runs: only products whose price fell.

### Output fields

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `title`, `seller`, `price`, `priceRaw` | Listing basics |
| `wasPrice`, `wasPriceRaw`, `discountPercent` | When Google shows a crossed-out “was” price |
| `previousPrice`, `changeType`, `priceDelta` | Set in monitor modes (`drop` / `rise` / `new`) |
| `rating`, `reviewCount` | When Google shows them |
| `googleProductUrl`, `productId` | Search link and stable id (title+seller+country hash) |
| `query`, `country`, `searchUrl`, `checkedAt` | Provenance |

### Pricing (pay per event)

| Event | Price | When |
|---|---|---|
| `actor-start` | $0.001 | Once per run, after the first successful Google page load |
| `page-check` | $0.005 | Each Google Shopping page loaded |
| `product` | $0.002 | Each product row returned |

**Store discount tiers:** free-plan and Bronze users pay the prices above. Silver gets 10% off and Gold (and higher) gets 20% off on `actor-start` and `product` (`page-check` is the same on every tier because each page load has a fixed Google proxy cost).

**Free:** invalid / empty input (exit 0, $0), failed page loads, baseline-only remember steps, unchanged prices in monitor modes, duplicates across queries in the same run.

Typical cost for one US search returning 30 products: **$0.001 + $0.005 + 30×$0.002 = $0.066**.

### Tips

- Prefer many focused queries (`"dyson v15 detect absolute"`, `"dyson v15 detect complete"`) over one broad query.
- Set `monitorName` and keep it stable when using Apify Schedules.
- Cap spend with Apify’s `maxTotalChargeUsd` on the run or task.
- Default memory is 512 MB — enough for this actor.

### Self-test

Set `"selfTest": true` to run offline parser checks against bundled fixtures. Used by our daily health schedule.

### Related tools

- [Shopify Store Monitor](https://apify.com/southern-data/shopify-store-monitor) — watch a specific Shopify store's public catalogue for price and stock changes

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Product searches, one per line — the words people type into Google Shopping, e.g. "dyson v15" or "iphone 16 pro 256gb". Each query loads one Shopping page (~20–40 products). Version 1 does not paginate deeper.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Which Google Shopping country to search. Australia works (Harvey Norman, Myer, Kogan, Bing Lee, etc.). Confirmed probed: United States and Australia.

## `location` (type: `string`):

Optional place Google should bias toward, e.g. "Sydney, NSW" or "Austin, TX". Leave empty to use the country only.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Google interface language code (hl), e.g. en, de, fr. Defaults to the country's usual language.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

all = every product on the page. changed = only products whose price moved (or brand-new listings) vs the named price memory. drops = only products whose price fell. First changed/drops run saves a baseline and returns 0 rows (no false alerts).

## `monitorName` (type: `string`):

Stable name for the price memory, e.g. "dyson-au-daily". Use the same name on every scheduled run. If empty, memory is keyed from your queries and resets when they change.

## `maxProducts` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on rows returned (and charged) in this run. Default 200. Each query only yields about 20–40 products in v1.

## `selfTest` (type: `boolean`):

Offline parser checks (no live Google call required for the fixture suite). For the publisher's daily health check. Leave off for normal use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "dyson v15",
    "iphone 16 pro 256gb"
  ],
  "country": "us",
  "mode": "all",
  "maxProducts": 200,
  "selfTest": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per product returned. Views: Products overview.

## `queries` (type: `string`):

QUERIES record: per search query, pages loaded, products found/returned, errors, search link.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

RUN_SUMMARY record: pages loaded/failed, products returned, charged events, settings, any input problem.

## `selfTest` (type: `string`):

SELF_TEST record: only present when the Actor runs with selfTest: true.

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "dyson v15",
        "iphone 16 pro 256gb"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("southern-data/google-shopping-monitor").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 = { "queries": [
        "dyson v15",
        "iphone 16 pro 256gb",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("southern-data/google-shopping-monitor").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "dyson v15",
    "iphone 16 pro 256gb"
  ]
}' |
apify call southern-data/google-shopping-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,southern-data/google-shopping-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

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/9Lkf3yC3RXmKuL6oW/builds/3ytEbKZptCYRX2Alf/openapi.json