Price Comparison Engine -- Multi-Platform Price Tracker

Compare product prices across 6 major e-commerce platforms in a single run. Find the lowest price, best deal, and get full price analytics -- all from one actor.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Data Extracted
Amazon	Price, rating, reviews, Prime status, seller, ASIN
Walmart	Price, rating, reviews, seller, pickup/delivery, Walmart+
eBay	Price, bid price, Buy It Now, seller rating, shipping, condition
Target	Price, rating, reviews, pickup availability, Circle offers
Best Buy	Price, rating, reviews, open-box price, model number
Google Shopping	Price, seller, shipping, store rating, comparison prices

What You Get

For each product found across platforms:

{
  "productName": "Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB - Natural Titanium",
  "price": 1199.00,
  "originalPrice": 1299.00,
  "currency": "USD",
  "platform": "amazon",
  "seller": "Amazon.com",
  "rating": 4.7,
  "reviewCount": 12453,
  "shipping": "Free Prime shipping",
  "condition": "New",
  "availability": "In Stock",
  "url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMZ4S8MQ",
  "imageUrl": "https://...",
  "matchScore": 0.95,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-02T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Plus a summary analytics record at the end:

{
  "type": "analytics",
  "searchQuery": "iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB",
  "totalProductsFound": 47,
  "platformBreakdown": {
    "amazon": 10,
    "walmart": 8,
    "ebay": 10,
    "target": 5,
    "bestbuy": 6,
    "google_shopping": 8
  },
  "priceAnalytics": {
    "lowestPrice": 1089.00,
    "highestPrice": 1499.99,
    "averagePrice": 1198.45,
    "medianPrice": 1199.00,
    "priceSpread": 410.99,
    "priceSpreadPercent": 37.74
  },
  "bestDeal": {
    "productName": "iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB - Unlocked",
    "price": 1089.00,
    "platform": "ebay",
    "seller": "top_deals_usa",
    "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/..."
  },
  "bestRated": {
    "productName": "Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max",
    "rating": 4.8,
    "reviewCount": 23891,
    "platform": "bestbuy"
  }
}

Use Cases

• Deal Hunting: Find the absolute lowest price for any product across all major retailers
• Price Monitoring: Track price changes over time by running the actor on a schedule
• Arbitrage: Find price gaps between platforms for resale opportunities
• Market Research: Understand pricing strategies across competing retailers
• Purchase Decisions: Compare prices, ratings, and shipping before buying
• Competitor Analysis: See how different sellers price the same product
• Dropshipping: Find products with the biggest wholesale/retail price gaps

How It Works

1. Enter a product name or keyword (e.g., "Sony WH-1000XM5")
2. Select which platforms to search (default: all 6)
3. The engine searches each platform simultaneously using CheerioCrawler
4. Products are extracted using multiple strategies (JSON-LD, embedded JSON, DOM parsing)
5. Results are normalized to a unified schema with price analytics
6. Products are sorted by your chosen criteria and deduplicated

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	required	Product name or keyword to search
platforms	array	all 6	Which platforms to search
maxResultsPerPlatform	integer	10	Max products per platform
sortBy	enum	price_low	Sort: price_low, price_high, rating, relevance
maxConcurrency	integer	3	Concurrent requests (2-5 recommended)
maxRetries	integer	3	Retries per failed request
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential	Proxy settings (residential recommended)

Pricing

$0.01 per product compared (pay-per-event). You only pay for successfully extracted products. The analytics summary record is free.

Example costs:

• 10 products per platform x 6 platforms = 60 products = $0.60
• 5 products per platform x 3 platforms = 15 products = $0.15

Tips for Best Results

• Be specific: "iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB" works better than "iPhone"
• Use model numbers: "WH-1000XM5" finds exact matches across all platforms
• Start small: Use 5 results per platform first to test, then increase
• Use proxies: Residential proxies are strongly recommended for reliable results
• Schedule runs: Set up daily/weekly runs for price monitoring

Technical Details

• Built with CheerioCrawler (no browser overhead, fast and efficient)
• 12+ rotating User-Agent strings to minimize detection
• Multiple extraction strategies per platform (JSON-LD, script data, DOM fallback)
• Automatic price normalization (handles $, commas, ranges, currencies)
• Product similarity scoring for cross-platform matching
• Deduplication to avoid counting the same product twice
• Graceful degradation: if one platform fails, others still return data

Example Searches

Query	Best For
iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB	Exact product comparison
Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones	Electronics price check
Nike Air Max 90 men size 10	Specific shoe comparison
Samsung 65 OLED TV 2025	TV deal hunting
KitchenAid Stand Mixer	Appliance price monitoring
PlayStation 5 console	Gaming deal finder

Integration — Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("sovereigntaylor/price-comparison-engine").call(run_input={
    "searchTerm": "example query",
    "maxResults": 50
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item.get('title', item.get('name', 'N/A'))}")

Integration — JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('sovereigntaylor/price-comparison-engine').call({
    searchTerm: 'example query',
    maxResults: 50
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(item => console.log(item.title || item.name || 'N/A'));