Ricardo.ch Scraper — Swiss Marketplace Listings & Auctions

Extract listings, auctions, and prices from ricardo.ch, Switzerland's largest online marketplace. Search by keyword or scrape entire categories, and get structured data with prices, current bids, condition, brand, seller location, and auction end dates. No login or cookies required.

Why use this scraper?

Ricardo.ch is the biggest consumer marketplace in Switzerland (part of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group, alongside tutti.ch and homegate.ch). It hosts millions of active listings across auctions and fixed-price offers. This scraper turns those listings into clean JSON you can use for:

• Price monitoring — track what products actually sell for on the Swiss market
• Auction sniping research — find auctions ending soon with low bids
• Resale arbitrage — compare Ricardo prices against other European marketplaces
• Market research — analyze supply, condition, and pricing per brand or category
• E-commerce intelligence — see what private sellers and shops charge in CHF

Features

• Keyword search across the entire marketplace
• Category scraping with automatic pagination (60 listings per page)
• Auction data: current bid, number of bids, auction end date
• Buy-now prices and "make an offer" flags
• Condition, brand, seller location, and listing dates
• Clean, flat JSON output — no HTML parsing needed on your side
• Handles Cloudflare protection via Bright Data Web Unlocker

How to scrape Ricardo.ch data

1. Get a Bright Data API key with a Web Unlocker zone named web_unlocker1 (ricardo.ch sits behind a Cloudflare managed challenge, so a plain proxy is not enough)
2. Enter a Search Query (e.g. velo, iphone, uhr) or a Category slug (e.g. velos-82249)
3. Set Max Results to the number of listings you need
4. Paste your Bright Data API key into the Bright Data API Key field
5. Run the actor and download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel

The scraper reads the server-rendered search results directly, so one request returns 60 fully-structured listings. A 1,000-listing category scrape needs only ~17 page fetches.

Search vs category mode

• Search mode (searchQuery): returns up to 60 listings per run — one results page. Ricardo.ch blocks paginated search URLs for automated access, so deeper keyword pulls are not possible.
• Category mode (category): paginates freely. Pass a category slug like velos-82249 or a full URL like https://www.ricardo.ch/de/c/velos-82249/. Use this when you need hundreds or thousands of listings.

You can find category slugs by browsing ricardo.ch — the slug is the last path segment of any category page URL.

Input

Field	Type	Description
searchQuery	string	Keyword to search for. Default: velo. Max 60 results per run.
category	string	Category slug (e.g. velos-82249) or full category URL. Overrides searchQuery and supports pagination.
maxResults	integer	Maximum listings to return. Default: 100.
brightDataApiKey	string (secret)	Your Bright Data Web Unlocker API key. Required.
proxyConfiguration	object	Kept for compatibility — not used (Bright Data handles anti-bot).

Example input

{
    "searchQuery": "velo",
    "maxResults": 20
}

Output

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Unique ricardo.ch article ID
title	string	Listing title
price	number	Buy-now price, or current bid for auction-only listings (CHF)
currency	string	Always CHF
priceType	string	auction, buynow, or negotiable
condition	string	new, like_new, acceptable, or damaged
brand	string	Brand name when the seller provided one
city	string	Seller city (pickup/shipping location)
canton	string	Two-letter canton code when the city carries one
sellerId	string	Ricardo seller account ID
imageUrl	string	Primary listing image
listingDate	string	ISO 8601 creation date
auctionEndDate	string	ISO 8601 auction end date (auction listings)
bidPrice	number	Current highest bid (auction listings)
bidsCount	integer	Number of bids (auction listings)
buyNowPrice	number	Fixed price when the listing offers buy-now
category	string	Product type key, e.g. bicycle
url	string	Full listing URL
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 scrape timestamp

Example output

{
    "id": "1306648498",
    "title": "Vélo de Course Trek Madone SLR 6, taille S",
    "price": 3300,
    "currency": "CHF",
    "priceType": "buynow",
    "condition": "acceptable",
    "brand": "Trek",
    "city": "Genève",
    "sellerId": "406596178",
    "imageUrl": "https://img.ricardostatic.ch/images/6bc66be8-3b68-49c1-ad24-922053c90833/t_265x200/velo-de-course-trek-madone-slr-6-taille-s",
    "listingDate": "2025-12-21T16:42:00Z",
    "category": "bicycle",
    "buyNowPrice": 3300,
    "url": "https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/velo-de-course-trek-madone-slr-6-taille-s-1306648498/",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-07-11T19:41:46.936Z"
}

Cost estimate

One page fetch returns 60 listings, so runs are cheap: a 100-listing run needs 2 requests, a 1,000-listing category run about 17. Compute usage is minimal (no browser). Expect thousands of listings per dollar of platform credits, plus your Bright Data usage (roughly $0.0015 per page fetch — about $0.03 per 1,000 listings).

Limitations

• Keyword search returns at most 60 listings per run (one page). Use category mode for larger pulls.
• Seller display names are not exposed on ricardo.ch search pages — you get the seller ID.
• The canton field is only filled when ricardo.ch includes it in the city name; the city itself is always present.
• Full listing descriptions require visiting each detail page and are not included (keeps runs fast and cheap).

Related scrapers

• Tutti.ch Scraper — Swiss classifieds from tutti.ch, Ricardo's sibling marketplace (same SMG group).
• Homegate Scraper — Swiss real estate listings from homegate.ch.
• Comparis Scraper — Swiss insurance and telecom comparison data.
• Brack Scraper — Swiss electronics and IT products from brack.ch.
• AutoScout24 Scraper — European used car listings.
• Browse the Apify Store e-commerce category for more marketplace scrapers from Studio AMBA.

FAQ

Do I need a ricardo.ch account? No. The scraper only reads public search and category pages. No login, no cookies.

Why do I need a Bright Data key? Ricardo.ch is protected by a Cloudflare managed challenge that blocks datacenter IPs and headless browsers. Bright Data's Web Unlocker solves this server-side. A free trial account is enough to test.

Is this legal? The scraper only collects publicly visible listing data, the same information any visitor sees. You are responsible for how you use the data — check local regulations for your use case.

Can I get listing descriptions or seller names? Not in this version. Both live on individual detail pages; scraping them would multiply request costs per listing. Open an issue if you need this and we will consider a detail-page option.