# China Wholesale Scraper: Alibaba, 1688 & AliExpress (`tacps126/china-sourcing`) Actor

Search Alibaba and AliExpress by keyword and read Alibaba and 1688 product pages: price tiers, MOQ, supplier, country, years, ratings, sold count, attributes, variants and images in one schema. Only-new monitoring.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/tacps126/china-sourcing.md
- **Developed by:** [Tapaswai Choudhary](https://apify.com/tacps126) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Lead generation, Automation
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 search results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
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

## China Wholesale Scraper: Alibaba, 1688 & AliExpress

Search **Alibaba.com** and **AliExpress** by keyword and read **Alibaba** and **1688** product pages, all in **one record shape**: price range and **price per quantity break**, **MOQ**, unit, sold count, rating, **supplier** name, country, years on the platform, business type, on-time delivery and response time, **attributes**, **variants** and images. Compare suppliers across three marketplaces without writing three data handlers, and schedule it to catch **new listings** in your niche.

**Built for** e-commerce sellers and dropshippers sourcing products, procurement and sourcing teams, market researchers comparing suppliers and prices, and AI agents.

### What you get

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `site`, `productId`, `url`, `title` | Which marketplace and which product |
| `priceMin`, `priceMax`, `originalPrice`, `currency` | Price range (and the pre-discount price on AliExpress) |
| `priceTiers` | Price per quantity break, e.g. `[{"minQuantity": 2, "price": 9.0}, {"minQuantity": 500, "price": 8.5}]` |
| `moq`, `unit` | Minimum order quantity and its unit |
| `soldCount`, `rating`, `reviewCount` | Demand and reputation |
| `supplierName`, `supplierId`, `supplierUrl`, `supplierCountry`, `supplierYears`, `supplierType` | Who sells it |
| `supplierOnTimeDelivery`, `supplierResponseTime`, `certifications` | Supplier quality signals (Alibaba) |
| `attributes`, `variants`, `images` | Specs (material, brand, model...), options (color, size...) and pictures |
| `searchTerm`, `detailLevel`, `scrapedAt` | Which search found it; `search` (results row) or `product` (full product page) |

What each source fills:

| | Search by keyword | Product link | Prices in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alibaba.com | yes, 60 per page | yes, full details | USD, EUR or GBP |
| AliExpress | yes, 60 per page | not yet | USD, EUR or GBP |
| 1688 | by link or offer ID only | yes, full details | CNY (yuan) |

### How to use it

Compare suppliers for a product on Alibaba and AliExpress:

```json
{
  "searchTerms": ["led strip light", "solar panel 400w"],
  "maxItemsPerSearch": 60
}
```

Full details for every Alibaba result (price breaks, specs, supplier type, delivery rate):

```json
{
  "searchTerms": ["silicone phone case"],
  "sites": ["alibaba"],
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxItemsPerSearch": 30
}
```

1688 and Alibaba products by link or 1688 offer ID:

```json
{
  "productUrls": [
    "https://detail.1688.com/offer/735353578254.html",
    "735353578254",
    "https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/IP20-IP65-IP67-IP68-Waterproof-Rgb_1600522546292.html"
  ]
}
```

Watch a niche for new listings: add *Only new results*, give the monitor a name and schedule the Actor daily or weekly. Each run returns only products earlier runs did not deliver. Send them to Slack, Discord, a webhook or Google Sheets with *Delivery*.

### Pricing

- **$2.50 per 1,000 search results** (Alibaba and AliExpress results pages).
- **$4.00 per 1,000 full products** (1688 and Alibaba product pages, or Alibaba results with *Full details* on).
- Plus a small start fee per run. On the Apify free plan a run returns up to 100 products.

### Good to know

- 1688 titles and specs are in Chinese, as 1688 lists them; prices are in yuan.
- A marketplace sometimes shows a check page instead of data. The Actor then retries on another connection; if a page still refuses, it is listed in the run's warnings and the rest of the run goes on.
- Prices and stock change often. Schedule runs for fresh numbers instead of reusing old ones.
- Only public product information is read; no login or account is used.

### Use from AI agents

Available as an MCP tool and as a Standby API: send the same fields as the input and get the products back in the response.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

Product keywords, in English. Each is searched on every marketplace below, best matches first.

## `sites` (type: `array`):

Which marketplaces the search terms run on. 1688 is read by product link or offer ID below.

## `productUrls` (type: `array`):

Alibaba product links (alibaba.com/product-detail/...\_<id>.html), 1688 product links (detail.1688.com/offer/<id>.html) or bare 1688 offer IDs. Each returns the full product: price tiers, MOQ, attributes, variants, supplier.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also read each Alibaba result's product page: price per quantity break, attributes, variants, supplier type, on-time delivery and response time. Slower; billed as product records.

## `currency` (type: `string`):

Prices from Alibaba and AliExpress in this currency. 1688 prices are always in CNY (yuan).

## `maxItemsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Most products per search term per marketplace (60 per results page).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Most products returned per run, all searches and links together.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Schedule the Actor and each run returns only products earlier runs did not deliver: a new-listings monitor for a niche or a supplier.

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

Optional name for the "only new" history, so several monitors can run side by side.

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

Apify proxy on by default. The cheapest proxy each marketplace accepts is chosen automatically.

## `tenantId` (type: `string`):

Optional label used to keep separate histories for different clients or teams.

## `debug` (type: `boolean`):

Verbose logs.

## `delivery` (type: `object`):

Webhook: {"webhookUrl": "https://...", "format": "json" | "slack" | "discord", "onlyWhenResults": true, "includeItems": 10}. Google Sheets: {"spreadsheetId": "<id from the sheet URL>", "sheetName": "Sheet1"} plus the service account key below; share the sheet with the service account's e-mail first. Leave empty to only save results in the dataset.

## `googleServiceAccountJson` (type: `string`):

Only for Google Sheets delivery: paste the service account's JSON key. Stored encrypted; the account sees only sheets you share with it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "led strip light"
  ],
  "sites": [
    "alibaba",
    "aliexpress"
  ],
  "includeDetails": false,
  "currency": "USD",
  "maxItemsPerSearch": 60,
  "maxItems": 200,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "debug": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

The produced items (default dataset items).

# 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 = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "led strip light"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tacps126/china-sourcing").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 = {
    "searchTerms": ["led strip light"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tacps126/china-sourcing").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 '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "led strip light"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call tacps126/china-sourcing --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,tacps126/china-sourcing"
        }
    }
}
```

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/oy5BNGPxSP5Wl7frD/builds/poMqy5qyhqXdxgUhZ/openapi.json