# altex-price-scraper (`teodor_banea/altex-price-scraper`) Actor This Actor extracts live product data from [altex.ro](https://altex.ro), one Romania's largest electronics retailer — pricing, discounts, 30-day lowest price, stock status, ratings, specs, and images — and returns it as clean, structured JSON (or CSV / Excel / XML). - **URL**: https://apify.com/teodor\_banea/altex-price-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Banea Teodor](https://apify.com/teodor_banea) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $4.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Altex.ro Price & Stock Scraper ### What does this Actor do? This Actor extracts live product data from [altex.ro](https://altex.ro), Romania's largest electronics retailer — pricing, discounts, 30-day lowest price, stock status, ratings, specs, and images — and returns it as clean, structured JSON (or CSV / Excel / XML). It talks directly to Altex's **public JSON API** — no browser, no proxy required, no anti-bot fragility. That makes it fast, cheap, and reliable. No coding required. Paste a list of product URLs, or point it at a category or search page, and click **Start**. --- ### What can I use it for? - **Price monitoring** — track competitor prices, catch promo windows, feed price-comparison sites. - **EU price compliance** — every item includes the 30-day lowest price (Omnibus Directive). - **BI dashboards** — join Altex pricing with your Looker / Power BI / Tableau reports. - **Brand intelligence** — monitor how your SKUs are priced and stocked across the Romanian market. - **AI agents & MCP tools** — a stable, typed JSON schema means LLM-driven "deal finder" and "price check" agents just work. --- ### Two scraping modes #### 🎯 Product URLs mode — full detail Paste specific altex.ro product URLs. Each returns the **full** record: current/original/30-day-low price, complete spec sheet, gallery, breadcrumbs, brand, EAN, stock. **Example input:** ```` https://altex.ro/laptop-asus-vivobook-15-r1504va-bq552-intel-core-7-150u-pana-la-5-4ghz-15-6-full-hd-16gb-ssd-1tb-intel-graphics-free-dos-cool-silver/cpd/R1504VABQ552/ ``` > Product URLs change as Altex rotates its catalog — if an example 404s, grab a fresh URL from the site. Category/search URLs are the stable choice for ongoing monitoring. #### 🗂 Category / search mode — discovery Paste one or more **category** URLs (`/cpl/`) or **search** URLs (`/cauta/?q=…`). The Actor walks each listing (48 products/page), paginates up to **Maximum listing pages per URL**, and returns each product's identity — `url`, `productId`, `title`, `brand`, image — up to **Maximum total products**. **Example input:** ``` https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/ https://altex.ro/cauta/?q=rtx+4070 ```` Use this mode to **discover which products exist** (and collect their URLs). It does not include the full spec sheet or gallery, and prices/stock are only reliable in Product URLs mode. #### ✅ Recommended workflow: discover, then detail 1. Run **Category / search mode** to discover products and collect their `url` values. 2. Feed those URLs into **Product URLs mode** to get accurate **prices, stock, 30-day-low, specs, and gallery** straight from the product-detail endpoint. This two-step flow keeps discovery cheap and fast, and guarantees complete pricing data for exactly the products you care about. --- ### How much will a run cost? This Actor is **Pay-per-result** at **$0.004 per product**. | Scenario | Products | Cost | |---------------------------------------------|----------|-----------| | Quick test with 20 products | 20 | $0.08 | | Daily price check of 500 SKUs | 500 | $2.00 | | Weekly category sweep (5 pages × 48 items) | 240 | $0.96 | | Full catalog refresh (5 000 products) | 5 000 | $20.00 | > **Start cheap**: first-run prefills are set to **20 products** and **2 listing pages** so you can validate the setup for under $0.10 before scaling up. --- ### Input | Field | Required | Default | Description | |------------------------------|----------|---------|-------------| | `mode` | ✅ | `productUrls` | `productUrls` or `categoryOrSearch` | | `productUrls` | ✅ in productUrls mode | – | altex.ro product URLs (must contain `/cpd/{id}/`) | | `categoryOrSearchUrls` | ✅ in categoryOrSearch mode | – | `/cpl/` category or `/cauta/?q=…` search URLs | | `maxPagesPerList` | | `5` | Pagination cap per listing URL (48 products/page) | | `maxItemsTotal` | | `100` | Hard cap across all URLs (0 = safety-capped at 10 000) | | `maxConcurrency` | | `5` | Parallel API requests (1–50) | | `maxRequestsPerMinute` | | `120` | Request-rate throttle | > **Proxy is built in.** Altex blocks datacenter and non-Romanian IPs, so every run is routed through Apify **residential proxies in Romania** automatically. There is nothing to configure — and it does add residential-proxy usage to your Apify bill on top of the per-result price. --- ### Output One item per product. Three nested objects (`price`, `availability`, `rating`) auto-flatten in the CSV/Excel **Overview** view. ```json { "source": "altex", "url": "https://altex.ro/laptop-asus-vivobook-15-r1504va-bq552-.../cpd/R1504VABQ552/", "productId": "R1504VABQ552", "title": "Laptop ASUS VivoBook 15 R1504VA-BQ552, Intel Core 7-150U, 16GB, SSD 1TB, Free DOS", "brand": "ASUS", "categoryBreadcrumbs": ["Laptop, Desktop, IT, Birotica", "Laptopuri", "Home and Office"], "ean": "4711636379533", "price": { "currency": "RON", "current": 2599.9, "original": 2849.9, "lowest": 2549.9, "discountPercent": 8.8, "isOnPromo": true }, "availability": { "status": "IN_STOCK", "rawText": "in stoc" }, "rating": { "average": null, "count": 0 }, "images": ["https://lcdn.altex.ro/media/catalog/product/v/i/vivobook_15_..._ab9ab842.jpg"], "specs": { "Capacitate RAM": "16 GB", "Tip procesor": "Intel Core 7", "Rezolutie": "1920 x 1080" }, "detailLevel": "full", "extractedAt": "2026-06-13T14:30:00.000Z" } ```` #### Field guarantees - `productId` is the Altex SKU — stable across runs, perfect for diffing and deduplication. - `price.current`, `price.original`, `price.lowest` are all `number | null` in **RON** (never formatted strings). `lowest` is the EU 30-day lowest price when Altex advertises it. - `availability.status` is always `"IN_STOCK"`, `"OUT_OF_STOCK"`, or `"UNKNOWN"`. - `detailLevel` is `"full"` (Product URLs mode — includes `specs`, gallery, breadcrumbs) or `"listing"` (category/search mode). - Fields that aren't available for an item are **omitted**, not left empty. In particular, listing-mode items have no `categoryBreadcrumbs` or `specs` keys (those come only from Product URLs mode). `price`, `availability`, `productId`, `url`, and `extractedAt` are always present. #### Errors dataset Requests that fail permanently are pushed to a separate **`errors`** dataset (open it from the Storage tab) with `{ url, label, reason, timestamp }`. *** ### Tips & tricks - **Proxy is automatic.** Runs go through Apify residential proxies in Romania (Altex blocks datacenter/non-RO IPs). You don't configure anything; just budget for residential-proxy usage. - **Use Product URLs mode for monitoring** a curated SKU list on a schedule; category/search mode is for discovery. - **Catch promo windows:** schedule every few hours and filter `price.isOnPromo === true` (or compare `price.current` to `price.lowest`) downstream. - **Raise `maxConcurrency`** — the API is light, so 5–20 is comfortable. *** ### Integrations - **Google Sheets / Excel** — export the Overview view from the Storage tab. - **Zapier / Make / n8n** — poll the dataset via the Apify REST API. - **MCP / LLM agents** — the schema is designed for `get_product(url)` style tools; `price` and `availability` nest cleanly into typed function outputs. *** ### Limitations & honest caveats - **Listing mode is listing-depth.** Category/search items don't include the full spec sheet or gallery — fetch those SKUs in Product URLs mode if you need them. - **Specs are as-is.** `specs` keys are whatever Altex labels them; they're not normalized across categories. - **Not the marketplace seller API.** If you're a seller wanting your own stock data, use [marketplace.altex.ro](https://marketplace.altex.ro/api_doc) directly. *** *Built with Apify SDK v3 + Crawlee (HttpCrawler) — API-first, no browser.* # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): Choose input type: paste specific product URLs for full per-SKU detail (specs, gallery, prices), or crawl category/search listings to discover products. ## `productUrls` (type: `array`): Enter altex.ro product page URLs. Each URL must follow the /cpd/{productId}/ pattern. Only used in Product URLs mode. ## `categoryOrSearchUrls` (type: `array`): Enter altex.ro category listing URLs (e.g. https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/) or search URLs (e.g. https://altex.ro/cauta/?q=rtx+4070). Only used in Category / search mode. ## `maxPagesPerList` (type: `integer`): Stop paginating a category or search after this many pages (48 products per page). Ignored in Product URLs mode. ## `maxItemsTotal` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on products scraped across all inputs. Set 0 for unlimited (safety-capped at 10 000 to prevent bill shock). ## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`): Parallel API requests. The API is fast and lightweight; 5 is a safe default. ## `maxRequestsPerMinute` (type: `integer`): Throttle the request rate to stay polite to the Altex API. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "productUrls", "productUrls": [ { "url": "https://altex.ro/laptop-asus-vivobook-15-r1504va-bq552-intel-core-7-150u-pana-la-5-4ghz-15-6-full-hd-16gb-ssd-1tb-intel-graphics-free-dos-cool-silver/cpd/R1504VABQ552/" } ], "categoryOrSearchUrls": [ { "url": "https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/" } ], "maxPagesPerList": 2, "maxItemsTotal": 20, "maxConcurrency": 5, "maxRequestsPerMinute": 120 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `products` (type: `string`): Scraped products with pricing, stock, and (in Product URLs mode) full specs. ## `errors` (type: `string`): Requests that failed permanently, each with a reason and timestamp. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "productUrls": [ { "url": "https://altex.ro/laptop-asus-vivobook-15-r1504va-bq552-intel-core-7-150u-pana-la-5-4ghz-15-6-full-hd-16gb-ssd-1tb-intel-graphics-free-dos-cool-silver/cpd/R1504VABQ552/" } ], "categoryOrSearchUrls": [ { "url": "https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/" } ], "maxPagesPerList": 2, "maxItemsTotal": 20, "maxConcurrency": 5, "maxRequestsPerMinute": 120 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("teodor_banea/altex-price-scraper").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "productUrls": [{ "url": "https://altex.ro/laptop-asus-vivobook-15-r1504va-bq552-intel-core-7-150u-pana-la-5-4ghz-15-6-full-hd-16gb-ssd-1tb-intel-graphics-free-dos-cool-silver/cpd/R1504VABQ552/" }], "categoryOrSearchUrls": [{ "url": "https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/" }], "maxPagesPerList": 2, "maxItemsTotal": 20, "maxConcurrency": 5, "maxRequestsPerMinute": 120, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("teodor_banea/altex-price-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "productUrls": [ { "url": "https://altex.ro/laptop-asus-vivobook-15-r1504va-bq552-intel-core-7-150u-pana-la-5-4ghz-15-6-full-hd-16gb-ssd-1tb-intel-graphics-free-dos-cool-silver/cpd/R1504VABQ552/" } ], "categoryOrSearchUrls": [ { "url": "https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/" } ], "maxPagesPerList": 2, "maxItemsTotal": 20, "maxConcurrency": 5, "maxRequestsPerMinute": 120 }' | apify call teodor_banea/altex-price-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=teodor_banea/altex-price-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "altex-price-scraper", "description": "This Actor extracts live product data from [altex.ro](https://altex.ro), one Romania's largest electronics retailer — pricing, discounts, 30-day lowest price, stock status, ratings, specs, and images — and returns it as clean, structured JSON (or CSV / Excel / XML).", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "j0YepBcUCQeMRAodP" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/teodor_banea~altex-price-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-teodor_banea-altex-price-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/teodor_banea~altex-price-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-teodor_banea-altex-price-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/teodor_banea~altex-price-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-teodor_banea-altex-price-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "productUrls", "categoryOrSearch" ], "type": "string", "description": "Choose input type: paste specific product URLs for full per-SKU detail (specs, gallery, prices), or crawl category/search listings to discover products.", "default": "productUrls" }, "productUrls": { "title": "Product URLs", "type": "array", "description": "Enter altex.ro product page URLs. Each URL must follow the /cpd/{productId}/ pattern. Only used in Product URLs mode.", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "url" ], "properties": { "url": { "type": "string", "title": "URL of a web page", "format": "uri" } } } }, "categoryOrSearchUrls": { "title": "Category or search URLs", "type": "array", "description": "Enter altex.ro category listing URLs (e.g. https://altex.ro/laptopuri/cpl/) or search URLs (e.g. https://altex.ro/cauta/?q=rtx+4070). Only used in Category / search mode.", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "url" ], "properties": { "url": { "type": "string", "title": "URL of a web page", "format": "uri" } } } }, "maxPagesPerList": { "title": "Maximum listing pages per URL", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Stop paginating a category or search after this many pages (48 products per page). Ignored in Product URLs mode.", "default": 5 }, "maxItemsTotal": { "title": "Maximum total products", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 100000, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on products scraped across all inputs. Set 0 for unlimited (safety-capped at 10 000 to prevent bill shock).", "default": 100 }, "maxConcurrency": { "title": "Maximum concurrency", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 50, "type": "integer", "description": "Parallel API requests. The API is fast and lightweight; 5 is a safe default.", "default": 5 }, "maxRequestsPerMinute": { "title": "Maximum requests per minute", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1200, "type": "integer", "description": "Throttle the request rate to stay polite to the Altex API.", "default": 120 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```