Taobao & Tmall Scraper & API: Products & Shops ($1/1k)

🛍️ Taobao & Tmall 淘宝 Product Scraper — Cross-Border Catalog, Seller Shops, DSR & Prices (淘宝 & 天猫 API)

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[!TIP] 💰 Cheapest Cookieless Taobao & Tmall Scraper on Apify Store: Only $1.50 per 1,000 items ($0.0015/item for Keyword Search & Seller Storefronts, or $0.0040/item for Direct Product URL lookups) — 3x to 10x cheaper than competitors who charge $5.00 to $15.00. If a domestic-only product, shop, or unindexed keyword returns 0 results, you are charged $0.00.

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⚠️ Honest Breakdown: What Works vs. What Does NOT Work (Read Before Running)

[!IMPORTANT] Why Domestic Taobao (s.taobao.com / item.taobao.com) Does Not Work Cookieless:
Domestic Mainland Taobao strictly blocks all unauthenticated traffic behind mandatory account login walls and interactive slider CAPTCHAs. Because this actor operates 100% cookieless (you do not need to supply your own Chinese Taobao account or login cookies), it cannot scrape the login-gated domestic Mainland Taobao portal directly.
Instead, this actor extracts data from Taobao Global (world.taobao.com) — Alibaba's official public cross-border catalog for international buyers (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc.). Please read the exact differences below so your expectations match how this actor works:

✅ What IS Working (Cookieless via world.taobao.com)

• Overseas-Indexed Keyword & Category Tags (queries): Searching Chinese product keywords (e.g. 手机壳, 蓝牙耳机, 女装, 连衣裙, 运动鞋, 盲盒) or English product & brand terms (e.g. phone case, wireless earbuds, xiaomi power bank, anime figure — automatically resolved to Chinese Taobao tags) on world.taobao.com/product/{tag}.htm.
  • Fast Summary Mode (scrapeDetails: false, default — $0.0015/item / $1.50/1k): Returns full untruncated product titles, CNY/HKD/TWD prices, promo badges (discountType), selling points (sellPoints), seller shopId & shopName, dsrDescription score, canonical world.taobao.com/item/{itemIdStr}.htm URL (url), and primary HD photo (mainImage).
  • Full Product Detail Mode (scrapeDetails: true — $0.004/item / $4.00/1k): Enriches every discovered product with its detail page, adding reviewCount, ratingGoodCount, reviewTags (sentiment tags with buyer counts), reviews (featured customer reviews & buyer videos), 3-axis Seller DSR scores (dsrDescription, dsrService, dsrDelivery), skus & attributes, shipping origin (location), categoryPath & breadcrumbs, sellerCreditLevel, shopOpenedAt, shopItemCount, and up to 15 HD gallery & description images (images).
• Overseas-Indexed Seller Storefronts (shopUrls): Extracting storefront product listings (world.taobao.com/dianpu/{shopId}.htm), 3-axis Seller DSR ratings (dsrDescription, dsrService, dsrDelivery), and total listed item counts (shopItemCount) for Taobao & Tmall sellers participating in Taobao Global cross-border shipping at $0.0015/item (or enriched with full product details when scrapeDetails: true).
• Direct Product Detail Pages (itemUrls): Extracting public detail pages (world.taobao.com/item/{itemIdStr}.htm, e.g. https://world.taobao.com/item/Y1QrcEVrd3JLNWVjWno4SDJBVHByZz09.htm) for cross-border eligible items — returning full untruncated titles, base & promo prices (CNY), 3-axis Seller DSR scores, total reviewCount, crowd-sourced buyer sentiment tags (reviewTags), featured customer reviews (reviews), SKU specs (skus, attributes), shipping origin (location), category breadcrumbs (categoryPath), and up to 15 HD images. Every returned item includes both its world.taobao.com/item/{itemIdStr}.htm URL (url) and its Mainland item.taobao.com / detail.tmall.com link (taobaoUrl).
• Zero-Charge Protection on Unavailable Targets: Any product, shop, or keyword that returns 0 results finishes cleanly and charges $0.00.

❌ What Does NOT Work (Where Domestic Taobao Expectations Differ)

1. Domestic-Only & Raw Numeric Product URLs (itemUrls) Do NOT Work:
   • world.taobao.com now requires the encrypted itemIdStr token in direct /item/{itemIdStr}.htm URLs (which is automatically returned in the url field of every search and shop result) and redirects raw numeric item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=... or detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=... URLs and domestic-only Mainland listings to a 404 (taglist-404), outputting status: "UNAVAILABLE" ($0.00 charged).
2. Domestic-Only Shops (shopUrls) & Unindexed Brand Subdomains Do NOT Work:
   • Domestic shopXXXX.taobao.com and *.tmall.com storefronts require a logged-in account on Mainland Taobao. This actor queries world.taobao.com/dianpu/{shopId}.htm.
   • If a shop is domestic-only (not indexed on world.taobao.com/dianpu/), the run returns 0 products ($0.00 charged).
   • Custom Tmall brand subdomains (https://<brand>.tmall.com) do not contain the numeric shopId in the URL. While the actor attempts to resolve the brand handle via keyword search on world.taobao.com, niche or unindexed custom subdomains will not resolve. Always prefer passing a numeric shopId, shop{id}.taobao.com, world.taobao.com/dianpu/{id}.htm, or a cross-border product URL from that seller.
3. Free-Text Long-Tail Search (s.taobao.com) & Sequential Page Pagination Do NOT Work:
   • Logged-in domestic s.taobao.com is a full free-text search engine. By contrast, world.taobao.com/product/{keyword}.htm is a curated category/tag index. Broad category and product keywords (手机壳, 卫衣, 充电宝) work reliably, whereas pasting full 60-character product titles, specific model numbers, or obscure long-tail phrases will often return 0 results or fall back to a broader tag.
   • Furthermore, world.taobao.com only serves 1 page (~60 items) per tag view. To extract more than 60 items for a query or shop, the scraper automatically scans across multiple sort orders (sales, default, credit, price_asc, price_desc), CNY price bands, and property filters (pvids) with strict deduplication — rather than paginating sequentially through page 2, 3, 4 of a single domestic search query.
4. Login-Gated Domestic Detail Fields Are NOT Exposed:
   • No Full Interactive SKU / Price / Stock Matrix: Public world.taobao.com pages serve MOST_SIMPLIFIED payloads (itemSkuDO: null, props: null) and do not expose the login-gated multi-color/size SKU selector table or inventory stock quantities.
   • No Exact Monthly Unit Sales (salesCount): Domestic 已售 X+ monthly sales volume requires a logged-in domestic account (salesCount is empty on public pages; use reviewCount and sortBy: "sales" instead).
   • Featured Review Snippets Only on itemUrls (Not Full Review Pagination): Direct itemUrls lookups extract the 1–2 featured customer reviews and sentiment tag counts (reviewTags) embedded in the public detail page — they cannot paginate through hundreds of historical reviews.
   • Shortened Titles on Direct itemUrls: On direct product detail pages (world.taobao.com/item/{id}.htm), Taobao truncates the raw item title header (typically ~10–25 characters ending in ...). Full 60-character product titles are returned when scraping via queries or shopUrls.

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🚀 How to Use in 3 Simple Steps (No Coding Required!)

You don't need any programming skills, proxies, or Chinese accounts to use this scraper. Follow these 3 easy steps:

┌─────────────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────────┐      ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│  Step 1: Enter Keywords or URLs │ ───► │  Step 2: Click Start          │ ───► │  Step 3: Download Spreadsheet   │
│  'phone case', '女装' or URLs    │      │  Scraper runs in the cloud    │      │  Export to Excel, CSV or Sheets │
└─────────────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────────┘      └─────────────────────────────────┘

1. Step 1: Enter your search keywords or product URLs
   In Search Queries, type what you are looking for in English or Chinese (e.g. phone case, smart watch, wireless earbuds, or 女装), or paste direct product links into Product URLs / IDs (itemUrls).
2. Step 2: Click "Save & Start"
   Hit the green button at the bottom of the screen. The actor runs securely in the cloud and extracts full product details, reviews, and ratings in real time.
3. Step 3: Download your results
   When the run finishes, click Export to download your complete product catalog as an Excel (XLSX), CSV, or Google Sheet file, complete with permanent, working HD product photo links.

[!TIP] No Chinese Phone Number or Login Required!
No Taobao/Tmall account credentials or manual cookies required — extracts publicly available catalog and store data automatically.

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📊 What Data You Get (Spreadsheet Columns Preview)

Every product extracted includes rich e-commerce, supplier, and product intelligence. Here are the key columns in your exported spreadsheet:

Column Name	Sample Value	What It Tells You
itemId	1085260672042	Unique numeric product ID on Taobao / Tmall.
platform	tmall / taobao	Marketplace indicator (tmall for official brand stores, taobao for retail merchants).
title	[殼膜套裝]示例Q3soft支點殼iPhone Duo適用蘋果...	Full 60-character product listing title when discovered via queries or shopUrls (note: direct itemUrls lookups return a shortened ~10–25 char title from world.taobao.com).
price / originalPrice	876.0 / 876.0	Current promotion price and original list price in Chinese Yuan (¥ CNY).
priceHkd / priceTwd	1040.07 / 4320.17	Cross-border retail pricing in Hong Kong Dollars (HKD) and Taiwan Dollars (TWD).
dsrDescription / dsrService / dsrDelivery	4.84 / 4.8 / 4.9	Seller DSR Scores: Official Taobao/Tmall rating (dsrDescription on search cards; all 3 axes on shopUrls and itemUrls).
reviewCount & reviewTags	58 / [{"tag": "質感很強", "count": 6}]	Verified buyer review volume and crowd-sourced product sentiment tags with buyer vote counts.
reviews & categoryPath	[{"rating": 5, "content": "..."}]	Featured customer review excerpt, shipping origin (location), and category breadcrumb hierarchy (included on direct itemUrls lookups).
shopName & shopId	示例數碼旗艦店 (103710607)	Verified storefront name, numeric shopId, and total item count (shopItemCount on shopUrls / itemUrls).
mainImage & images	https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/O1CN01example_item_01.jpg	Permanent HD Photo Gallery: Up to 5 master resolution links that never expire and work in Shopify/Excel.
url & taobaoUrl	https://world.taobao.com/item/1085260672042.htm / https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=1085260672042	Direct links to the product page on Taobao Global (url) and Mainland Taobao/Tmall (taobaoUrl).

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📤 Sample Output Preview

Real unedited JSON output from live runs, ready for 1-click export to Excel, CSV, Google Sheets, Airtable, or Shopify:

1. Keyword Search & Seller Storefront Mode (queries / shopUrls — $1.50 / 1,000 items)

{
  "itemId": "1085260672042",
  "title": "[殼膜套裝]示例Q3soft支點殼iPhone Duo適用蘋果iPhoneduo手機保護殼摺疊屏多case磁吸全包dou保護套外殼保護ip",
  "platform": "tmall",
  "catalogSource": "taobao_retail",
  "url": "https://world.taobao.com/item/1085260672042.htm",
  "taobaoUrl": "https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=1085260672042",
  "price": 876.0,
  "originalPrice": 876.0,
  "promotionPrice": 876.0,
  "currency": "CNY",
  "priceHkd": 1040.07,
  "priceTwd": 4320.17,
  "discountType": "新品促銷",
  "reviewCount": 20,
  "reviewTags": [
    { "tag": "質感很強", "count": 6 },
    { "tag": "手感很好", "count": 5 },
    { "tag": "支架很實用", "count": 5 },
    { "tag": "圖案設計精緻", "count": 4 }
  ],
  "shopId": "103710607",
  "shopName": "示例數碼旗艦店",
  "sellerNick": "示例數碼旗艦店",
  "shopUrl": "https://world.taobao.com/dianpu/103710607.htm",
  "taobaoShopUrl": "https://shop103710607.taobao.com",
  "dsrDescription": 4.84,
  "categoryId": "150704",
  "rootCategoryId": "50008090",
  "mainImage": "https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/O1CN01example_item_01.jpg",
  "images": [
    "https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/O1CN01example_item_01.jpg"
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-25T12:53:39+00:00",
  "searchQuery": "phone case",
  "detailLevel": "summary"
}

2. Direct Product URL Lookup (itemUrls — $4.00 / 1,000 items)

{
  "itemId": "1085260672042",
  "title": "[殼膜套裝]示例Q3...",
  "platform": "tmall",
  "catalogSource": "taobao_retail",
  "url": "https://world.taobao.com/item/1085260672042.htm",
  "taobaoUrl": "https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=1085260672042",
  "price": 876.0,
  "originalPrice": 876.0,
  "promotionPrice": 876.0,
  "currency": "CNY",
  "reviewCount": 58,
  "ratingGoodCount": "58",
  "shopId": "103710607",
  "sellerUserId": "1659916565",
  "shopName": "示例數碼旗艦店",
  "sellerNick": "示例數碼旗艦店",
  "sellerType": "B",
  "sellerTypeLabel": "Tmall Flagship Store",
  "sellerCreditLevel": 19,
  "shopOpenedAt": "2013-04-24 14:44:53",
  "shopItemCount": 349,
  "shopNewItemCount": 26,
  "shopUrl": "https://world.taobao.com/dianpu/103710607.htm",
  "taobaoShopUrl": "https://shop103710607.taobao.com",
  "shopIcon": "https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/O1CN01example_item_01.jpg",
  "dsrDescription": 4.8,
  "dsrService": 4.8,
  "dsrDelivery": 4.9,
  "reviewTags": [
    { "tag": "質感很強", "count": 6 },
    { "tag": "手感很好", "count": 5 }
  ],
  "reviews": [
    {
      "rating": 5,
      "content": "白色素皮紋很漂亮，上手反饋感很強，摸起來能感覺到很強的質感。支架轉起來很絲滑，同時邊緣處理的很潤不硌手。",
      "date": "2026.10.14 18:16",
      "sku": "適用手機型號:iPhone Duo;顏色分類:利落白",
      "user": "***",
      "videos": []
    }
  ],
  "categoryId": "150704",
  "rootCategoryId": "50008090",
  "categoryPath": "首頁 > 阿裏B2C商城 > 手機及配件 > 手機配件 > 保護套/矽膠套",
  "location": "廣東東莞",
  "freeShipping": false,
  "mainImage": "https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/O1CN01example_item_01.jpg",
  "images": [
    "https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i1/O1CN01example_item_01.jpg"
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-25T12:53:32+00:00",
  "detailLevel": "full"
}

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🎯 Who Is This For? Top Use Cases

📦 1. Cross-Border Product Research & Dropshipping (Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop)

• Discover consumer products and emerging trends across apparel, electronics, beauty, accessories, and home goods that are already eligible for international/cross-border shipping on Taobao Global.
• Analyze buyer sentiment tags (reviewTags) and seller DSR ratings to spot quality issues before stocking a product.
• Photos are permanent, hotlink-unblocked master HD images so you can import directly into Shopify or WooCommerce without 403 Forbidden errors.

🏪 2. Overseas-Indexed Seller Storefront & Brand Monitoring (shopUrls)

• Paste any Taobao Global shop link (world.taobao.com/dianpu/63978904.htm), numeric shopId (shop63978904.taobao.com), or cross-border product URL into shopUrls to extract that seller's overseas-indexed catalog, total item count (shopItemCount), and 3-axis DSR scores (dsrDescription, dsrService, dsrDelivery). (Note: Domestic-only shops not indexed on world.taobao.com/dianpu/ return 0 items at $0.00 charged.)
• Need factory-direct B2B wholesale tiers and MOQs on 1688.com? Use our dedicated 1688 Wholesale Factory Scraper.

📈 3. Competitor Monitoring & Price Intelligence (itemUrls)

• Paste cross-border indexed product links into itemUrls to track live pricing (CNY), 3-axis DSR scores, featured reviews, and review volume over time. (Domestic-only restricted items return UNAVAILABLE at $0.00 charged.)

🤖 4. AI Agents, LLM Fine-Tuning & Market Research

• Feed clean, flat e-commerce product listings and buyer sentiment data into AI agents, market analysis bots, and recommendation engines via the Apify API or MCP server.

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🥊 Market Comparison: Why UnitBytes Outperforms Alternatives

Capability / Metric	🛍️ UnitBytes Scraper	⚠️ Other Market Scrapers
Search & Shop Catalog Price (per 1,000 items)	🟢 $1.05 – $1.50	🔴 $3.00 – $15.98
Direct Product URL Price (per 1,000 items)	🟢 $3.00 – $4.00	🔴 $5.00 – $15.98
Free Monthly Allowance ($5 Credit)	🟢 Up to 3,330+ Products	🔴 ~500 items or limited runs
Buyer Sentiment Tags & Featured Reviews	✅ Included	❌ Missing
3-Axis Seller DSR Scores (Desc / Serv / Ship)	✅ Yes (Included)	❌ Missing
Direct Product URL Scraping (itemUrls)	✅ world.taobao.com Indexed Items	⚠️ Often search-only
Seller Storefront Catalogs (shopUrls)	✅ world.taobao.com/dianpu Indexed Shops	🔴 Search-only
Zero Account / 100% Cookieless	✅ Yes (No cookies needed)	⚠️ Often requires manual cookies or accounts
Permanent Image Links (Shopify Ready)	✅ Yes (Hotlink Unblocked)	⚠️ Expiring CDN links (403 Forbidden)
Zero Duplicate Items Across Views	✅ 100% Deduplicated	⚠️ Repeats items across pages
Empty Run / Unavailable Item Fee	✅ $0.00	⚠️ Charged full compute or run fee

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💡 Cost-Effective Pay-Per-Event (PPE) Pricing

You only pay for the products you actually extract (1 event per item—never double-billed). There are no hidden browser compute fees or hourly server surcharges:

Apify Plan Tier	Monthly Apify Fee	Search & Shop Catalog (search-item) per 1,000	Direct Product URL (full-detail) per 1,000	What Apify's $5.00 Free Credit Gets You
Free Plan	$0 / mo	$1.50 ($0.0015 / item)	$4.00 ($0.0040 / item)	3,330 Search/Shop or 1,250 Direct URL products free/mo
Starter (Bronze)	$49 / mo	$1.35 ($0.00135 / item)	$3.67 ($0.00367 / item)	Dropshipping catalog exports & daily price monitoring
Scale (Silver)	$499 / mo	$1.20 ($0.00120 / item)	$3.33 ($0.00333 / item)	Large-scale retail intelligence & review sentiment tracking
Business (Gold+)	$999+ / mo	$1.05 ($0.00105 / item)	$3.00 ($0.00300 / item)	Enterprise data pipelines & LLM training datasets

• Zero-Charge Billing Protection: The startup fee is nominal ($0.00005). If your search keyword returns 0 products or is blocked by target rate limits, you are charged $0.00.

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⚡ UnitBytes · Chinese E-Commerce & Global Sourcing Ecosystem

⚡ UnitBytes · B2B Sourcing, E-Commerce Demand & Global Lead Intelligence Ecosystem
🛍️ Taobao & Tmall Products 📍 You are here Retail catalog, reviews, sentiment tags & 3-axis DSR	🏪 Taobao & Tmall Seller Shops Storefront Catalogs (淘宝店铺) Full shop inventories, new arrivals & seller DSR audits	🌍 1688 Global & Arbitrage ✨ English Search & Margins English search, CE/FCC/RoHS filters, Amazon/TikTok margins & 15 currencies
🇨🇳 1688 Factory Direct Wholesale B2B & MOQ Direct factory prices, SKU matrices & Amazon FBA specs	📸 1688 Reverse Image Search Photo-to-Factory (以图搜款) Upload any product photo or URL to find the exact 1688 factory	🌐 Alibaba Wholesale Global B2B & MOQ Verified suppliers, inspection audits & tiered pricing
🐟 Goofish Search & Deals C2C Resale & Arbitrage Zero-login 闲鱼 search, price drops & liquidation	⭐ Goofish Sellers & Reviews Zhima Credit & Store Audits Active/sold seller catalogs & buyer unboxing photos	📈 Google Shopping Trends 🔥 Breakout Product Demand Rising e-commerce products, seasonal buying curves & regions
📊 Google Trends All-in-One 5-Surface Search Intelligence Web, YouTube, Shopping & News search breakouts from $0.30/1K	📍 Google Maps Email & Leads B2B Contacts & Tech Stack Verified business emails, phone numbers, social links & pixels	💬 Google Maps Reviews (10K) Customer Sentiment & ORM Up to 10,000 reviews per place by newest, rating or keyword
🖼️ Google Maps Photos & Menus 4K Place, Menu & Video Feeds Original =s0 photos, restaurant menus, MP4 videos & Local Guides	🇰🇷 Naver Place & Naver Map Korean B2B Leads & Menus South Korean local businesses, KRW menus, hours & reviews	⭐ Naver Place Reviews (네이버) Korean Receipt & Blog Reviews Receipt-verified visitor reviews, photo filters & Naver Blog links

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📥 Input Parameters Guide

Parameter	Type	Default	How to Use It
queries	Array of Strings	["phone case"]	Search keywords / product tags (world.taobao.com/product/{tag}.htm). Best with concise Chinese category/product terms (手机壳, 蓝牙耳机, 女装) or common English product nouns (phone case, smart watch, wireless earbuds). Runs in fast summary mode ($0.0015/item) with full 60-character titles.
itemUrls	Array of Strings	[]	Direct product URLs or numeric IDs (world.taobao.com/item/{id}.htm). Accepts item.taobao.com, detail.tmall.com, or world.taobao.com URLs. Extracts public detail fields (full-detail, $0.0040/item) for overseas-indexed items; domestic-only products return status: "UNAVAILABLE" at $0.00 charged.
shopUrls	Array of Strings	[]	Seller / Shop URLs or IDs (world.taobao.com/dianpu/{shopId}.htm). Extracts storefront listings for overseas-indexed shops (best with world.taobao.com/dianpu/63978904.htm, shop63978904.taobao.com, numeric shopId, or a cross-border product URL). Domestic-only shops return 0 items at $0.00 charged.
startUrls	Array of Objects	[]	Search, shop storefront, or product URLs copied from your browser. Routed automatically to the matching world.taobao.com endpoint.
maxItems	Integer	30	Total number of products you want to extract (e.g. 30, 100, 500).
startPage	Integer	1	Skips initial result batches (~60 items per offset) across the multi-view scan plan.
sortBy	String	default	Primary sort order: default (Relevance / Best Sellers), sales (Best Sellers), price_asc (Lowest Price), price_desc (Highest Price).
priceMin	Integer	None	Minimum price filter in Chinese Yuan (¥ CNY).
priceMax	Integer	None	Maximum price filter in Chinese Yuan (¥ CNY).

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💻 Developer API & Integrations

For developers building automated data feeds, integrations, or AI pipelines:

🐍 Python Integration

from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize client with your Apify API Token
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

# Run the actor (Search + Direct Product URLs)
run = client.actor("unitbytes/taobao-tmall-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "queries": ["手机壳", "wireless earbuds"],
        "itemUrls": ["https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=1085260672042"],
        "maxItems": 50,
        "sortBy": "sales",
    }
)

# Fetch results from dataset
dataset_items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(f"Scraped {len(dataset_items)} products.")
for item in dataset_items[:3]:
    print(
        f"- {item['title']} (¥{item['price']}) | Reviews: {item.get('reviewCount')} "
        f"| DSR: {item.get('dsrDescription')}/{item.get('dsrService')}/{item.get('dsrDelivery')} | Shop: {item.get('shopName')}"
    )

🟨 Node.js Integration

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('unitbytes/taobao-tmall-scraper').call({
    queries: ['手机壳', 'phone case'],
    maxItems: 50,
    sortBy: 'sales',
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Scraped ${items.length} products.`);

🔌 MCP Server Setup: Claude Code, Cursor & AI Agents

Connect this scraper directly to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI agent via the hosted Apify MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,unitbytes/taobao-tmall-scraper"
    }
  }
}

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did my item.taobao.com, detail.tmall.com, or shopXXXX.taobao.com link return UNAVAILABLE or 0 results?

Domestic Mainland Taobao (item.taobao.com, detail.tmall.com, s.taobao.com) requires a logged-in Chinese Taobao account and slider CAPTCHA verification. Because this actor is 100% cookieless, it fetches products and shops via Taobao Global (world.taobao.com). If a product or shop is domestic-only (not opted into Taobao's overseas cross-border catalog), world.taobao.com redirects it to a 404 (taglist-404) and the actor exits cleanly with $0.00 charged—even if that URL opens when you are logged into domestic Taobao in your browser.

Why do search results or item counts differ from what I see when logged into domestic s.taobao.com?

1. Cross-Border Subset vs. Domestic Catalog: world.taobao.com only indexes listings eligible for cross-border shipping, which is a subset of the domestic Mainland catalog.
2. Tag Index vs. Free-Text Search: world.taobao.com/product/{keyword}.htm matches curated category/product tags (e.g. 手机壳, 连衣裙, 蓝牙耳机). Searching a broad product noun works well, whereas pasting a long 60-character product title or obscure model string will often return 0 results.
3. Multi-View Scanning vs. Sequential Pages: Each tag page on world.taobao.com serves 1 page (~60 items). When maxItems > 60, the actor automatically widens coverage by scanning across sort orders (sales, default, credit, price_asc, price_desc), CNY price bands, and property filters (pvids) rather than paginating sequentially through page 2, 3, 4 of a single domestic search query.

Why are salesCount, full SKU inventory tables, or full review histories missing?

On public world.taobao.com pages without a logged-in domestic account:

• Monthly unit sales (salesCount) are not exposed publicly; use reviewCount (e.g. 58, 20000) and sortBy: "sales" as public popularity indicators.
• SKU variants & stock counts: Public world.taobao.com/item/{id}.htm pages return MOST_SIMPLIFIED payloads (itemSkuDO: null, props: null) and do not expose the login-gated interactive multi-color/size SKU selector or stock counts.
• Customer reviews (reviews) on direct itemUrls lookups include the 1–2 featured reviews and crowd-sourced sentiment tag counts (reviewTags) embedded in the public page, not full multi-page historical review pagination.

Do I need a Taobao account, Alipay, or a Chinese phone number?

No. The actor operates 100% cookieless against world.taobao.com. You never have to register an account, provide cookies, or verify SMS codes.

Can I search using English keywords, or should I use Chinese keywords?

Short Chinese keywords work best (e.g. 手机壳, 蓝牙耳机, 女装, 连衣裙, 运动鞋) because world.taobao.com is indexed in Chinese. Common English product nouns (e.g. phone case, wireless earbuds, iphone 16 case, smart watch, hoodie, sneakers) are automatically mapped to their corresponding Chinese Taobao tags while preserving your original searchQuery column.

What is the difference between queries / shopUrls and itemUrls?

• queries & shopUrls ($0.0015/item): Fetches the world.taobao.com search/shop catalog pages (~2 seconds per run). Every item includes the full 60-character untruncated title, CNY & local currency prices (HKD, TWD), promotion label (discountType), shopId / shopName / shopUrl / taobaoShopUrl, Seller DSR scores, reviewCount, reviewTags, and up to 5 permanent HD gallery photos (images).
• itemUrls ($0.0040/item): Fetches the direct detail pages (world.taobao.com/item/{id}.htm + /lang/en-us/item/{id}.htm) for specific product links, returning the full untruncated product title, up to 15 HD product & description gallery photos (images), 3-axis Seller DSR Scores (dsrDescription, dsrService, dsrDelivery), 1–2 Featured Customer Reviews (reviews), Shipping Origin (location), and Category Breadcrumbs (categoryPath).

What happens if my search, shop, or product URL returns zero results?

If a query, shop, or direct item URL is unavailable on world.taobao.com, the actor finishes cleanly with exit code 0 and you are charged $0.00.

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Alibaba Seller Inventory & Store Catalog Scraper	Full store catalog pagination, Ready-to-Ship (rts) inventory filter, 30d buyer views & 180d sales	From $0.0015 / item
Goofish / Xianyu Fast Search & Deals Scraper	Alibaba's C2C resale market (闲鱼): liquidation deals, seller price-drop sniping & secondhand arbitrage	From $0.0015 / item
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⚖️ Compliance & Privacy

This actor extracts strictly publicly available e-commerce catalog data from Taobao and Tmall product pages. It does not log in, bypass private authentication walls, or collect private user messages. Personal data is protected by regulations such as GDPR and CCPA—see Apify's guide on the legality of web scraping and ensure you have a legitimate basis when processing public marketplace data.

Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Alibaba Group, Taobao, Tmall, or any of their subsidiaries.

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🔍 Search Keywords & Tags

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