eBay Arbitrage & Deal Radar — Real-Time Sold Comps, Price Drops & Webhook Alerts

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Executive Summary: Stop Dumping Raw Listings, Start Finding Real Arbitrage

Most eBay scrapers on the market do one thing: they dump thousands of raw, unprocessed active search listings into a CSV file. They leave you with the hardest parts of the job:

• You still have to manually check completed and sold listings to figure out what items actually sell for.
• You still have to open a calculator and deduct eBay final value fees, category charges, and shipping rates.
• You still have to keep running searches manually to notice when a seller drops their price.
• You still have to build custom infrastructure to alert your team when a true mispriced deal appears.

eBay Arbitrage & Deal Radar is an intelligent, real-time market scanner and valuation engine built specifically for:

• Professional resellers and retail arbitrage operators
• Trading card (TCG, Pokemon, Sports) and collectible flippers
• E-commerce brands monitoring grey-market inventory and pricing
• Automated sniper bots and high-frequency purchasing pipelines
• Autonomous AI agents operating via Model Context Protocol (MCP) and x402 Base USDC micropayments

The Unfair Advantage: Automated Fair Market Value & Net Profit Engine

Unlike generic scrapers, this Actor does not merely collect asking prices. For every target keyword or category, it:

1. Scrapes active Buy It Now listings across your chosen regional eBay marketplace.
2. Simultaneously queries historical completed and realized sold comps to calculate an empirical Fair Market Value (FMV).
3. Automatically deducts eBay final value fees (standard 13.25% + $0.30 fixed fee) and shipping overhead from the median comp.
4. Calculates your exact estimated net profit (estimatedNetProfit) and net ROI margin percentage (dealMarginPercent).
5. Tracks price history across runs using persistent Key-Value store state to detect seller price drops.
6. Instantly dispatches rich embed alerts with photos and buy links to Discord, Telegram, or custom webhooks (Make, n8n, Zapier).

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Key Features & Architectural Differentiators

Feature	Generic eBay Scrapers	eBay Arbitrage & Deal Radar
Data Output	Raw titles and asking prices only	Enriched valuation, Fair Market Value, and Net Profit margins
Sold Comps Analysis	Not available (or requires separate scraper)	Integrated automatic historical sold comps computation
Fee Deduction	Manual spreadsheet calculation required	Automatic deduction of 13.25% eBay fees + shipping
Stateful Memory	Stateless (duplicates data every run)	Persistent Key-Value store memory tracks price drops run-over-run
Alerting	None (requires external glue code)	Native Discord rich embeds, Telegram messages, and JSON webhooks
Scraping Engine	Heavy Chrome browsers (2GB+ RAM, slow)	Lightweight browser TLS fingerprint client (<256MB RAM, fast)
Billing Model	High flat fees ($1.80 to $25.00 per 1k items)	Micro Pay-Per-Event ($0.0008/item scanned, $0.005/alert)
AI Agent Support	Proprietary API keys only	Native MCP endpoint and x402 Base USDC payment support

1. 17 Regional eBay Marketplaces Supported

Scrape and evaluate listings in native currencies across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific:

• com — United States (USD)
• co.uk — United Kingdom (GBP)
• de — Germany (EUR)
• ca — Canada (CAD)
• com.au — Australia (AUD)
• fr — France (EUR)
• it — Italy (EUR)
• es — Spain (EUR)
• Additional regional support includes Netherlands (nl), Ireland (ie), Switzerland (ch), Austria (at), Belgium (be), Poland (pl), and more.

2. Real-Time Arbitrage Engine

Filter out noise and focus purely on high-margin inventory. Set thresholds such as:

• minProfitUsd: Only flag listings with at least $15 (or custom threshold) in net profit after all fees.
• minMarginPercent: Require a minimum net return on investment (e.g. 20% ROI over total acquisition cost).

3. Delta Price Drop & New Listing Tracking

When running on an automated schedule (e.g., every 15 minutes), the Actor uses Apify Key-Value Store persistence (EBAY_PRICE_STATE):

• Detects when a seller slashes an asking price and calculates priceDelta.
• Flags newly posted listings with isNewListing: true.
• In Monitor Mode (monitorMode: true), only newly discovered listings, price drops, or qualifying deals are saved and alerted, eliminating duplicate data clutter and saving billing credits.

4. Zero-Waste Pay-Per-Event Billing

You are never charged high fixed subscription rates. The Actor charges micropayments strictly per item scanned ($0.0008) and per deal alert generated ($0.005).

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Input Configuration

The Actor accepts structured search parameters, regional preferences, profit thresholds, and notification endpoints.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
queries	Array of Strings	Required	Target search queries, product names, or direct eBay search URLs.
marketplace	String	"com"	Regional eBay marketplace (com, co.uk, de, ca, com.au, fr, it, es).
maxItemsPerQuery	Integer	60	Maximum active listings to extract per query (range: 10 to 300).
includeSoldComps	Boolean	true	Scrapes completed and sold listings to compute Fair Market Value.
minProfitUsd	Number	15.0	Minimum estimated net profit in USD after eBay fees (13.25% + $0.30).
minMarginPercent	Number	20.0	Minimum net profit margin percentage required to flag as a deal.
monitorMode	Boolean	false	If enabled, only records new listings, price drops, or qualifying deals.
discordWebhookUrl	String	null	Discord channel webhook URL for instant rich embeds.
telegramBotToken	String	null	Telegram bot token from @BotFather for alert delivery.
telegramChatId	String	null	Target Telegram chat or channel ID.
customWebhookUrl	String	null	Generic HTTP POST endpoint (for Make, n8n, Zapier, or custom backends).
proxyConfiguration	Object	Residential	Apify Proxy configuration (residential proxies strongly recommended).

Sample Input JSON

{
  "queries": [
    "Charizard Base Set PSA 10",
    "RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition",
    "Omega Seamaster Professional 300M"
  ],
  "marketplace": "com",
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 60,
  "includeSoldComps": true,
  "minProfitUsd": 25.0,
  "minMarginPercent": 15.0,
  "monitorMode": true,
  "discordWebhookUrl": "https://discord.com/api/webhooks/1234567890/abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz",
  "customWebhookUrl": "https://your-n8n-instance.com/webhook/ebay-deals",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}

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Output Dataset Schema

Every listing processed by the Actor is emitted as a structured JSON object with full price, seller, valuation, and margin metadata.

Sample Output Record

{
  "itemId": "186392019482",
  "title": "Pokemon 1999 Base Set Shadowless Charizard #4/102 PSA 10 GEM MINT",
  "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/186392019482",
  "imageUrl": "https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/abc123xyz/s-l1600.jpg",
  "askingPrice": 2499.00,
  "shippingPrice": 0.00,
  "totalCost": 2499.00,
  "currency": "USD",
  "condition": "Graded - PSA 10",
  "listingType": "BuyItNow",
  "seller": {
    "username": "vintage_vault_collectibles",
    "feedbackScore": 4820,
    "positiveFeedbackPercent": 99.8
  },
  "fairMarketValue": 3450.00,
  "soldCompsCount": 12,
  "estimatedNetProfit": 487.57,
  "dealMarginPercent": 27.57,
  "isDeal": true,
  "priceChanged": true,
  "prevPrice": 2850.00,
  "priceDelta": -351.00,
  "isNewListing": false,
  "discoveredAt": "2026-10-10T03:30:00.000Z"
}

Field Breakdown

• itemId: Unique eBay listing identifier.
• title: Full listing title.
• askingPrice: Seller's current Buy It Now asking price.
• shippingPrice: Stated shipping fee (or 0 for free shipping).
• totalCost: Combined acquisition cost (askingPrice + shippingPrice).
• fairMarketValue: Median realized price from historical sold comps for matching keywords.
• soldCompsCount: Total number of recent sold listings analyzed.
• estimatedNetProfit: Net profit after subtracting estimated eBay selling fees (13.25% + $0.30) and acquisition costs.
• dealMarginPercent: Net discount margin percentage relative to Fair Market Value (((fairMarketValue - totalCost) / fairMarketValue) * 100).
• isDeal: Boolean indicator (true if estimatedNetProfit >= minProfitUsd and dealMarginPercent >= minMarginPercent).
• priceChanged: true if the seller changed their price compared to the previous run.
• prevPrice: The prior observed asking price from Key-Value store state.
• priceDelta: Difference between current price and previous price (negative value indicates a price drop).
• isNewListing: true if this listing was observed for the first time in the current run.

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Integration Guides

1. Setting Up Discord Alerts

Receive real-time rich embeds whenever a qualifying arbitrage deal or price drop is discovered.

1. Open your Discord server and navigate to the target channel (e.g., #ebay-deals).
2. Click Channel Settings (the gear icon) -> Integrations -> Webhooks.
3. Click New Webhook, name it "eBay Deal Radar", and click Copy Webhook URL.
4. Paste the copied URL into the discordWebhookUrl input field of this Actor.
5. When a deal is found, the Actor dispatches a formatted Discord embed featuring:
   • High-resolution product image
   • Asking price and estimated Fair Market Value
   • Calculated net profit and ROI percentage
   • Seller feedback rating
   • Direct link to purchase on eBay

2. Connecting with n8n / Make / Zapier

Automate purchasing workflows, trigger spreadsheet logging, or alert your private sales team:

1. Create a Webhook trigger node in n8n, Make, or Zapier.
2. Select HTTP method POST and copy the generated Webhook endpoint URL.
3. Paste the URL into customWebhookUrl in the Actor configuration.
4. Each time a deal or price drop occurs, the Actor transmits the full JSON payload with Content-Type: application/json.
5. Example downstream actions you can build:
   • Append deal records to a Google Sheet or Airtable base.
   • Send SMS alerts via Twilio for deals exceeding $100 profit.
   • Trigger automated bidding or checkout scripts.

3. Autonomous AI Agents & MCP Integration

This Actor supports direct invocation by autonomous AI agents, LLM tool-calling loops, and multi-agent systems via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and x402 Base USDC micropayments.

Direct MCP Invocation

Add this Actor as an MCP tool in Claude Desktop, Cursor, or your LangChain/LlamaIndex pipeline using the official Apify MCP gateway:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@apify/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Autonomous agents can query real-time market comps and arbitrage opportunities on demand by calling the tool with natural language intent (e.g., "Find all graded PSA 10 Charizard cards on eBay with at least 20% arbitrage margin").

x402 Base USDC Micropayments

For agent-to-agent autonomous commerce without credit card lock-in:

• The Actor supports the x402 standard (HTTP 402 Payment Required).
• AI agents with on-chain crypto wallets can pay per event using Base network USDC micropayments directly at execution time.
• No monthly subscriptions, no manual billing setup, and zero human intervention required.

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Pricing & Cost Efficiency

This Actor operates under Apify's Pay-Per-Event (PPE) model. You only pay for the work performed, aligned directly with the value you receive.

Event Pricing Structure

Event	Rate	Cost per 1,000 Units	Description
Actor Run Start	$0.001	$1.00 per 1,000 runs	Base container initialization fee
Item Scanned	$0.0008	$0.80 per 1,000 items	Extraction and parsing of active listing
Deal Alert Generated	$0.005	$5.00 per 1,000 alerts	Fair Market Value computation and webhook dispatch

Cost Comparison: Why Our Model Wins

Solution	Cost per 1k Items	Historical Comps?	Net Profit Math?	State & Price Drops?	Real Cost for 10k Items
Legacy eBay Scrapers	$25.00	No	No	No	$250.00
Generic Search Scrapers	$1.80 – $3.45	No	No	No	$18.00 – $34.50
eBay Arbitrage & Deal Radar	$0.80	Yes	Yes	Yes	$8.00 + alerts

Practical Monthly Cost Scenarios

• Scenario A: Daily Arbitrage Sweep (Collector / Small Reseller)
  • Runs once per day scanning 100 items across 5 categories (500 items/day = 15,000 items/month).
  • Finds an average of 5 qualifying deals per day (150 deal alerts/month).
  • Monthly cost: 30 starts ($0.03) + 15,000 scans ($12.00) + 150 alerts ($0.75) = $12.78 / month.
• Scenario B: High-Frequency Deal Radar (Professional Reselling Operation)
  • Runs every 15 minutes in monitorMode tracking high-value electronics and luxury watches.
  • 96 runs/day, scanning 60 items per run.
  • Because monitorMode only emits new items and price drops, duplicate dataset writes are suppressed.
  • Total operational cost remains under $35 to $45 / month while monitoring round-the-clock for instant flips.

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Technical Architecture & Reliability

• Lightweight Fingerprinted HTTP Engine: Built using got-scraping with modern browser TLS and HTTP/2 fingerprinting. Bypasses standard bot detection without spinning up heavy, resource-intensive Chrome instances.
• Memory Footprint: Runs on just 256MB to 512MB RAM, maintaining sub-second per-page execution speed and high concurrency.
• Resilient Fallback Parsing: Equipped with multi-layered Cheerio selector fallbacks to handle dynamic eBay HTML layouts and layout updates without failing.
• Fault-Tolerant Proxying: Seamlessly integrates with Apify Residential Proxy pools to rotate IPs across target regional geographies.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an eBay developer account or API keys?

No. The Actor extracts public search and completed sold listings directly from eBay's regional web interfaces using browser-emulated HTTP requests. No developer application, token refresh, or eBay API approval is needed.

How are eBay selling fees calculated?

The Actor applies standard eBay seller fee math: a category final value fee of 13.25% plus a $0.30 fixed transaction fee. This provides an accurate baseline net calculation for general merchandise, electronics, collectibles, and trading cards.

What happens if no sold comps are found for a keyword?

If a rare or uniquely titled item has no recent historical sold listings matching its terms, fairMarketValue and estimatedNetProfit will return null. The listing is still captured with its full asking price and seller information so no data is lost.

Can I monitor specific eBay categories or filtered search URLs?

Yes. You can pass raw search keywords (e.g. "RTX 4080 Super") or complete eBay search URLs with pre-applied filters (such as condition, item location, price caps, or seller feedback filters) directly in the queries array.

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Support & Custom Inquiries

For feature requests, enterprise integration assistance, or custom marketplace rules, reach out through the Apify Console Actor discussion tab.