Preloved Scraper: UK classified ads, prices and photos

Scrape Preloved, the UK classifieds marketplace, by keyword, category and location. Every ad comes with the title, price, ad type (for sale, wanted, swap, free…), full category path, town and county, photos, posted and updated dates, and whether the seller is private, a business or a charity. Optionally add the full description, the item details the seller filled in (condition, make, model, size…) and the view count. Search near any UK town, city or postcode within a distance you choose. No login, no cookies, no Preloved account.

This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Preloved or its owners.

What you get

Ad	Title, link, ad ID, ad type (For Sale, Wanted, To Rent, Swap, Free, Lost, Found…), posted and last-updated dates
Price	Price as a number and as shown, the note next to it (ono, ovno, plus vat, no offers…), free items flagged
Category	The most specific category plus the full path, e.g. Health and Leisure > Cycling > Bicycles
Place	Town and county, e.g. Salford, Greater Manchester
Photos	All photo URLs and the photo count
Seller type	private, business or charity — never who the seller is
Ad details (optional)	The full description, item details such as condition, manufacturer, model, size or engine size, and how many times the ad was viewed

How to use it

1. Enter one or more keywords, e.g. bike, sofa, lego, ford transit, and/or one or more categories, e.g. Bicycles, Dogs, Household Furniture.
2. Optionally enter a location (a town, city or postcode such as Manchester, Leeds or SW1A 1AA) and a distance (20 miles by default). Leave the location empty to search the whole UK.
3. Set Max ads and any filters (ad type, private or business sellers, free items only, price range, posted within N days), then run.

Each keyword is searched in each location. Max ads is the total for the run, shared fairly between your searches.

Input examples

Bikes within 20 miles of Manchester, with full details:

{
  "keywords": ["bike"],
  "location": "Manchester",
  "distance": "20",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeDetails": true
}

Every dog and furniture ad posted in the last 3 days, anywhere in the UK:

{
  "categories": ["Dogs", "Household Furniture"],
  "maxAgeDays": 3,
  "maxItems": 500
}

Private sellers only, £50–£200, cheapest first, in several cities:

{
  "keywords": ["sofa"],
  "locations": ["Leeds", "Bristol", "Glasgow"],
  "sellerType": "private",
  "minPrice": 50,
  "maxPrice": 200,
  "sortBy": "priceAsc",
  "maxItems": 150
}

Everything given away for free near a postcode:

{
  "freeOnly": true,
  "location": "SW1A 1AA",
  "distance": "10",
  "maxItems": 100
}

You can also paste Preloved links into Preloved links: search pages (https://www.preloved.co.uk/search?keyword=…, the filters in the link are kept), category pages (https://www.preloved.co.uk/classifieds/cycling/bicycles), Freeloved, or single ads (https://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/…).

Output example

{
  "id": "123131718",
  "title": "Hidoes B3 Electric bike well maintained",
  "price": 650,
  "priceText": "£650",
  "priceQualifier": "ovno",
  "currency": "GBP",
  "isFree": false,
  "adType": "For Sale",
  "adTypeCode": "forsale",
  "sellerType": "private",
  "category": "Bicycles",
  "categoryId": "3523",
  "categoryPath": ["Health and Leisure", "Cycling", "Bicycles"],
  "location": "Salford, Greater Manchester",
  "town": "Salford",
  "county": "Greater Manchester",
  "description": "Hidoes HD-B3 Electric Bike\nWell maintened, fully working electric bike.\n\nMotor Power: 1200W brushless rear hub and 48V 18.2Ah battery. …",
  "condition": "Second hand",
  "attributes": {
    "Condition": "Second hand",
    "Manufacturer": "Hidoes",
    "Model": "B3",
    "Type": "Electric Bike",
    "Gears": "7",
    "Frame Size": "26 inches",
    "Wheel Size": "26 inches"
  },
  "imageUrl": "https://preloved.thcdn.com/e2/77/e2773ff077b04439802e1b0bf8887716.jpg?r=0",
  "imageUrls": ["https://preloved.thcdn.com/e2/77/e2773ff077b04439802e1b0bf8887716.jpg?r=0", "…"],
  "imageCount": 3,
  "securePayment": false,
  "viewCount": 6,
  "postedAt": "2026-09-22T15:35:57.000Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-09-22T18:09:06.000Z",
  "url": "https://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/123131718/hidoes-b3-electric-bike-well-maintained.html",
  "searchKeyword": "bike",
  "searchLocation": "Manchester",
  "searchCategory": null,
  "position": 1,
  "detailsFetched": true,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-01T23:55:50.927Z"
}

condition, attributes and viewCount are filled when Include ad details is on; without it, description is the first ~200 characters that search results show. Every row has the same columns; a value the ad doesn't state is null.

Use cases

• Price research: see what second-hand bikes, furniture, tools or caravans really sell for, by region.
• Deal alerts: schedule a run every hour with Posted within: 1 day and get new ads for your keywords.
• Resellers and dealers: find stock in your area by category, price range and seller type.
• Rescue and rehoming: track pet and livestock ads by county.
• Market data: count listings by category and county over time.

FAQ

Do I need a Preloved account, cookies or a login? No. The scraper reads the same public ads any visitor sees. It never logs in and needs nothing from you except a keyword, a category, a location or a link.

Which places can I use? Any UK town, city or postcode Preloved knows (Manchester, Leeds, SW1A 1AA). The distance defaults to 20 miles; choose Any distance to search the whole UK with the nearest ads first. A partial name is searched as Preloved's nearest match (e.g. Manch → Manchester), and the status message says so. A place Preloved doesn't recognise is skipped, not charged, and named in the run's status message.

Which categories can I use? Category names as Preloved shows them (Bicycles, Dogs, Household Furniture, Motorcycles), a path when a name appears in several places (Cycling > Spares and Accessories), the category ID, or a Preloved category link. Several categories are searched together. Unknown names are reported in the status message.

How many ads can I get? All of them. Preloved has around 55,000 live ads, and a search returns every match, up to 200 per request. Set Max ads to 0 to get everything your searches find.

How fast is it? A result page of up to 200 ads takes under a second, so 1,000 ads take about ten seconds. Include ad details reads one extra record per ad, about two to four ads per second.

What does "Posted within (days)" do? It returns only ads first posted in the last N days, newest first. Preloved lets sellers bump old ads to the top; those are left out (and not charged), and the status message says how many.

Which proxy should I use? Keep the default (Apify Proxy, datacenter). It comes with every Apify plan, including the free one. If Preloved refuses datacenter IPs for a while, the run switches to UK residential proxies when your account has them, and carries on without them when it doesn't.

What does a run cost? A small fee per run, per search, per ad saved, and per ad whose details were loaded. See the Pricing tab. Ads removed by your filters, duplicates, unknown places and categories are never charged as ads.

Does it collect seller names or phone numbers? No. Preloved is mostly private individuals, so the scraper keeps item data only: no seller names or screen names, member IDs, profile links, "member since" dates, membership levels, ratings, phone numbers or e-mails, and no postcode or map position (only the town and county shown on the ad). It never uses Preloved's contact, messaging or favourites features, and it masks phone numbers and e-mail addresses that sellers type into titles, descriptions and item details ([phone removed]). It only tells you whether a seller is private, a business or a charity. Ads about people rather than items (greetings, pen pals, introductions) are left out.

Is it legal to scrape Preloved? This Actor only collects publicly available data: classified ads that anyone can see on Preloved without an account, such as the title, price, category, town, photos and dates. Collecting publicly available data is generally legal, but you're responsible for how you use it. Ads on Preloved are placed by private individuals, businesses and charities: the scraper never collects a seller's name, profile, phone number or e-mail, and it removes phone numbers and e-mail addresses from ad texts. You must follow privacy laws such as UK GDPR, as well as Preloved's terms. If you're unsure, check with a lawyer. More on this: Is web scraping legal?

Does it access any private data? No. Everything comes from the ads Preloved shows to any visitor without logging in. It never uses a login, never touches user accounts, messages, favourites or saved searches, and follows the site's robots.txt.

Is this an official Preloved product? No. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Preloved or its owners.