# Alibaba Product Scraper (`cloud9_ai/alibaba-scraper`) Actor

Scrape product listings, wholesale prices, MOQ, and supplier information from Alibaba.com. Search by keyword or provide product URLs. Extract supplier verification status, location, response rates, and transaction history for sourcing research.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cloud9_ai/alibaba-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [cloud9](https://apify.com/cloud9_ai) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Lead generation
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 95 total users, 4 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Alibaba Product Scraper

Scrape wholesale product listings, supplier information, MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity), and prices from [Alibaba.com](https://www.alibaba.com) -- the world's largest B2B wholesale marketplace.

### Features

- **Search by keywords** -- scrape product listings for any search query
- **Direct URL scraping** -- provide specific Alibaba product URLs
- **Price range parsing** -- extracts min/max prices from range formats like "$1.50 - $3.00"
- **MOQ extraction** -- captures minimum order quantity as both text and numeric value
- **Supplier details** -- name, location, verification status, years in business
- **Review data** -- ratings and review counts when available
- **Pagination** -- automatically follows search result pages up to your configured limit
- **Bot detection handling** -- detects security verification pages and retries with new proxy

### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `searchKeywords` | array of strings | - | Keywords to search for on Alibaba.com |
| `productUrls` | array of strings | - | Direct Alibaba product page URLs to scrape |
| `maxResults` | integer | 50 | Maximum number of products to scrape (1-1000) |
| `includeSupplierDetails` | boolean | false | Visit supplier profiles for additional data |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Residential | Proxy settings (residential strongly recommended) |

At least one of `searchKeywords` or `productUrls` must be provided.

### Output Fields

Each scraped product contains the following fields:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `title` | string | Product title |
| `priceMin` | number/null | Minimum price in the range |
| `priceMax` | number/null | Maximum price in the range |
| `priceCurrency` | string | Currency code (typically "USD") |
| `priceUnit` | string/null | Price unit (e.g., "piece", "set") |
| `moq` | string/null | Minimum order quantity as text |
| `moqNumber` | number/null | Minimum order quantity as number |
| `productUrl` | string | Full URL to the product page |
| `imageUrl` | string/null | Product image URL |
| `supplierName` | string/null | Supplier/company name |
| `supplierLocation` | string/null | Supplier country/region |
| `supplierUrl` | string/null | Link to supplier profile |
| `isVerifiedSupplier` | boolean | Whether the supplier is Alibaba-verified |
| `supplierYears` | number/null | Years the supplier has been on Alibaba |
| `responseRate` | string/null | Supplier response rate |
| `transactionLevel` | string/null | Supplier transaction level |
| `productId` | string/null | Alibaba product ID |
| `categoryName` | string/null | Product category |
| `reviewRating` | number/null | Average review rating |
| `reviewCount` | number/null | Number of reviews |
| `ordersCount` | string/null | Number of orders/transactions |
| `shipsFrom` | string/null | Shipping origin |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO 8601 timestamp of when the data was collected |

### Example Usage

#### Search by keyword

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": ["wireless earbuds", "LED strip lights"],
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

#### Scrape specific product URLs

```json
{
  "productUrls": [
    "https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Some-Product_123456789.html"
  ]
}
```

#### Combined search with supplier details

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": ["bluetooth speaker"],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "includeSupplierDetails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}
```

### Proxy Requirements

**Residential proxies are strongly recommended.** Alibaba.com actively blocks datacenter IP addresses. Without residential proxies, you will encounter security verification (CAPTCHA) pages.

The scraper automatically configures residential proxies if no proxy settings are provided. If you encounter persistent blocking, try reducing `maxConcurrency` or adding delays between requests.

### Pricing

$5.00 per 1,000 items scraped.

### Notes

- Alibaba search results typically show ~48 products per page
- The scraper handles both SSR HTML parsing and embedded JSON data extraction
- Maximum pagination depth is 20 pages per keyword
- Scraping speed is intentionally limited (2 concurrent requests) to reduce detection risk
- Some fields may be null depending on available data in the listing

# Actor input Schema

## `searchKeywords` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search for on Alibaba.com (e.g., 'wireless earbuds', 'LED strip lights')

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

Direct Alibaba product page URLs to scrape

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of products to scrape per search keyword

## `includeSupplierDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Visit supplier profile pages to get additional details (response rate, transaction level). Slower but more complete data.

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

Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended for Alibaba.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": [
    "wireless earbuds"
  ],
  "maxResults": 10,
  "includeSupplierDetails": false
}
```

# 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 = {
    "searchKeywords": [
        "wireless earbuds"
    ],
    "maxResults": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cloud9_ai/alibaba-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchKeywords": ["wireless earbuds"],
    "maxResults": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cloud9_ai/alibaba-scraper").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 '{
  "searchKeywords": [
    "wireless earbuds"
  ],
  "maxResults": 10
}' |
apify call cloud9_ai/alibaba-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cloud9_ai/alibaba-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

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/9mmZLz8K2dbGgRhzf/builds/j9daUruMvpIPKPy17/openapi.json