1688 Sourcing Profit Analyzer — Landed Cost, Margin & ROI

📦 1688 Scraper & Sourcing Profit Analyzer — Landed Cost, Margin, ROI

Turn raw 1688.com wholesale listings into a margin-aware sourcing shortlist. This 1688 scraper searches the domestic Chinese wholesale marketplace, pulls live product, demand, and supplier signals, and layers on your real-world cost assumptions to calculate landed cost, unit profit, net margin, ROI, break-even price, maximum sourcing price, a 0–100 sourcing score, and machine-readable risk flags — no login, no coding, no spreadsheet formulas. When you scrape 1688 with this tool, you get the listing and the complete financial business case in one unified row.

Export every record to JSON, CSV, Excel, or API.

Built for Amazon FBA and private-label sellers, Shopify and dropshipping researchers, wholesale importers, sourcing agents, and procurement teams who need to know — fast — which 1688 products can actually clear their target profit margins.

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⚡ At a glance

Feature	Specification
Marketplace Target	1688.com (Alibaba Group's domestic China wholesale hub)
Search Types	Consumer Wholesale (pcmarket) & Industrial Procurement (pcindustry)
Calculated Financials	Landed Cost, Unit Profit, Net Margin %, ROI %, Break-Even Price, Max Sourcing CNY
Supplier Intelligence	Active Years, Location, Factory Verified badge, Trust/Strength badge, Sales & Repurchase %
Throughput / Speed	Fast HTTP execution with lightweight DOM parsing (~20–40 items/minute)
Anti-Bot & Proxy	Requires China Residential Proxies (RESIDENTIAL, country CN pre-configured)
Export Formats	JSON, CSV, XML, Excel (XLSX), Apify API, Webhooks
Pagination & Batching	1,000+ wholesale product pagination unlocked with zero artificial page clamps

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🔎 Why scrape 1688?

1688.com is Alibaba's domestic Chinese wholesale marketplace and the genuine primary source behind a massive share of products resold on Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Etsy, and local marketplaces worldwide. Prices on 1688 are typically 20% to 50% lower than on Alibaba's international export portal, which makes it the first place experienced sourcers and importers look for factory-direct pricing, realistic minimum order quantities (MOQ), and authentic supplier track records.

The problem is that 1688 is engineered exclusively for the Chinese domestic market: the interface is entirely in Chinese, prices are listed strictly in CNY, and demand signals are scattered across complicated mobile search cards. Manually copying listings, converting currency rates, estimating international freight and customs duty, subtracting marketplace referral fees, and verifying whether a product actually leaves you a sustainable profit is painfully slow, error-prone, and impossible to scale across dozens of product niches.

This 1688 scraper eliminates that operational friction. It harvests the listings for you and automatically processes every product through a rigorous landed-cost and profit engine, enabling you to benchmark hundreds of wholesale offers on identical financial footing in a single run.

Common reasons teams scrape 1688:

• Product research & discovery — uncover factory-direct products and instantly evaluate which listings meet target retail prices and profit margins.
• Automated landed-cost modeling — convert CNY prices to USD/EUR and add freight, customs duty, marketplace fees, and packaging costs dynamically.
• Supplier vetting & due diligence — extract supplier city, active operational years, factory audit verification badges, recent sales velocity, and repurchase rates.
• Competitor price benchmarking — track wholesale price bands across keywords, categories, and sort modes over time.
• Dropshipping & Amazon FBA sourcing — shortlist products with healthy modeled unit ROI before committing capital to production samples or freight forwarders.
• Procurement intelligence — export structured sourcing spreadsheets for executive decks, procurement dashboards, and client reports.

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✨ What this 1688 scraper does

• ✅ Keyword search in English or Chinese — pass one or multiple search terms; Chinese keywords typically yield maximum catalog precision.
• ✅ Consumer or industrial marketplace — toggle between consumer wholesale (pcmarket) and industrial equipment procurement (pcindustry).
• ✅ Unlocked deep pagination — paginates search result pages seamlessly to harvest hundreds to thousands of de-duplicated wholesale offers, governed by maxItems.
• ✅ Live product metadata — captures offerId, title, displayed priceCny, currency, imageUrl, direct product url, ranked position, searchKeyword, and searchPage.
• ✅ Supplier & demand signals — sales (recent sales volume), returnRatePercent (repurchase rate), supplierLocation, supplierYears, isFactory, isVerified, and raw tags.
• ✅ Full landed-cost model — productCost (CNY → target currency), freightPerUnit, dutyAndTax, otherCostPerUnit, and combined landedCost.
• ✅ Comprehensive profitability math — marketplaceFees, totalCostPerUnit, unitProfit, netMarginPercent, roiPercent, and breakEvenSellingPrice.
• ✅ Buying ceiling benchmark — maximumSourcePriceCny, the absolute highest CNY source price that still delivers your desired net margin.
• ✅ Decision support & risk flags — a 0–100 sourcingScore plus automated risk flags like NEGATIVE_MODELED_PROFIT or ABOVE_MAXIMUM_SOURCE_PRICE.
• ✅ MOQ & price filters — optional priceMin, priceMax, and minOrderQuantity parameters passed directly into 1688 search filters.
• ✅ Reliable anti-challenge sessions — uses rotating China residential sessions with automatic retry backoff on anti-bot verification challenges.

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🎯 Use cases & sourcing recipes

1. Amazon FBA & Private-Label Product Discovery

Private-label sellers scouting new product opportunities can input planned Amazon retail prices and desired net margins. Filter results where sourcingScore > 75 and netMarginPercent > 35% to identify high-potential candidates that leave ample buffer for Amazon PPC ad spend.

2. Shopify Dropshipping Sourcing Validation

Direct-to-consumer store owners can test target retail prices against actual 1688 wholesale unit pricing plus air-express packet freight. The actor immediately flags any offers that result in NEGATIVE_MODELED_PROFIT.

3. Wholesale Import Due Diligence & Supplier Screening

Import agencies vetting Chinese manufacturing partners can filter by isFactory: true, supplierYears >= 3, and returnRatePercent >= 20%. This eliminates middleman trading companies and highlights genuine factories with proven repeat order histories.

4. Reverse Cost Sourcing (Target Costing)

Enter your planned retail price and target margin (e.g. 25%). The actor computes maximumSourcePriceCny for each row. You can immediately reject any wholesale quotation that exceeds this calculated ceiling during supplier negotiations.

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📥 Input parameters

Provide product keywords and your financial assumptions. All fields have practical defaults.

Field	Type	Default	Description
keywords	array	["wireless earbuds"]	Search terms in English or Chinese (e.g. ["wireless earbuds", "蓝牙耳机"]).
maxItems	integer	0	Global number of unique products to save across all keywords (0 = auto / prefilled to 20 for fast runs).
sortBy	string	"relevance"	Ranking order: relevance, priceAsc (lowest price), or priceDesc (highest price).
searchType	string	"pcmarket"	pcmarket (consumer wholesale) or pcindustry (industrial products).
priceMin / priceMax	number	—	Optional minimum and maximum source-price filters in CNY.
minOrderQuantity	integer	0	Optional minimum order quantity filter passed to 1688 search.
targetSellingPrice	number	29.99	Planned retail selling price per unit in your target currency (e.g. USD).
cnyExchangeRate	number	0.14	Conversion rate: how much 1 CNY costs in target currency (e.g. 0.14 for USD).
freightPerUnit	number	2.50	Estimated international freight and forwarding cost per unit.
dutyPercent	number	5.0	Customs duty and import tax percentage applied to product + freight.
marketplaceFeePercent	number	15.0	Marketplace referral and payment processing fees (e.g., 15% for Amazon).
otherCostPerUnit	number	1.00	Inspection, packaging, labeling, and domestic delivery costs per unit.
targetMarginPercent	number	25.0	Desired net profit margin used to compute maximum viable sourcing price.
proxyConfiguration	object	{ ... }	Proxy settings. Requires China residential proxy sessions (RESIDENTIAL, country CN).

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📤 Output dataset

Every record contains the raw wholesale listing alongside the full unit-economics financial model:

{
  "offerId": "854938564474",
  "searchKeyword": "wireless earbuds",
  "searchPage": 1,
  "position": 1,
  "title": "TWS真无线蓝牙耳机入耳式低延迟降噪游戏音乐通用耳机批发",
  "priceCny": 18.50,
  "currency": "CNY",
  "sales": 1250,
  "returnRatePercent": 28.5,
  "supplierLocation": "深圳市",
  "supplierYears": 6,
  "isFactory": true,
  "isVerified": true,
  "tags": ["深度验厂", "实力商家", "48小时发货"],
  "imageUrl": "https://cbu01.alicdn.com/img/ibank/O1CN01rs5LJF1uX7cpRqz5V_!!948876046-0-cib.jpg",
  "url": "https://detail.1688.com/offer/854938564474.html",
  "targetSellingPrice": 29.99,
  "productCost": 2.59,
  "freightPerUnit": 2.50,
  "dutyAndTax": 0.25,
  "marketplaceFees": 4.50,
  "otherCostPerUnit": 1.00,
  "landedCost": 6.34,
  "totalCostPerUnit": 10.84,
  "unitProfit": 19.15,
  "netMarginPercent": 63.85,
  "roiPercent": 176.66,
  "breakEvenSellingPrice": 7.46,
  "maximumSourcePriceCny": 97.75,
  "sourcingScore": 88.5,
  "riskFlags": [],
  "assumptions": {
    "targetCurrencyPerCny": 0.14,
    "freightPerUnit": 2.50,
    "dutyPercent": 5.0,
    "marketplaceFeePercent": 15.0,
    "otherCostPerUnit": 1.00,
    "targetMarginPercent": 25.0
  },
  "scrapedAt": "2026-11-10T12:00:00.000Z"
}

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📊 Output field coverage & reference

🏷️ Product & Listing Fields

Field	Type	Coverage	Description
offerId	string	🟢 High (100%)	1688 unique listing ID and de-duplication primary key.
title	string	🟢 High (100%)	Original product title in Chinese.
priceCny	number	🟢 High (100%)	Wholesale card price in Chinese Yuan (CNY).
imageUrl	string	🟢 High (99%)	High-resolution product thumbnail image URL.
url	string	🟢 High (100%)	Direct link to the 1688 offer details page.
position	integer	🟢 High (100%)	Ranked placement position within the search results.

🏭 Supplier & Credibility Signals

Field	Type	Coverage	Description
sales	integer	🟢 High (90%)	Recent sales transaction volume displayed on card.
returnRatePercent	number	🟡 Conditional (75%)	Supplier 90-day buyer repurchase percentage.
supplierLocation	string	🟢 High (95%)	Manufacturing city and province (e.g. 深圳市, 东莞市).
supplierYears	integer	🟢 High (85%)	Number of verified operating years on the platform.
isFactory	boolean	🟢 High (100%)	True if certified factory audit badge is present.
isVerified	boolean	🟢 High (100%)	True if designated as Verified / Strength Supplier.

💰 Modeled Financial & Margin Fields

Field	Type	Coverage	Description
productCost	number	🟢 High (100%)	Source price converted to your currency (priceCny * exchangeRate).
landedCost	number	🟢 High (100%)	Product cost + Freight + Duty/Tax + Other unit costs.
marketplaceFees	number	🟢 High (100%)	Estimated selling fees based on target retail price.
unitProfit	number	🟢 High (100%)	Net dollar profit earned per unit sold.
netMarginPercent	number	🟢 High (100%)	Modeled net profit margin as percentage of retail price.
roiPercent	number	🟢 High (100%)	Return on investment percentage (unitProfit / totalCost).
maximumSourcePriceCny	number	🟢 High (100%)	Ceiling CNY purchase price to preserve target margin.
sourcingScore	number	🟢 High (100%)	Weighted 0–100 score combining margin, age, sales, and verification.

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🔧 Profit calculation model

The actor executes standard landed-cost accounting across every product card:

Product cost        = priceCny × targetCurrencyPerCny
Duty and tax        = (product cost + freightPerUnit) × (dutyPercent / 100)
Landed cost         = product cost + freightPerUnit + dutyAndTax + otherCostPerUnit
Marketplace fees    = targetSellingPrice × (marketplaceFeePercent / 100)
Total unit cost     = landed cost + marketplace fees
Unit profit         = targetSellingPrice − total unit cost
Net margin %        = (unit profit / targetSellingPrice) × 100
ROI %               = (unit profit / total unit cost) × 100
Break-even price    = landed cost / (1 − marketplaceFeePercent / 100)

Risk flags glossary

Flag	Meaning & Action Required
NEGATIVE_MODELED_PROFIT	Total landed costs exceed target retail price. Sourcing this offer creates a loss.
ABOVE_MAXIMUM_SOURCE_PRICE	1688 price exceeds the ceiling needed to hit your targetMarginPercent.
LOW_RECENT_SALES	Visible sales signal is under 10 units. Product may lack market traction.
LOW_REPURCHASE_RATE	Repurchase rate is below 10%. Verify quality and return risks with samples.
NEW_SUPPLIER	Supplier profile shows less than 2 years of operational history.
NO_VISIBLE_VERIFICATION	Listing lacks both factory audit and strength supplier certification badges.

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🔁 Pagination & scale

The 1688 scraper automatically paginates consecutive mobile search result pages (beginPage=1,2,3...). It extracts approximately 16 to 19 offers per page, filtering and de-duplicating by unique offerId across keywords:

• Set maxItems: 1000+ to perform wide catalog scans without pagination limits.
• Built-in retry loops rotate residential China proxies on anti-bot challenges up to 6 times per page.
• Temporary challenges on a single page do not terminate the run; the scraper skips ahead and continues paginating.
• Set maxItems: 20 for fast prefill verification runs that finish in under 90 seconds.

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💻 API & Integration examples

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/haketa~1688-sourcing-profit-analyzer/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "keywords": ["wireless earbuds"],
    "maxItems": 50,
    "targetSellingPrice": 29.99,
    "cnyExchangeRate": 0.14,
    "freightPerUnit": 2.50
  }'

Python (Apify Client)

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "keywords": ["phone case", "手机壳"],
    "maxItems": 40,
    "targetSellingPrice": 19.99,
    "cnyExchangeRate": 0.14,
    "freightPerUnit": 1.80,
    "targetMarginPercent": 30.0
}

run = client.actor("haketa/1688-sourcing-profit-analyzer").call(run_input=run_input)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['title'][:30]}... | Landed: ${item['landedCost']} | Profit: ${item['unitProfit']} ({item['netMarginPercent']}%)")

Node.js (Apify Client)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

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

const run = await client.actor('haketa/1688-sourcing-profit-analyzer').call({
    keywords: ['wireless earbuds'],
    maxItems: 30,
    targetSellingPrice: 29.99,
    cnyExchangeRate: 0.14,
    freightPerUnit: 2.50,
    targetMarginPercent: 25.0,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Analyzed ${items.length} wholesale opportunities:`);
console.table(items, ['title', 'priceCny', 'landedCost', 'unitProfit', 'netMarginPercent', 'sourcingScore']);

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🎯 Scoring Algorithm & Triage Logic

The 0–100 sourcingScore provides immediate ranking across thousands of disparate wholesale listings:

1. Margin Differential (+/- 30 pts): Measures how far the modeled net margin exceeds or falls short of your desired targetMarginPercent.
2. Recent Transaction Traction (+12 pts): Logarithmic scaling based on verified recent sales volume (sales), giving credit to listings with proven buyer demand.
3. Repurchase Stability (+8 pts): Rewinds 90-day repeat buyer percentage (returnRatePercent), favoring manufacturing partners who maintain product consistency.
4. Supplier Maturity (+8 pts): Awards bonus points for operational tenure (supplierYears), heavily penalizing unverified brand-new accounts.
5. Quality Verifications (+10 pts): Bonuses for physical on-site factory audits (isFactory) and Alibaba Verified Strength Merchant badges (isVerified).
6. Risk Penalties (-25 pts): Deducts heavy penalties for negative unit margins or products priced above maximumSourcePriceCny.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Is scraping 1688 legal?
Yes. The actor collects publicly available wholesale catalog listings for commercial research and sourcing analysis. Always ensure compliance with relevant e-commerce guidelines and verify all supplier quotes independently prior to placing bulk manufacturing purchase orders.

Do I need a 1688 account or login credentials?
No. The scraper operates keyless and does not require a 1688 user account, Alipay credentials, or Taobao login.

Why are China residential proxies required?
1688 actively protects its search endpoints against foreign datacenter IP addresses. Utilizing China residential proxy sessions (RESIDENTIAL group with country CN) ensures high connection success rates and prevents IP-level challenge blocks.

Can I search using English keywords?
Yes! The scraper accepts English search terms. However, including corresponding Chinese terms (e.g., ["wireless earbuds", "蓝牙耳机"]) frequently unlocks deeper catalog results and factory-direct listings.

Is the displayed price always the final invoice price?
1688 listing cards display baseline or tier-1 wholesale pricing. Actual unit costs can vary based on volume order tiers, custom branding/OEM requirements, and domestic shipping terms. Always request a formal proforma invoice before placing production orders.

How should I model Section 301 tariffs or European VAT?
Include your combined customs duty and punitive tariff rates in dutyPercent. The engine applies this percentage to (productCost + freightPerUnit) according to standard international CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight) customs valuation methodology.

Can I automate this with Amazon FBA replenishment schedules?
Yes! Set up a recurring Apify schedule (e.g. monthly) with your core ASIN keywords and current freight rates to track wholesale price movements and detect new supplier entrants before ordering seasonal inventory.

What should I do if a supplier has no sales volume displayed?
When a supplier listing is brand new or does not publish public sales counts, the actor leaves sales empty and flags the record with MISSING_DEMAND_SIGNAL or NEW_SUPPLIER, allowing you to review those offers with extra caution.

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🔗 Related B2B Sourcing Scrapers

• Made-in-China.com Scraper — Suppliers, Prices & MOQ
• TradeIndia Scraper — B2B Suppliers, Prices, Email & Phone
• IndiaMART Scraper — Suppliers, Exporters, Prices & GST
• Europages Scraper — European B2B Suppliers & Products

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📋 Changelog

v1.2 (2026-11)

• Unlocked 1,000+ deep pagination: Removed the Math.min(50, ...) page cap, enabling unrestricted deep catalog searches.
• Enhanced default execution: Added built-in keyword fallbacks so empty runs return structured sample data without errors.
• Adaptive session rotation: Upgraded anti-bot recovery logic with exponential backoff for China residential sessions.
• Clean financial reconciliation: Standardized two-decimal rounding on landed cost, fees, and unit profit outputs.

v1.1 (2026-08)

• Added industrial procurement marketplace option (pcindustry).
• Integrated automated MOQ and price filter parameters.
• Added comprehensive risk flag detection.

v1.0 (2026-07)

• Initial release featuring landed cost, net margin, and ROI calculations for 1688 wholesale listings.