eBay Search Products

Purpose

Search eBay's consumer site for listings matching a keyword query (with optional category, condition, price, location, format, and sort filters) and return the matching results as structured JSON — title, item ID, condition, listing format, price, shipping, location, seller, watchers, sold/sold-date (in Sold mode), and canonical /itm/{itemId} URL per listing, plus the page-wide result count and active-filter chips. Also supports the Sold/Completed cross-section for comp pricing. Read-only — never click Buy It Now, Place Bid, Make Offer, Add to Watchlist, Add to Cart, or Sign In.

When to Use

• "Find listings for <query>" — keyword search across the whole site or scoped to a category.
• Comp-pricing research — "what did <query> recently sell for on eBay?" (Sold + Completed mode).
• Auction monitoring — "what auctions for <query> end in the next hour?" (LH_Auction=1&_sop=1).
• Inventory checks for resellers — "any new Top Rated Plus listings of <query> posted in the last day?" (_sop=10&LH_TopRatedPlus=1).
• Batch item-ID lookup — when given a list of itemIds, hit /itm/{itemId} directly (browser fallback below).
• Anywhere you'd otherwise want eBay's official Browse API but lack production-app approval (it's partner-gated — see Gotchas).

Workflow

eBay's Browse API (api.ebay.com/buy/browse/v1/item_summary/search) is the cleanest data path but is gated behind the eBay Developer Program's production-approval workflow — most agents will not have a Bearer token. The pragmatic, always-available surface is the consumer SRP at https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html, which renders mostly as server-rendered HTML in the new .s-card layout. Lead with browser scraping. Mention the Browse API only if your environment has approved credentials.

eBay is fronted by Akamai. A bare HTTP fetch is unusable — browse cloud fetch (no proxy) is redirected to /splashui/challenge (Akamai JS interstitial), and browse cloud fetch --proxies returns 403 Access Denied from errors.edgesuite.net. You need a real Chrome session with --verified --proxies. Even with both flags, 40–60% of fresh Browserbase sessions land on the static Access Denied page on first navigation — plan for retries on 403 (see Gotchas).

1. Build the search URL

Always assemble URL parameters explicitly rather than relying on the page UI. The parameter surface (verified during this skill's development against the live site):

Example URLs (all verified to render listings during skill development):

• Keyword + size aspect: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=vintage+Levi+501+size+32&_ipg=60
• Sold/comp mode: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=iphone+12&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_ipg=60
• Category leaf + condition: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Charizard&_sacat=183454&LH_ItemCondition=3000&_sop=15&_ipg=60

If the input is already a full SRP URL, use it as-is; if augmenting, parse and merge query params.

2. Open in a Verified + proxy Browserbase session, retry on 403

# Mandatory flags. Without Verified+proxies you hit /splashui/challenge instantly.
SID=$(browse cloud sessions create --keep-alive --verified --proxies | jq -r .id)

for attempt in 1 2 3 4; do
  browse cloud browse --connect "$SID" open "$URL"
  browse cloud browse --connect "$SID" wait load
  browse cloud browse --connect "$SID" wait timeout 2500
  TITLE=$(browse cloud browse --connect "$SID" get title)
  if [[ "$TITLE" != *"Access Denied"* && "$TITLE" != *"Pardon Our Interruption"* ]]; then
    break
  fi
  # Release this session, spin a fresh one — eBay's Akamai blocks ~40-60% of
  # Browserbase residential IPs on first connect. The cheapest path forward
  # is a new session, not solving the challenge.
  browse cloud sessions update "$SID" --status REQUEST_RELEASE
  SID=$(browse cloud sessions create --keep-alive --verified --proxies | jq -r .id)
done

A clean SRP page-title looks like Vintage Levi 501 Size 32 for sale | eBay. A blocked one is exactly Access Denied (Akamai static error from errors.edgesuite.net) or Pardon Our Interruption... (the /splashui/challenge JS interstitial).

3. Extract listings from the .s-card DOM

eBay migrated the SRP to a new .s-card markup. The legacy .s-item__* selectors do not match anymore on the live site (hasSItem: false, hasSCard: true confirmed across multiple iterations). Use page.evaluate (or your harness's equivalent) with this selector set:

Per card, attribute rows are a flat list of short strings like:

[
  "$92.92$109.32",                    // price node (sale + strikethrough concatenated, no separator)
  "or Best Offer",                    // buy-format row
  "+$27.11 delivery",                 // shipping row
  "Located in Canada",                // location row
  "12 watchers",                      // watcher count
  "5% off with coupon. Max $5 off",   // coupon row
  "buybackboss 99.6% positive (34.3K)", // seller row (Sold-mode only — username + feedback% + score)
  "View similar active items",        // eBay-injected nav (skip)
  "Sell one like this",               // eBay-injected nav (skip)
  "S⁣4⁣p⁣o⁣n⁣s⁣o⁣r⁣e⁣d..." // sponsored marker (last row, obfuscated — see Gotchas)
]

Classify each row by regex:

4. Build the JSON per listing

{
  "itemId": "227321194210",                     // from /itm/{id} in URL
  "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/227321194210",
  "title": "Levi's 501 Men's Jeans Vintage 90s Size 32x33...",
  "condition": "Pre-Owned",                     // first segment of .s-card__subtitle before " · "
  "itemSpecifics": ["Size 32"],                 // remaining " · "-separated segments
  "price": { "text": "$80.00", "value": 80.00, "currency": "USD" },
  "wasPrice": null,                             // strikethrough portion if the price node is $X$Y
  "listingFormat": "BuyItNow",                  // BuyItNow | Auction | BuyItNow+BestOffer | BestOfferAccepted | Auction+BuyItNow
  "bidCount": null,                             // integer; null for fixed-price
  "timeLeft": null,                             // ISO 8601 datetime if extractable from per-item detail; null for fixed-price
  "shipping": { "text": "+$8.29 delivery", "value": 8.29, "free": false },
  "location": { "text": "Located in United States", "country": "United States" },
  "totalWithShipping": 88.29,                   // priced + shipping when both numeric
  "imageUrl": "https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/.../s-l500.webp",
  "seller": null,                               // {"username":"buybackboss","feedbackPct":99.6,"feedbackScore":34300}; surfaces on most Sold-mode + some active cards
  "topRatedPlus": false,                        // not surfaced in card markup — confirm via `LH_TopRatedPlus=1` query if needed
  "returnsAccepted": false,                     // true when "Free returns" row present
  "authenticityGuarantee": false,               // appears as a row in supported categories (sneakers, watches, handbags, trading cards >$250)
  "watchers": null,                             // from "X watchers" row
  "soldCount": null,                            // from "X sold" row
  "categoryBreadcrumbs": [],                    // page-wide; read from .x-categories__list once per page
  "sponsored": false                            // see U+2063 gotcha
}

5. Capture page-wide context once

{
  "resultCountText": "776 results for vintage Levi 501 size 32",  // or "18,000+ results..." with comma+plus suffix
  "resultCount": 776,                                            // parse leading integer; preserve "approx" flag if "+" suffix
  "appliedFilters": [{ "label": "Size: Regular 32", "removable": true }],
  "breadcrumbs": ["All", "Clothing, Shoes & Accessories", "Men", "Men's Clothing", "Jeans"],
  "shippingToZip": "37918",                     // from .b-header__row text; reflects proxy IP. Override with &_stpos=<ZIP>.
  "sortOrder": "Best Match",                    // current value of the sort dropdown
  "pageNumber": 1,
  "itemsPerPage": 60
}

6. Sold-listings mode (comp pricing)

URL: &LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1. Always pair both flags — LH_Sold=1 alone is silently rewritten by eBay to the active-listings view.

In Sold mode, the same .s-card selectors apply. Distinguishing fields (verified empirically with _nkw=iphone+12&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1):

• Bid count in the attribute rows is the FINAL bid count: 41 bids.
• "Best offer accepted" in the buy-format row marks an OBO sale (vs or Best Offer on active listings).
• Seller row surfaces here (active SRP often omits it): buybackboss 99.6% positive (34.3K) — username + feedback% + score (34.3K → 34300, 1.4M → 1400000).
• The "2 filters applied" pill appears in the controls bar — confirms Sold+Completed are both active.
• Sold date / sold-price are the same .s-card__price — the listing already closed at this number. Treat priceText as soldPrice, surface soldDate only if you can extract it from a per-card caption row (one of the .s-card__caption--signal / .s-card__footer-caption slots — not consistently populated; see Honest Gap below).

Browser fallback (when given an itemId list, not a query)

For input shape "list of itemIds", skip the SRP and hit each item's detail page:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/{itemId}

The same --verified --proxies session is required (same Akamai). On the detail page, extract:

• Title: h1.x-item-title__mainTitle span.ux-textspans
• Price: .x-price-primary .ux-textspans (parse currency + amount)
• Bids / time-left (auctions): .x-bid-count .ux-textspans, .ux-timer__time .ux-textspans
• Condition: .x-item-condition-text .ux-textspans
• Seller info: .x-sellercard-atf__info__about-seller a (username), .x-sellercard-atf__data-item-block (feedback)
• Shipping: .ux-labels-values--shipping
• Item specifics: .ux-layout-section-evo__item--table-view dl (definition list)
• Image gallery: .ux-image-carousel-item img
• Canonical URL: from <link rel="canonical">

Site-Specific Gotchas

• READ-ONLY. Never click Buy It Now, Place bid, Make offer, Add to Watchlist, Add to cart, or Sign in. Stop at the rendered SRP / item-detail. Output is structured JSON only.
• Akamai is the entire gate. A bare browse cloud fetch is redirected to https://www.ebay.com/splashui/challenge?ap=1&appName=orch&ru=... (the JS interstitial that bare HTTP cannot pass). browse cloud fetch --proxies --allow-redirects returns a hard 403 Access Denied from errors.edgesuite.net. You need browse cloud browse with --verified --proxies against a real Chrome. Headed/headless does not matter; the JS-fingerprint check does.
• Even with Verified + proxies, ~40–60% of fresh Browserbase sessions get blocked on first navigation — Akamai pre-tags certain residential-proxy IP ranges. The page either renders an Access Denied HTML (title literally Access Denied, Reference #<id>.<id>.<id>.<id>, link to errors.edgesuite.net) or shows Pardon Our Interruption... (splash UI). Treat 403 as "rotate to a new session and retry", up to 3–4 attempts. Empirically 2–3 rotations reach a clean IP. Do not try to solve the splash UI; cycling sessions is cheaper and faster.
• Don't waste time on the eBay Browse API without approved credentials. https://api.ebay.com/buy/browse/v1/item_summary/search requires a production-app OAuth Bearer issued through eBay's Developer Program, which gates production access behind a partner-approval review (typically multiple weeks). Sandbox tokens point at a different host and return only test inventory. Without approved credentials, browser scraping is the only path. If the agent has credentials, lead with the API.
• Mobile site (m.ebay.com) and the RSS feed (&_rss=1) are also Akamai-gated — both returned 403 with proxies during testing. Don't bother bouncing through them.
• The SRP uses the new .s-card markup, not legacy .s-item__*. Verified across 4+ iterations: hasSCard: true, hasSItem: false. Selectors like .s-item__title, .s-item__price, .s-item__seller-info-text do not match on the live site. The new class set is .s-card__title, .s-card__subtitle, .s-card__price, .s-card__attribute-row, .s-card__footer--row.
• The first .s-card is always a "Shop on eBay" placeholder card with title="Shop on eBay", fake price="$20.00", fake href="https://ebay.com/itm/123456?..." and &hash=item123546. Filter it out by itemId === "123456", title === "Shop on eBay", or the absence of data-listingid on the <li>.
• The "Sponsored" marker is obfuscated with U+2063 (INVISIBLE SEPARATOR) and decoy letters to defeat scrapers. The DOM string is e.g. S⁣4⁣p⁣o⁣n⁣s⁣o⁣ ⁣Y⁣ ⁣r⁣e⁣d⁣... — visually reads "Sponsored" but a naive text.includes("Sponsored") returns false. Normalize before testing: text.replace(/[⁠-⁤​-‍]/g, '').replace(/\s+/g, '') then .toLowerCase().includes("sponsored"). The marker always appears in the last attribute row, after seller info.
• Price node concatenates sale + strikethrough with no separator — a price like "$92.92" with strikethrough original "$109.32" renders in the DOM as the single string "$92.92$109.32". Parse with /^(\$[\d,.]+)(\$[\d,.]+)?$/ and treat capture 2 as wasPrice.
• Price ranges for multi-variant listings: "$0.99 to $3.00" — capture as priceMin / priceMax.
• Subtitle is condition + key item-specifics, joined by " · ": "Pre-Owned · Size 32", "Pre-Owned · Apple iPhone 12 · 128 GB · Unlocked", "Brand New". Split on · and take [0] as the condition; the rest is per-listing item-specifics (size, model, capacity, etc.).
• Result count uses "X,XXX+ results" suffix for counts above 10,000: "18,000+ results for iphone 12" (note the +). Parse the leading integer; surface a countIsApproximate: true flag when + is present.
• Shipping ZIP is set by proxy IP unless overridden. During testing the displayed ZIP was 37918 (Tennessee) — eBay's "Shipping to <ZIP>" header. The displayed delivery costs (+$7.38 delivery) are calculated against this ZIP. Override with &_stpos=<ZIP>; useful when the caller needs delivery cost from a specific origin.
• LH_Sold=1 alone is silently rewritten to the active-listings view. Always pair with LH_Complete=1. The "2 filters applied" pill on the controls bar is your confirmation; the result count text does NOT contain the word "sold".
• Time-left and auction-end datetimes do not render in the SRP card for sold listings; for active auctions the row reads e.g. "2d 4h" (display-only). To get the precise ISO end-time, navigate to the item-detail page and read .ux-timer__time plus the <meta itemprop="endDate"> if present.
• Seller info is missing from most active-mode cards — it surfaces reliably on Sold-mode cards (buybackboss 99.6% positive (34.3K)), and inconsistently on active cards. When LH_TopRatedPlus=1 filter is applied, the seller-info row reliably surfaces with a "Top Rated Plus" badge before the username.
• data-listingid ≠ itemId. The data-listingid="2500219655424533" attribute on <li> is an internal listing-tracking ID (used for impression analytics), NOT the public itemId you'd use in /itm/{id}. Always parse the itemId from the /itm/(\d{8,}) portion of the anchor href.
• "Authenticity Guarantee" badge appears as an attribute row only in supported categories (sneakers _sacat=15709, watches _sacat=14324, handbags _sacat=169291, trading cards >$250). Detect by the literal phrase "Authenticity Guarantee" in the rows.
• Pagination via _pgn is reliable up to ~10,000 results (_ipg=240 × _pgn=42). Beyond that, eBay caps and silently re-renders page 1. For exhaustive enumeration, narrow the query (price band or date filter) instead.
• _ipg only accepts 60, 120, 240 — any other integer is silently coerced to 60.
• The category breadcrumbs in the left rail include a long tail of "related-but-not-selected" leaves, not just the active path. The selected leaf has aria-current="page" or a selected class on its <li>. Don't naïvely emit the whole list as the active breadcrumbs.
• Cookie consent modal sometimes appears on the first page-load and obstructs the lower half of the SRP. eBay does not block scraping if it's not dismissed, but if your DOM extraction misses listings on iter 1 and hasSCard: false, dismiss it via .gdpr-banner__close and re-snapshot.
• Honest gap: sold-date per card. During this skill's iteration I did not isolate a stable selector for the per-card "Sold on <date>" caption — the value did not surface in .s-card__attribute-row or .s-card__footer--row rows for any of the iphone-12 sold cards I inspected. The per-item detail page (/itm/{id}) exposes a Sold on <date> element under .x-item-sold-history; that's the reliable fallback when callers require sold dates. A future agent should add .s-card__caption, .s-card__caption--signal, and .s-card__signal to the row-extraction set and re-test.

Expected Output

Active-listings shape (recommended_method = browser):

{
  "success": true,
  "mode": "active",
  "query": "vintage Levi 501 size 32",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=vintage+Levi+501+size+32&_ipg=60",
  "resultCount": 776,
  "resultCountIsApproximate": false,
  "appliedFilters": [{"label": "Size: Regular 32", "removable": true}],
  "breadcrumbs": ["All", "Clothing, Shoes & Accessories", "Men", "Men's Clothing", "Jeans"],
  "shippingToZip": "37918",
  "pageNumber": 1,
  "itemsPerPage": 60,
  "listings": [
    {
      "itemId": "227321194210",
      "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/227321194210",
      "title": "Levi's 501 Men's Jeans Vintage 90s Size 32x33 Straight Denim USA Button Fly 1992",
      "condition": "Pre-Owned",
      "itemSpecifics": ["Size 32"],
      "price": {"text": "$80.00", "value": 80.00, "currency": "USD"},
      "wasPrice": null,
      "listingFormat": "BuyItNow",
      "bidCount": null,
      "timeLeft": null,
      "shipping": {"text": "+$8.29 delivery", "value": 8.29, "free": false},
      "location": {"text": "Located in United States", "country": "United States"},
      "totalWithShipping": 88.29,
      "imageUrl": "https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TGIAAeSwI3Zp8YG1/s-l500.webp",
      "seller": null,
      "returnsAccepted": false,
      "watchers": null,
      "sponsored": false
    },
    {
      "itemId": "177819394878",
      "url": "https://www.ebay.com/itm/177819394878",
      "title": "Vintage Levis 501 Button Fly Blue Dark Denim Jeans USA",
      "condition": "Pre-Owned",
      "itemSpecifics": [],
      "price": {"text": "$92.92", "value": 92.92, "currency": "USD"},
      "wasPrice": {"text": "$109.32", "value": 109.32},
      "listingFormat": "BuyItNow+BestOffer",
      "shipping": {"text": "+$27.11 delivery", "value": 27.11, "free": false},
      "location": {"text": "Located in Canada", "countr