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eBay — Scraping Playbook

Problem

Search results (/sch/i.html) no longer match li.s-item, the selector most eBay scrapers and older answers use: it returns 0 items. Switching to the new card class looks right but returns 62 items on a 60-item page, and the card text carries noise that breaks naive parsing: screen-reader text in titles, badges glued onto titles, original prices glued onto current prices, and a reversed "Sponsored" label on every card.

Root Cause

  • The results list is rendered with s-card / su-card-container components.
  • Two hidden "Shop on eBay" placeholder cards (1 px wide, $20.00) sit outside ul.srp-results but still have class="s-card" and a data-listingid.
  • ul.srp-results also holds non-card lis (a filter carousel and the pagination block).
  • Inside a card:
  • .s-card__title includes a hidden <span class="clipped">Opens in a new window or tab</span>.
  • New listings have a <span class="s-card__new-listing">NEW LISTING</span> before the title span inside .s-card__title; some cards have a .s-card__caption ("NEW LOW PRICE") above the title link.
  • Discounted items render the original price in a .strikethrough span in the same row as the current price, so the row text reads KRW56,429.79KRW66,392.66.
  • Every card checked (60/60) has derosnopS ("Sponsored" reversed) in its footer text; the visible "Sponsored" label is drawn from an SVG background image instead.
  • Prices are shown in a currency chosen for the visitor (KRW from Korea in testing), not by the ship-to country.

What Does NOT Work

Selector or approach Result
li.s-item 0 matches
li.s-card, [data-listingid] 62 on a 60-item page: includes the two placeholders
ul.srp-results > li 62: includes the filter carousel and pagination lis
.s-card__title text Ends with "Opens in a new window or tab"
.s-card__title > span:first-child Returns NEW LISTING on new listings
.s-card__subtitle 61 on 60 cards: one card repeated its condition row
.s-card__subtitle-row:nth-of-type(1) > .s-card__subtitle 57: the "NEW LOW PRICE" caption shifts nth-of-type
.s-card__price 104 spans: includes placeholders and the to of price ranges; cannot be aligned with cards
Text search for "Sponsored" Never matches; derosnopS was on every card checked, so it cannot classify sponsored listings either
_fcid=<country id> URL parameter Changes the session's ship-to country (it persists in later searches) and does not change the currency. Avoid it in the user's own browser; see Notes to restore it

What WORKS

Step 1 — Build the search URL

Parameter Effect (verified 2026-10-25)
_nkw=mechanical+keyboard Keywords
_ipg=120 Items per page (default 60); returned exactly 120 cards
_pgn=2 Page number
_sop=15 Sort shown as "Price + Shipping: lowest first"
LH_BIN=1 Buy It Now only (all 120 cards showed "Buy It Now")
LH_ItemCondition=1000 New (all 120 cards showed "Brand New")

Step 2 — Extract with one selector per field

Each selector below matched exactly one element per card (60/60 and 120/120), so the result arrays line up by index. All text is already rendered after navigate, in a background tab, without scrolling.

[
  { "action": "navigate", "url": "https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mechanical+keyboard&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=1000&_sop=15&_ipg=120&_pgn=1", "expectTitle": "Mechanical Keyboard" },
  { "action": "query", "selector": "h1.srp-controls__count-heading", "fields": ["text"], "limit": 1 },
  { "action": "query", "selector": "ul.srp-results > li.s-card", "fields": ["data-listingid"], "limit": 120 },
  { "action": "query", "selector": "ul.srp-results > li.s-card .s-card__title > span.su-styled-text", "fields": ["text"], "limit": 120 },
  { "action": "query", "selector": "ul.srp-results > li.s-card .su-card-container__attributes__primary > .s-card__attribute-row:first-child", "fields": ["text"], "limit": 120 },
  { "action": "query", "selector": "ul.srp-results > li.s-card .s-card__link + .s-card__subtitle-row > .s-card__subtitle", "fields": ["text"], "limit": 120 }
]

Run it with browser_batch (automation group). navigate is core and query is read, for example KITSUNE_CAPS=core,automation,read. Pass limit to cover the page size (browser_query defaults to 50). No step needs the developer build.

The item URL is https://www.ebay.com/itm/<data-listingid>. The card links are the same URL with tracking parameters.

Step 3 — Parse the price row

The price row text takes four observed forms:

Row text Meaning
KRW39,684.20 Single price
KRW119,488.26 to KRW142,430.64 Variation listing: price range
KRW56,429.79KRW66,392.66 Price, then the strikethrough original price
KRW32,772.94 to KRW72,809.64KRW51,587.28 Range, then the original price 
PRICE = re.compile(r"(?:[A-Z]{1,3} ?)?[$£€]?\d[\d,]*(?:\.\d+)?")
tokens = PRICE.findall(row)
if " to " in row:
    low, high, was = tokens[0], tokens[1], tokens[2] if len(tokens) > 2 else None
else:
    low = high = tokens[0]; was = tokens[1] if len(tokens) > 1 else None

Only KRW prices were observed; check the format before relying on this for other currencies.

Shipping, buying format and item location are later rows of the same block. Query ul.srp-results > li.s-card .su-card-container__attributes__primary with fields: ["text"] (also one per card) and split the lines: the first line is the price row, then rows such as Buy It Now, +KRW7,449.60 shipping or Free International Shipping, and from China. The rows that appear vary by listing, so match them by text, not position.

Key Selectors (verified 2026-10-25, signed extension build, not signed in to eBay)

Data Selector
Result card (excludes placeholders and non-card rows) ul.srp-results > li.s-card
Listing ID data-listingid attribute of the card
Title .s-card__title > span.su-styled-text
"NEW LISTING" badge .s-card__new-listing
Price row .su-card-container__attributes__primary > .s-card__attribute-row:first-child
Original (strikethrough) price .strikethrough inside the price row
Condition .s-card__link + .s-card__subtitle-row > .s-card__subtitle
Result count h1.srp-controls__count-heading (e.g. 12,000+ results for mechanical keyboard)
Sort control button[aria-label^='Sort']

Notes

  • Currency and ship-to: the header button button.gh-ship-to__menu and the results' "Shipping to:" flyout (button.x-flyout__button) show the ship-to location. To restore it after an accidental change, open the flyout, pick the country in its select (option values are eBay country IDs, e.g. 1 United States, 111 South Korea), and press its Go input. A previous postal code may not be restored.
  • Relevance: the default "Best Match" sort mixes in off-topic items and sponsored placements. Filter results yourself.
  • Sort order is not by the displayed price: _sop=15 sorts by price plus shipping, and variation listings show a range. Re-sort client-side if order matters.
  • Validate the page before parsing: compare the card count with the _ipg you asked for. A count that is 2 higher means the placeholders slipped into the selector.
  • The image selector .su-card-container__media li:first-child img.s-card__image matched 0 cards; images were not verified.
  • Item pages (/itm/…) were not covered by this playbook.