README.md

In gsimchoni/ebayr: R wrapper to the ebay Finding API

ATTENTION: It seems like ebay has decided to shut down its open API, in October-November 2018. This repo will be kept here for educational purposes only. It was fun while it lasted.

ebayr - R wrapper to the ebay Finding API

This package allows you to search ebay for live items using keywords, a category or both. It is a wrapper for the ebay Finding API, specifically the “findItemsAdvanced” call. You can use it after you sign up at https://go.developer.ebay.com/ and get a valid token (a.k.a AppID).

Install:

devtools::install_github("gsimchoni/ebayr")

Load:

library(ebayr)

Set ebay token:

setEbayToken("YOUR_EBAY_TOKEN")

Search by keywords:

search_ebay("elvis costume")

#> # A tibble: 10 x 17
#>    itemId title categoryId categoryName viewItemURL location sheepingType shipToLocations isMultiVariatio~
#>    <chr>  <chr>      <dbl> <chr>        <chr>       <chr>    <chr>        <chr>           <lgl>           
#>  1 36160~ Elvi~      52762 Men          http://www~ Travers~ Free         Worldwide       TRUE            
#>  2 22275~ ELVI~      52762 Men          http://www~ Barring~ Calculated   Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  3 26320~ Adul~      52762 Men          http://www~ Tonawan~ Free         Worldwide       TRUE            
#>  4 12265~ Rubi~      52762 Men          http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  5 13243~ "Elv~      52762 Men          http://www~ Florenc~ Flat         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  6 28276~ ELVI~      52762 Men          http://www~ Las Veg~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  7 28226~ Elvi~      80913 Boys         http://www~ Chicago~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  8 28276~ ELVI~      52762 Men          http://www~ Las Veg~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  9 35221~ Elvi~      52762 Men          http://www~ Bakersf~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#> 10 22267~ Elvi~      52762 Men          http://www~ Clarenc~ Calculated   Worldwide       FALSE           
#> # ... with 8 more variables: conditionId <dbl>, conditionName <chr>, listingType <chr>, startTime <date>,
#> #   endTime <date>, watchCount <dbl>, price <dbl>, currency <chr>

Search by category (a.k.a Browse):

search_ebay(categoryName = "Video Game Consoles")

#> # A tibble: 10 x 17
#>    itemId title categoryId categoryName viewItemURL location sheepingType shipToLocations isMultiVariatio~
#>    <chr>  <chr>      <dbl> <chr>        <chr>       <chr>    <chr>        <chr>           <lgl>           
#>  1 19237~ Micr~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  2 33204~ Sony~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ Forest ~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  3 17303~ Nint~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ Grovepo~ Flat         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  4 18289~ Sony~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ Burbank~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  5 20213~ RETR~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ Bensale~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  6 12286~ Micr~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ USA      Flat         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  7 31198~ Sony~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  8 32279~ Supe~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ Dearbor~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  9 29235~ Micr~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ Atlanta~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#> 10 29233~ Play~     139971 Video Game ~ http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#> # ... with 8 more variables: conditionId <dbl>, conditionName <chr>, listingType <chr>, startTime <date>,
#> #   endTime <date>, watchCount <dbl>, price <dbl>, currency <chr>

Search by both keywords and category:

search_ebay("Yahtzee", categoryName = c("Nonfiction", "Board & Traditional Games"))

#> # A tibble: 10 x 17
#>    itemId title categoryId categoryName viewItemURL location sheepingType shipToLocations isMultiVariatio~
#>    <chr>  <chr>      <dbl> <chr>        <chr>       <chr>    <chr>        <chr>           <lgl>           
#>  1 20162~ 250 ~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ Wellsto~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  2 20186~ " SA~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ Wellsto~ Flat         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  3 32185~ Yaht~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  4 20191~ LOWE~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ Wellsto~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  5 22238~ Yaht~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ Pasaden~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  6 16246~ Back~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ Hazleto~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  7 28277~ New ~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ North L~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  8 32265~ Yaht~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#>  9 32292~ Yaht~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ USA      Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#> 10 20176~ 50 T~     180349 Contemporar~ http://www~ Wellsto~ Free         Worldwide       FALSE           
#> # ... with 8 more variables: conditionId <dbl>, conditionName <chr>, listingType <chr>, startTime <date>,
#> #   endTime <date>, watchCount <dbl>, price <dbl>, currency <chr>

Search the UK site for new large size Fruit of the Loom women’s T-shirts from top rated sellers at a max price of 10 pounds:

res <- search_ebay("women's t-shirts",
                   site = "UK",
                   condition = "New",
                   listingType = "FixedPrice",
                   topRatedSellerOnly = TRUE,
                   priceRange = c(0, 10),
                   aspectFilter = list(
                     Brand = "Fruit of the Loom",
                     Size = "L"
                     )
                   )

res[, c("title", "price", "currency")]

#> # A tibble: 10 x 3
#>    title                                                                              price currency
#>    <chr>                                                                              <dbl> <chr>   
#>  1 Mens Ladies Womens Novelty Print TShirt Funny Tee Rude Joke Xmas Top Gift Unisex    4.99 GBP     
#>  2 WOMEN'S LADIES CUSTOM PRINTED PERSONALISED T-SHIRTS TEE SHIRT HEN WORK WHOLESALE    3.5  GBP     
#>  3 LADIES 100% COTTON T-SHIRT - FRUIT of the LOOM PLAIN T SHIRT Womens Female          2.99 GBP     
#>  4 Fruit of the Loom 100% Cotton Plain Blank Men's Women's Tee Shirt Tshirt T-Shirt    3.25 GBP     
#>  5 Men's Women's Fruit of the Loom Plain 100% Cotton Blank Tee Shirt Tshirt T-Shirt    2.95 GBP     
#>  6 DANGEROUS WOMAN MUSIC TOUR ARIANA GRANDE FAN TUMBLR FASHION MENS WOMENS TSHIRT      9.99 GBP     
#>  7 Fruit of the Loom Long Sleeve 100% Cotton Plain Blank Men's Women's Tee Shirt's     4.08 GBP     
#>  8 madness t-shirt retro style men's women's sizes                                     6    GBP     
#>  9 Fruit of the Loom 100% Cotton Plain Blank Men's Women's T-Shirts Value Weight       3.57 GBP     
#> 10 "VOGUE HIPSTER SWAG DOPE CELFIE GIFT TUMBLR FASHION FUNNY MENS WOMENS TOP TSHIRT "  8.99 GBP

Search the German site for black women’s handbags, ask for the 200 most expensive results:

res <- search_ebay("Damentaschen",
                   site = "DE",
                   sortOrder = "PricePlusShippingHighest",
                   nResults = 200,
                   aspectFilter = list(
                     Farbe = "Schwarz"
                     )
                   )

res[, c("title", "price", "currency")]

#> # A tibble: 200 x 3
#>    title                                                                            price currency
#>    <chr>                                                                            <dbl> <chr>   
#>  1 Hermes Kelly Bag 35 M-Stamp aus Krokodil Leder - schwarz *NEUWERTIG*             44900 EUR     
#>  2 HERMES KELLY ALLIGATOR BAG 28 GRAPHITE SCHWARZ BLACK CROCODILE                   26990 EUR     
#>  3 Hermes Kelly Bag 32 X-Stamp aus Eidechsenleder in schwarz *NEUWERTIG*            24900 EUR     
#>  4 Hermes Birkin Bag In PLOMB , Birkin Tasche, 40 Cm, Togo, Palladium Hardware 2016 21500 EUR     
#>  5 Hermes Kelly Bag 28 cm Kroko                                                     14000 EUR     
#>  6 Hermes Kelly II Togo Schwarz GHW Retourne original Tasche Togo Leder Bag Noir    12500 EUR     
#>  7 Hermès Birkin 35 Veau Togo schwarz - NEU, OVP mit Rechnung 11.2017               11900 EUR     
#>  8 HERMES Birkin Bag 40, schwarz, Hardware Palladium, NEU mit Box und Rechnung      11800 EUR     
#>  9 Original Hermès Kelly Sellier 32 Bag Tasche NEU OVP & Rechnung schwarz + Zubehör 11800 EUR     
#> 10 Hermes Constance  aus Leder und Wildleder in Cognac *NEU*                        10990 EUR     
#> # ... with 190 more rows

The possibilities are endless, though ebay APIs have even more.

You should probably read ebay’s API Reference and API license and make sure you adhere to the rules.

Also note that the rate limit of the API wrapped here is 5,000 requests a day, each request can bring up to 100 results (ebay items).

For more possibilities see the search_ebay function documentation, and read this blog post.

gsimchoni/ebayr documentation built on May 27, 2019, 8:45 a.m.