Top 7 Residential Proxies to Scrape eBay Smoothly (Speed & Scraping Performance Compared)

Justin Shin

Are you looking for the best proxies to scrape data from eBay without getting detected and blocked? Then you need to read the article below, as it has been written to provide you recommendations on the best eBay proxies for scraping eBay data.

Table Of Contents

Overview of Best Proxies for Scraping eBay

Scraping, or extracting data from websites, has become a foundational tool for many in the e-commerce industry, especially when dealing with a giant marketplace like eBay. As I ventured into the world of eBay scraping, I quickly realized the immense value of the data, as well as the challenges one might face. Here's my journey and everything I learned along the way.

Challenges in Scraping eBay

Technical Hurdles Ahead: No doubt, eBay wasn't an easy platform to scrape. I encountered several challenges, including:

  1. Bypassing CAPTCHAs
  2. Dealing with IP blocking
  3. Navigating session timeouts
  4. Handling the site's dynamic web structure
  5. Managing pagination and infinite scrolling
  6. Understanding data variability complexity

I believe the most important thing is the proxy. Therefore, in this article, we mainly discuss eBay proxies. So let's discover the most efficient proxies for scraping eBay in 2023. Dive into our comprehensive comparison of success rates, speeds, and features. Avoid IP bans and ensure uninterrupted data extraction with these top-performing residential proxies, tailored for eBay's massive user base.

Best 6 eBay Proxies for Scraping eBay (Performance Compared)

To make the process of selecting the ideal eBay proxy easier for our readers, we have put together a comprehensive comparison table. This table will serve as a quick reference to evaluate various proxy providers based on a set of key criteria.

Provider Name Success Rate Proxy Download Speed Response Time
Smartproxy 99.7% 31.48 Mbps 673 ms
Bright Data 99.6% 34.52 Mbps 794 ms
Soax 96.83% 24.76 Mbps 853 ms
Shifter 98.27% 19.47 Mbps 864 ms
Nimbleway 98.03% 30.76 Mbps 754 ms
ProxyEmpire 97.43% 19.76 Mbps 1.25 s
NetNut 99.99% 28.69 Mbps 809 ms

eBay is the number one marketplace for auctioning and online sales with over 160 million active users every single month. The site is host to a lot of product and review data that is important to marketers and researchers. If you are interested in scraping data from eBay, I guess you are already aware of the fact that you can’t scrape it without proxies.

This is because you will only need to send a few requests before your IP address is blocked. With proxies, you get as many IP addresses as you need to avoid revealing your requests are from the same device. There are a good number of proxy providers out there that claim to offer proxies for eBay you can use for scraping data from the platform.

However, only a few of them fulfill those claims. I have done my research and have decided to provide you recommendations on the best proxy providers you can purchase proxies to scrape eBay. For eBay scraping residential proxies is the best. This is because they rotate IP for you automatically at no extra cost since pricing is based on bandwidth for most. Below are my top picks of proxies for scraping eBay.

1. Smartproxy — Overall Best eBay Proxies for Scraping eBay

Smartproxy is a provider I have used consistently, and so I understand its terrains and capabilities so well. I recommend it as the provider of choice if you need to scrape products and review data from eBay. The service has a pool of over 40 million IP addresses from around 195 countries.

Interestingly, it does support high-rotating proxies, making it possible for you to get as many unique IPs as you want automatically and with ease. I have used this proxy network to scrape eBay in the past, and the performance was quite impressive. For this article, I ran a performance test to see how well the providers on this list perform.

Smartproxy had a success rate of 99.7% with a download speed of 31.48 Mbps. The response was also impressive at 673 ms, making it one f the fastest you can lay your hands on in the market based on my past experiments and tests. Pricing for the service is quite affordable as you can purchase 1GB for $12.5 in their Pay-As-You-Go payment option. Their packaged plans are even cheaper.

2. Soax — Clean Proxy Pool for Scraping eBay with City-Level Targeting

Smartproxy has got a large proxy pool, but Soax ensures it monitors its pool more than Smartproxy does. And the result? It has got the cleanest proxy pool in the market, thereby keeping the number of retries low. This service, though, has a small proxy pool with only over 5 million IPs as opposed to Smartproxy’s 40 million IPs. It is one of the best providers for eBay scraping.

With this proxy, you can scrape eBay without getting detected and banned. If your eBay scraping tasks requires IP from a specific city, then you should pick Soax over Smartproxy. If not, I will recommend you stick to Smartproxy because of its stellar performance and reliability. Concerning how Soax compared to Smartproxy in terms of performance.

The success rate I got while testing out their service for scraping eBay is 96.83%, with a download speed of 24.76 Mbps and a response time of 853 ms. This is quite acceptable as it can do the job.

3. ProxyEmpire — Best Proxies for Scraping eBay with Bandwidth Rollover Support

The ProxyEmpire service is another provider I recommend for scraping eBay. It does have a pool of 9 million IP addresses with support for over 170 countries. This means that you don’t only get as many IPs as you want, but you can also choose IPs from specific eBay-supported locations. Based on my eBay scraping test, I can affirm ProxyEmpire is good enough for your eBay scraping need.

The success rate I got while carrying out the test was around 97.43%, while the download speed was around 19.76 Mbps. The response time was a little long than what is obtainable from the other providers here, as I recorded 1.25 seconds. This is nothing out of the blue, and it is even acceptable for scraping eBay. If you are the type that doesn’t normally exhaust your bandwidth, then ProxyEmpire might be the kind of provider you want.

This is because for this service if your bandwidth expires, it is rollover for you when next you subscribe. My only problem with ProxyEmpire is that it is priced like Smartproxy but can’t match it in a head-to-head comparison, making me feel it is overpriced.

4. Nimbleway — Best Proxies for Scraping eBay for Enterprise Users

Let me begin here by saying if you are not an enterprise user, you might as well skip this provider. This is because they are more tailored toward enterprise users, and their pricing even starts from $300. Nimblway is a web data collection infrastructure, comprising 3 tools — Nimble API, Nimble Browser, and Nimble IP.

Nimble IP is its proxy service and the one of interest to us here. I have used this service for scraping eBay in a project I acted as a stand-in manager, and the result was quite good. Nimble IP has been built not to fail. it has got millions of IPs in its pool, with most countries supported. If you choose this provider, then be ready to do a KYC, as it is a compulsory requirement to make use of this service.

After a successful KYC, you get free 22GB of bandwidth to try out the service. In terms of performance, I recorded a success rate of over 98.03%, quite better than Soax. For its response time, I recorded a value of 754 ms, and the download speed was 30.76 Mbps.

5. Shifter — Unlimited Bandwidth Proxies for Scraping eBay

Shifter is another provider that you can use for scraping eBay and other e-commerce platforms without getting detected. It proxies are backconnect proxies that rotate IP for you after every 5 minutes — you can also configure it to retain the same IP longer. One thing you will come to like about this service is that it allows you to enjoy unlimited bandwidth.

This makes it perfect for those that will scrape images and fear the amount of bandwidth they need will be huge. The IPs provided by this service are quite undetectable, and the performance is great. From my performance test, I recorded a success rate of 98.27% with a download speed of 19.47 Mbps.

You can see that its download speed is slightly slower than that of the providers above. Its response time is a lot better, as I recorded 864 ms. This proxy network has over 31 million IPs in its pool and can be said to be expensive, as you need a minimum of $199 to get started.

6. Bright Data — Most Reliable & High Performing eBay Proxies

If this list were in any other, I would have ranked Bright Data first. This is because of its stellar performance, advanced features, and effectiveness at scraping not only eBay but other websites. Bright Data has a pool with over 72 million IP addresses in it sourced from all countries across the globe. I have used this service for scraping many websites, and I can say it provides you with the most unique IPs in the market.

Based on my previous tests, over 80 percent of the IPs it assigns to you are unique IPs. But that is not all that makes this provider great. I recorded a 99.6% success rate which is almost the same as what I recorded for Smartproxy.

The download speed was even better than what is obtainable from other providers, as I got an average speed of 34.52 Mbps. The response time for this service is 794 ms which is great too. This provider has the best session management system in the market and can be said to be the best in terms of geo-targeting too.

7. NetNut: — Most Reliable Proxies for Scraping 

NetNut is a proxy service with all the right qualities to become one of the very best for scraping and extracting data from eBay. First off, NetNut has a pool of over 52M+ auto-rotating residential IP addresses from over 200 countries that you can be assigned to. With country and city-level geo-targeting possible, this means you'll be able to access eBay and perform web scraping tasks from any corner of the world.

NetNut also lets you decide how the EBay proxies alternate within the pool, which helps make data collection smoother, handle ad campaigns, and boost your privacy. This kind of personalized IP rotation is especially handy for businesses in technology, information, the internet, IT services, and consulting.

The speed of NetNut is also one of its best features. Built on one-hop connectivity and P2P partnership, it gives their IPs a special setup that makes them superfast. They connect in a really quick way, so you'll have a smooth and speedy experience mining data on eBay.

Pricing plans for their residential proxies are pretty competitive. Starting at $350 per 20GB monthly, you get a substantial bandwidth for a few web scraping sessions on eBay. You can easily scale up through six-tier of data packages for when your needs escalate. We love a trial, but the NetNut offer of a 7-day free trial is a steal at this level.

Considerations when Choosing eBay Proxies

Features of the Comparative Table

Provider Name IP Pool Size Locations Concurrency Bandwidth Allowed Starting Cost
Smartproxy 40 million 195 Unlimited From 1GB $12.5/mo
Bright Data 72 million 195 Unlimited From 1GB $15/mo
NetNut 52 million 200 Unlimited From 20GB $15/mo
Shifter 31 million 150 Unlimited Unlimited $199/mo
Nimbleway Undisclosed Most Unlimited From 21GB $300/mo
ProxyEmpire 5 million 170+ Unlimited From 1GB $15/mo
Soax 5 million 100 Unlimited From 8GB $99/mo

Tips to choose

Our comparison table is a handy tool for anyone in need of eBay proxies. Whether you're new to web scraping or a seasoned pro, this table provides a clear and concise overview of the best options available. We recommend using this table in conjunction with our earlier guide to ensure you make the best choice for your eBay scraping endeavors.

Tools I Used for Scraping eBay

Choosing The Right Tools: My journey led me to several scraping tools. Some of the best ones I came across include:

Other Things I Learned

Additionally, my journey taught me that scraping can unveil product demand trends, competitive pricing strategies, and new product listing opportunities. However, scraping without eBay's permission is risky. While some data, like product titles and descriptions, are easy to scrape, others like prices need frequent updates due to their dynamic nature.

FAQs

Q. What Proxies are Best for Scraping eBay?

The best proxies to scrape eBay data are rotating residential proxies. This is because of two main reasons. First, residential proxies route requests via the devices of real Internet users, making it difficult for detection. Secondly, is the fact that the proxies are rotating — switching IP addresses for you automatically to avoid tripping off the request limit red flag.

It is important you know that for eBay, you might want to use IPs that are in the cities you are interested in, and residential proxies are also some of the best in terms of location coverage. All of these make rotating residential proxies the best for scraping eBay.

Q. What Data Can You Scrape From eBay?

eBay is a classified site — but you can also find new products on the site. Generally, there are many publicly available data points that you will be interested in. As you already know, there are millions of products listed on the platform.

Each of these products has its data points such as name, description, reviews, and images, among others. You can also scrape seller details or track the position ranking in eBay SERPs. There is just a lot you can collect from the platform; provided it is publicly available, you should be able to collect it.

Q. Can I Use Free Proxies for Scraping eBay?

There are a good number of free proxies online. And with just a simple Google search, you can get hundreds or even thousands of them. And the interesting part is that most of these free proxies are residential proxies.

However, I will advise against using them for any serious task, including scraping eBay. This is because they are extremely slow and perform terribly. They have also been blacklisted and also do have security and privacy issues. In most cases, they are even a product of hack, and you might form part of their prey by just making use of their free proxies.

Conclusion

With the 5 providers mentioned above, you will agree with me that there are other providers out there that you can use. However, I decided to keep the number of recommendations to 5. This is because recommending more will just be me trying to duplicate the same information, as most of them are their identical. The 5 above are some of the unique options, and the ones I have tested have proven to be good for scraping eBay.

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