amazon_scraper 0.3.3

Provides content not accessible through the standard Amazon API

A Hybrid Web scraper / API client. Supplements the standard Amazon API with web scraping functionality to get extra data. Specifically, product reviews.

Uses the Amazon Simple Product API to provide API accessible data. API search functions are imported directly into the amazon_scraper module.

Parameters are in the same style as the Amazon Simple Product API, which in turn uses Bottlenose style parameters. Hence the non-Pythonic parameter names (ItemId).

The AmazonScraper constructor will pass ‘args’ and ‘kwargs’ to Bottlenose (via Amazon Simple Product API). Bottlenose supports AWS regions, queries per second limiting, query caching and other nice features. Please view Bottlenose’ API for more information on this.

The latest version of python-amazon-simple-product-api (1.5.0 at time of writing), doesn’t support these arguemnts, only Region. If you require these, please use the latest code from their repository with the following command:

pip install git+https://github.com/yoavaviram/python-amazon-simple-product-api.git#egg=python-amazon-simple-product-api

Caveat

Amazon continually try and keep scrapers from working, they do this by:

• A/B testing (randomly receive different HTML).

• Huge numbers of HTML layouts for the same product categories.

• Changing HTML layouts.

• Moving content inside iFrames.

Amazon have resorted to moving more and more content into iFrames which this scraper can’t handle. I envisage a time where most data will be inaccessible without more complex logic.

I’ve spent a long time trying to get these scrapers working and it’s a never ending battle. I don’t have the time to continually keep up the pace with Amazon. If you are interested in improving Amazon Scraper, please let me know (creating an issue is fine). Any help is appreciated.

Installation

pip install amazon_scraper

Dependencies

• python-amazon-simple-product-api

• requests

• beautifulsoup4

• xmltodict

• python-dateutil

Examples

All Products All The Time

Create an API instance:

>>> from amazon_scraper import AmazonScraper
>>> amzn = AmazonScraper("put your access key", "secret key", "and associate tag here")

The creation function accepts ‘kwargs’ which are passed to ‘bottlenose.Amazon’ constructor:

>>> from amazon_scraper import AmazonScraper
>>> amzn = AmazonScraper("put your access key", "secret key", "and associate tag here", Region='UK', MaxQPS=0.9, Timeout=5.0)

Search:

>>> from __future__ import print_function
>>> import itertools
>>> for p in itertools.islice(amzn.search(Keywords='python', SearchIndex='Books'), 5):
>>>     print(p.title)
Learning Python, 5th Edition
Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science 2nd Edition
Python In A Day: Learn The Basics, Learn It Quick, Start Coding Fast (In A Day Books) (Volume 1)
Python for Data Analysis: Data Wrangling with Pandas, NumPy, and IPython
Python Cookbook

Lookup by ASIN/ItemId:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(ItemId='B00FLIJJSA')
>>> p.title
Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - for international shipment
>>> p.url
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wi-Fi-Ink-Display-international/dp/B0051QVF7A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Batch Lookups:

>>> for p in amzn.lookup(ItemId='B0051QVF7A,B007HCCNJU,B00BTI6HBS'):
>>>     print(p.title)
Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - for international shipment
Kindle, 6" E Ink Display, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers (Black)
Kindle Paperwhite 3G, 6" High Resolution Display with Next-Gen Built-in Light, Free 3G + Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers

By URL:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(URL='http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wi-Fi-Ink-Display-international/dp/B0051QVF7A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top')
>>> p.title
Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - for international shipment
>>> p.asin
B0051QVF7A

Product Ratings:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(ItemId='B00FLIJJSA')
>>> p.ratings
[8, 4, 6, 4, 13]

Alternative Bindings:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(ItemId='B000GRFTPS')
>>> p.alternatives
['B00IVM5X7E', '9163192993', '0899669433', 'B00IPXPQ9O', '1482998742', '0441444814', '1497344824']
>>> for asin in p.alternatives:
>>>     alt = amzn.lookup(ItemId=asin)
>>>     print(alt.title, alt.binding)
The King in Yellow Kindle Edition
The King in Yellow Unknown Binding
King in Yellow Hardcover
The Yellow Sign Audible Audio Edition
The King in Yellow MP3 CD
THE KING IN YELLOW Mass Market Paperback
The King in Yellow Paperback

Supplemental text not available via the API:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(ItemId='0441016685')
>>> p.supplemental_text
[u"Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey ... ", u"Lovecraft\'s Cthulhu meets Len Deighton\'s spies ... ", u"This dark, funny blend of SF and ... "]

Review API

View lists of reviews:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(ItemId='B0051QVF7A')
>>> rs = p.reviews()
>>> rs.asin
B0051QVF7A
>>> # print the reviews on this first page
>>> rs.ids
['R3MF0NIRI3BT1E', 'R3N2XPJT4I1XTI', 'RWG7OQ5NMGUMW', 'R1FKKJWTJC4EAP', 'RR8NWZ0IXWX7K', 'R32AU655LW6HPU', 'R33XK7OO7TO68E', 'R3NJRC6XH88RBR', 'R21JS32BNNQ82O', 'R2C9KPSEH78IF7']
>>> rs.url
http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B0051QVF7A/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_sort_recent?&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
>>> # iterate over reviews on this page only
>>> for r in rs.brief_reviews:
>>>     print(r.id)
'R3MF0NIRI3BT1E'
'R3N2XPJT4I1XTI'
'RWG7OQ5NMGUMW'
...
>>> # iterate over all brief reviews on all pages
>>> for r in rs:
>>>     print(r.id)
'R3MF0NIRI3BT1E'
'R3N2XPJT4I1XTI'
'RWG7OQ5NMGUMW'
...

View detailed reviews:

>>> rs = amzn.reviews(ItemId='B0051QVF7A')
>>> # this will iterate over all reviews on all pages
>>> # each review will require a download as it is on a seperate page
>>> for r in rs.full_reviews():
>>>     print(r.id)
'R3MF0NIRI3BT1E'
'R3N2XPJT4I1XTI'
'RWG7OQ5NMGUMW'
...

Convert a brief review to a full review:

>>> rs = amzn.reviews(ItemId='B0051QVF7A')
>>> # this will iterate over all reviews on all pages
>>> # each review will require a download as it is on a seperate page
>>> for r in rs:
>>>     print(r.id)
>>>     fr = r.full_review()
>>>     print(fr.id)

Quickly get a list of all reviews on a review page using the all_reviews property. This uses the brief reviews provided on the review page to avoid downloading each review separately. As such, some information may not be accessible:

>>> p = amzn.lookup(ItemId='B0051QVF7A')
>>> rs = p.reviews()
>>> all_reviews_on_page = list(rs)
>>> len(all_reviews_on_page)
10
>>> r = all_reviews_on_page[0]
>>> r.title
'Fantastic device - pick your Kindle!'
>>> fr = r.full_review()
>>> fr.title
'Fantastic device - pick your Kindle!'

By ASIN/ItemId:

>>> rs = amzn.reviews(ItemId='B0051QVF7A')
>>> rs.asin
B0051QVF7A
>>> rs.ids
['R3MF0NIRI3BT1E', 'R3N2XPJT4I1XTI', 'RWG7OQ5NMGUMW', 'R1FKKJWTJC4EAP', 'RR8NWZ0IXWX7K', 'R32AU655LW6HPU', 'R33XK7OO7TO68E', 'R3NJRC6XH88RBR', 'R21JS32BNNQ82O', 'R2C9KPSEH78IF7']

For individual reviews use the review method:

>>> review_id = 'R3MF0NIRI3BT1E'
>>> r = amzn.review(Id=review_id)
>>> r.id
R3MF0NIRI3BT1E
>>> r.asin
B00492CIC8
>>> r.url
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3MF0NIRI3BT1E
>>> r.date
2011-09-29 18:27:14+00:00
>>> r.author
FreeSpirit
>>> r.text
Having been a little overwhelmed by the choices between all the new Kindles ... <snip>

By URL:

>>> r = amzn.review(URL='http://www.amazon.com/review/R3MF0NIRI3BT1E')
>>> r.id
R3MF0NIRI3BT1E

User Reviews API

This package also supports getting reviews written by a specific user.

Get reviews that a single author has created:

>>> ur = amzn.user_reviews(Id="A2W0GY64CJSV5D")
>>> ur.brief_reviews
>>> ur.name
>>> fr = list(ur.brief_reviews)[0].full_review()

Get reviews for a user, from a review object

>>> r = amzn.review(Id="R3MF0NIRI3BT1E")
>>> # we can get the reviews directly, or via the API with a URL or ID
>>> ur = r.user_reviews()
>>> ur = amzn.user_reviews(URL=r.author_reviews_url)
>>> ur = amzn.user_reviews(Id=r.author_id)
>>> ur.brief_reviews
>>> ur.name

Iterate over the current page’s reviews:

>>> ur = amzn.user_reviews(Id="A2W0GY64CJSV5D")
>>> for r in ur.brief_reviews:
>>>     print(r.id)

Iterate over all author reviews:

>>> ur = amzn.user_reviews(Id="A2W0GY64CJSV5D")
>>> for r in ur:
>>>     print(r.id)

Authors

• Adam Griffiths

• Greg Rehm