# InStockTrades Scraper - Discount Graphic Novels & Manga Deals (`lulzasaur/instocktrades-scraper`) Actor

Scrape InStockTrades (instocktrades.com) discount graphic novels, trade paperbacks & manga. Get title, publisher, writer, artist, IST price, list price, discount %, availability, release date, image and URL for Batman, Marvel, manga and thousands more.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/instocktrades-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## InStockTrades Scraper — Discount Graphic Novels, Trades & Manga

Scrape [InStockTrades](https://www.instocktrades.com) — one of the largest discount retailers of trade paperbacks, graphic novels, hardcovers and manga (up to 42% off list price). Search any title and get structured pricing and product data: current IST price, publisher list price (SRP), discount %, publisher, writer/artist credits, availability, release date, cover image and product URL.

### What it does

For each search query, the actor scrapes InStockTrades search results (40 products per page, with pagination) and optionally enriches every product from its detail page.

### Output fields

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `title` | Product title (e.g. "Batman Detective Comics (2022) TP Vol 04") |
| `publisher` | Publisher (DC Comics, Marvel, Image, Viz Media, ...) — detail pages |
| `writer` | Writer credit(s) |
| `artist` | Artist credit(s) |
| `coverArtist` | Cover artist |
| `price` | Discounted InStockTrades price (USD) |
| `listPrice` | Publisher list price / SRP (USD) |
| `discount` / `discountPercent` | Discount off list (e.g. "40% off" / 40) |
| `availability` | `In Stock` (site only lists in-stock items) or `Coming Soon` |
| `releaseDate` | Expected release date for coming-soon items |
| `format` | Softcover / Hardcover (detail pages) |
| `pageCount` | Page count (detail pages) |
| `productCode` | Diamond product code (e.g. AUG247251) |
| `upc` | UPC / ISBN (detail pages) |
| `description` | Solicitation text |
| `imageUrl` | Cover image URL |
| `url` | Product page URL |

### Input

```json
{
    "searchQueries": ["batman", "one piece"],
    "maxItems": 40,
    "scrapeDetails": true
}
```

- **searchQueries** — list of search terms (series, character, creator, publisher).
- **maxItems** — max products per query (~40 per results page).
- **scrapeDetails** — fetch each product page for publisher, format, page count, UPC and full description. Turn off for faster, listing-only scrapes (creators and prices still included).
- **proxyConfiguration** — US residential proxy by default (the site blocks datacenter IPs).

### Example record

```json
{
    "title": "Batman Detective Comics (2022) TP Vol 04 Gotham Nocturne Intermezzo Batman Outlaw",
    "publisher": "DC Comics",
    "writer": "Ram V, Dan Watters",
    "artist": "Various",
    "coverArtist": "Evan Cagle",
    "price": 11.99,
    "listPrice": 19.99,
    "discount": "40% off",
    "discountPercent": 40,
    "availability": "In Stock",
    "format": "Softcover",
    "pageCount": 200,
    "productCode": "AUG247251",
    "upc": "9781779529459",
    "imageUrl": "https://media.instocktrades.com/small/AUG247251.jpg",
    "url": "https://www.instocktrades.com/products/aug247251/batman-detective-comics-(2022)-tp-vol-04-gotham-nocturne-intermezzo-batman-outlaw"
}
```

### Use cases

- **Deal hunting & price tracking** — monitor discounts on comics, omnibuses and manga.
- **Price comparison** — compare IST prices vs list price or other retailers.
- **Collection tooling** — pull structured metadata (creators, publisher, UPC, format).
- **Restock / new release alerts** — the site only lists in-stock items, so presence = availability.

### Notes

- Data comes from server-rendered public pages; no login required.
- Coming-soon items (preorders) have no price yet — the actor returns their expected release date instead.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

List of search terms to look up on InStockTrades (e.g. 'batman', 'spider-man', 'one piece', 'saga').

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of products to scrape per search query (~40 products per results page).

## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each product page for richer data: publisher, writer, artist, cover artist, format, page count, UPC/ISBN and full description. Slower but more complete.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings. InStockTrades is Cloudflare-fronted and blocks datacenter IPs, so US residential proxy is used by default.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "batman"
  ],
  "maxItems": 40,
  "scrapeDetails": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "batman"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/instocktrades-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["batman"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/instocktrades-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "batman"
  ]
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/instocktrades-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/instocktrades-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/GCPHyzmYd74TPmuWM/builds/cXK8qspcwCuLggXVt/openapi.json