abebooks.com APIabebooks.com ↗
Search AbeBooks listings by ISBN, title, or author. Retrieve prices, conditions, seller details, and publisher info across new and used book listings.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/17b3e45e-0449-451e-8141-b46d6318c0b9/search_books?query=Python+programming' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search for books by author, title, ISBN, or keyword. Returns paginated results sorted by relevance, lowest price, or highest price.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| isbn | string | Book ISBN (ISBN-10 or ISBN-13). |
| page | integer | Page number for pagination. |
| sort | integer | Sort order. Accepted values: 1 (Relevance), 2 (Lowest Price), 3 (Highest Price). |
| query | string | General search keyword. |
| title | string | Book title. |
| author | string | Author name. |
| condition | string | Book condition filter. Accepted values: 'New', 'Used'. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"books": "array of book listing objects with listing_id, title, author, price, condition, seller (name, location, rating), shipping, and url"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"books": [
{
"url": "https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Harry-Potter-Philosopher%C3%A2s-Stone-Rowling-J.K/31213504444/bd",
"price": "US$ 1,250,000.00",
"title": "Harry Potter and the Philosopherâs Stone.",
"author": "Rowling, J.K",
"seller": {
"name": "Raptis Rare Books",
"rating": "(5-star seller)Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars",
"location": "Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A."
},
"shipping": "Free Shipping",
"condition": "Used - Hardcover",
"listing_id": "31213504444"
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the abebooks.com API
The AbeBooks API covers 6 endpoints for searching book listings, retrieving individual listing details, and finding sellers on AbeBooks.com. The search_books endpoint accepts ISBN, author, title, keyword, and condition filters, returning paginated arrays with price, condition, seller location, and rating fields. Dedicated endpoints for new-only and used-only offers, plus direct ISBN lookup, make price comparison and inventory checks straightforward.
Searching Book Listings
The search_books endpoint accepts any combination of isbn, title, author, query, and condition parameters, with a sort integer to order results by relevance (1), lowest price (2), or highest price (3). Pagination is controlled via the page parameter. Each item in the returned books array includes listing_id, title, author, price, condition, a seller object (with name, location, and rating), shipping, and a direct url to the listing.
Listing Detail and ISBN Lookup
get_book_listing takes a single listing_id and returns the full detail record: price, title, author, isbn10, isbn13, condition, publisher, and the seller's name and location. When you already have an ISBN, search_by_isbn accepts either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 and returns all active matching listings — note that results may be empty if no active listing carries that ISBN at query time.
Condition-Specific Offer Endpoints
get_new_offers and get_used_offers accept a query string and return listings pre-filtered to New or Used condition respectively. Both return the same books array shape as search_books, so they slot into any existing result-handling code without modification.
Seller Search
search_sellers accepts a seller name keyword and returns an array of matching seller objects, each containing name, url, and location. This is useful for building seller-specific browsing flows or verifying whether a known bookseller has an active presence on AbeBooks.
- Compare new vs. used prices for a given ISBN across all active AbeBooks listings
- Build a price-alert tool that polls
search_by_isbnfor price drops on a watchlist - Aggregate seller ratings and locations to surface geographically closer sellers
- Populate a used-book storefront by pulling
get_used_offersresults for specific titles - Verify publisher and ISBN-13 metadata for a book catalogue using
get_book_listing - Find specialty booksellers by subject or name via
search_sellers - Track condition-specific inventory availability for rare or out-of-print titles
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does AbeBooks have an official developer API?+
What does `get_book_listing` return beyond what search results include?+
get_book_listing returns isbn10, isbn13, and publisher fields that are not present in the search-result arrays from search_books or search_by_isbn. It also returns a structured seller object with name and location. Use it when you need the full bibliographic record for a specific listing ID.Can `search_by_isbn` return empty results?+
books array. This reflects actual marketplace availability at the time of the request, not a data error.Does the API return seller inventory or individual seller storefronts?+
search_sellers returns seller name, url, and location fields. Full seller inventory browsing — listing all books a specific seller has posted — is not currently covered. The API covers listing-level search and individual listing detail. You can fork it on Parse and revise it to add a seller-inventory endpoint.Is book description or edition information available in the listing detail?+
get_book_listing exposes title, author, publisher, isbn10, isbn13, condition, price, and seller fields. Free-text book descriptions, edition notes, and binding type are not currently returned. You can fork it on Parse and revise it to add those fields from the listing detail.