NAME

WWW::Search::Ebay - backend for searching www.ebay.com

SYNOPSIS

use WWW::Search;
my $oSearch = new WWW::Search('Ebay');
my $sQuery = WWW::Search::escape_query("C-10 carded Yakface");
$oSearch->native_query($sQuery);
while (my $oResult = $oSearch->next_result())
  { print $oResult->url, "\n"; }

DESCRIPTION

This class is a Ebay specialization of WWW::Search. It handles making and interpreting Ebay searches http://www.ebay.com.

This class exports no public interface; all interaction should be done through WWW::Search objects.

NOTES

The search is done against CURRENT running AUCTIONS only. (NOT completed auctions, NOT eBay Stores items, NOT Buy-It-Now only items.) (If you want to search completed auctions, use the WWW::Search::Ebay::Completed module.) (If you want to search eBay Stores, use the WWW::Search::Ebay::Stores module.)

The query is applied to TITLES only.

The results are ordered youngest auctions first (reverse order of auction listing date).

In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the description() field consists of a human-readable combination (joined with semicolon-space) of the Item Number; number of bids; and high bid amount (or starting bid amount).

In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the end_date() field contains a human-readable DTG of when the auction is scheduled to end (in the form "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM TZ"). If environment variable TZ is set, the time will be converted to that timezone; otherwise the time will be left in ebay.com's default timezone (US/Pacific).

In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the bid_count() field contains the number of bids as an integer.

In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the bid_amount() field is a string containing the high bid or starting bid as a human-readable monetary value in seller-native units, e.g. "$14.95" or "GBP 6.00".

In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the category() field contains the Ebay category number.

In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the sold() field will be non-zero if the item has already sold. (Only if you're using WWW::Search::Ebay::Completed)

After a successful search, your search object will contain an element named 'categories' which will be a reference to an array of hashes containing names and IDs of categories and nested subcategories, and the count of items matching your query in each category and subcategory. (Special thanks to Nick Lokkju for this code!) For example:

$oSearch->{category} = [
        {
          'ID' => '1',
          'Count' => 19,
          'Name' => 'Collectibles',
          'Subcategory' => [
                             {
                               'ID' => '13877',
                               'Count' => 11,
                               'Name' => 'Historical Memorabilia'
                             },
                             {
                               'ID' => '11450',
                               'Count' => 1,
                               'Name' => 'Clothing, Shoes & Accessories'
                             },
                           ]
        },
        {
          'ID' => '281',
          'Count' => 1,
          'Name' => 'Jewelry & Watches',
        }
      ];

If your query string happens to be an eBay item number, (i.e. if ebay.com redirects the query to an auction page), you will get back one WWW::Search::Result without bid or price information.

OPTIONS

Search descriptions

To search titles and descriptions, add 'srchdesc'=>'y' to the query options:

$oSearch->native_query($sQuery, { srchdesc => 'y' } );

Search one category

To restrict your search to a particular eBay category, find out eBay's ID number for the category and add 'sacategory'=>123 to the query options:

$oSearch->native_query($sQuery, { sacategory => 48995 } );

If you send a single asterisk or a single space as the query string, the results will be ALL the auctions in that category.

SEE ALSO

To make new back-ends, see WWW::Search.

BUGS

Please tell the author if you find any!

AUTHOR

WWW::Search::Ebay was written by Martin Thurn (mthurn@cpan.org).

WWW::Search::Ebay is maintained by Martin Thurn (mthurn@cpan.org).

Some fixes along the way contributed by Troy Davis.

LEGALESE

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

result_as_HTML

Given a WWW::SearchResult object representing an auction, formats it human-readably with HTML.

cpanm WWW::Search::Ebay

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install WWW::Search::Ebay