What are Amazon ASINs and how to scrape them?
Tags: webscraping, amazon, tutorial
Published: 2023-05-05 16:33:20

---
title: What are Amazon ASINs and how to scrape them?
published: true
date: 2023-04-14 16:21:22 UTC
tags: webscraping, amazon, tutorial
canonical_url: https://blog.apify.com/what-are-amazon-asins-and-how-to-scrape-them/
---

What are ASINs on Amazon? Why are they important? Why do people scrape them? And how? We answer all these questions and show you how to extract Amazon product data with an ASIN Scraper.

## **What is an ASIN on Amazon?**

ASIN stands for _Amazon Standard Identification Number_, which is the unique number Amazon assigns to any product it sells that doesnt already have such a number provided by the manufacturer (e.g., an ISBN - _International Standard Book Number,_ or a UPC - _Universal Product Code_). An ASIN is a ten-alphanumeric digit sequence Amazon generates for every new listing. It always starts with B0.

## **How do I find an ASIN on Amazon?**

ASINs are not difficult to find, as they're on the product listing page on the Amazon website and labeled with ASIN. Customers can type the product description or ASIN into the search box and find the exact product they're looking for. If you dont know the ASIN for a product, you can find it by looking at the product item on the Amazon website. Lets demonstrate this with a simple example by going to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and choosing a product.

In this example, well choose a random product. When I went to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), I saw a Shop by Category box. Lets select the Computers & Accessories option in that box.

![](https://blog.apify.com/content/images/2022/09/Amazon.png)

Lets choose the Sceptre monitor, which is displayed as an Amazon Best Seller. Incidentally, you can scrape Amazon Best Sellers categories with [Amazon Best Sellers Scraper](https://apify.com/mihails/amazon-bestsellers-scraper?ref=blog.apify.com) if you want data for Best Sellers only.

![](https://blog.apify.com/content/images/2022/09/Amazon-best-sellers.png)

Click on the product and take a look at the URL. Do you see that 10-digit sequence beginning with B0? Thats the ASIN for this product.

![](https://blog.apify.com/content/images/2022/09/Amazon-ASIN-1.png)

Scrolling down the product page, youll also find the ASIN in the Technical details box.

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/yUOjl_tTA2Z4ENzX6NqQGYNiz32zrsfWvLVnuZlZ6QJxwbCph372LdrqGxGu0Cjw4gGLjwGL4qGjrNvpxydAkerB05HY6sZltyWcUj5dMi7eO5WKYXJVJsfm4HdSPsuwGQCr0NJ0HhvuRO4Ix3xGg1rj8sGXkcZdh_Ajs2-UNOwObARJErOCzWxyvcA4ZnVESOm7)

## **Why is an Amazon ASIN important?**

### **From the sellers perspective:**

An Amazon ASIN is important both for you and Amazon because it's used to track your inventory, as a reference for catalog data, and to index product catalog pages to search and browse. Your Amazon ASIN number is the bedrock for the catalogs structure, as it allows shoppers more room to search through multiple product categories. With the millions of products on Amazon, tracking inventory or indexing catalogs would be a nightmare without Amazon Standard Identification Numbers.

### **From the buyers perspective:**

An ASIN makes it easy to search for products by surfing multiple categories. Its easier for a shopper to buy a specific product with an ASIN in the same way that searching for a particular edition of a book is easier with an ISBN. If you want to purchase a specific model of laptop, identifying the ASIN makes finding it more straightforward.

{% embed https://apify.com/junglee/amazon-asins-scraper %}

## **Why scrape Amazon ASINs?**

Sellers scrape ASINs for different purposes, but two of the most common are:

**1. To get the product information needed for drop shipping on other platforms**

For example, if you want to drop ship from Amazon to your e-commerce website, you may need to extract all the detailed product information on the Amazon listing page, put it into a CSV file, and upload it to your website. If you want to add as many items as possible at a time, you may need to use a scraper tool.

**2. To gather all the review data for Amazon review analysis and product optimization**

Sellers may need to study their competitors and customers so that they can have a clear picture of what customers want and dont want, which products they should carry, how to market them, whether listing optimization could produce better results, and how to deliver the right messages to the consumer. An excellent way to do this is to go through the customer reviews and understand what they are complaining about and what they love. This process will reveal the inefficiencies in specific product types and customers' exact expectations about their go-to brands. Once you have the right products and messaging delivered to them, the success rate will go up. An efficient way to do this is to automate the extraction of ASIN reviews for analysis to get the insights they need to be successful on Amazon.

## **Is it legal to scrape Amazon ASINs?**

Scraping data that is publicly available on websites is legal. But you still need to adhere to copyright and personal data regulations and ensure your datasets dont contain any sensitive information.

{% embed https://blog.apify.com/is-web-scraping-legal/ %}

**How do you scrape ASINs on Amazon?**

The quickest and most efficient way to scrape ASINs on Amazon is with an Amazon ASIN scraper. Sure, you could use a more general tool for the platform, such as [Amazon Product Scraper](https://apify.com/vaclavrut/amazon-crawler?ref=blog.apify.com). This is a more powerful scraper that can extract much more Amazon data. Still, because it's designed and configured for a specific type of data, Amazon ASINs Scraper is quicker and easier if you want to scrape ASIN data specifically.

Here's how to use Amazon ASINs Scraper in 3 simple steps:

### **Step 1. Go to Amazon ASINs Scraper on the Apify platform**

![Step 1. Go to Amazon ASIN Scraper on the Apify platform](https://blog.apify.com/content/images/2023/04/Amazon-ASIN-Scraper-Try-for-free.png)

You can go directly to the [Amazon ASINs Scraper](https://apify.com/junglee/amazon-asins-scraper) page from here and click **_Try for free_**. If you dont already have an Apify account, youll be redirected to set one up with your email account, Google, or GitHub. No credit card is required, so you can get an Apify account and test the scraper for free with no obligation or unexpected subscription charges. So, go ahead and sign up for an Apify account. It would be ASIN not to 😆

### **Step 2. Add the ASINs for the Amazon products you want to scrape and click Start**

![Step 2. Add the ASINs for the Amazon products you want to scrape and click Start](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1dI0xnqB_OPlyhQc-pASZGFPywbWVeCqT-9l-6THBWO3J1FAV9cDXUJARrhPl0J-CXg3cOgWhB1PdcNFjYZw90g25ybYh8ngvoGyS3A_Uwjb4JkD_ipSyFpaIYHcknxc_JZScCUmU8fILUec_xo0JNHzM2sU_ddkP4V8pgpNIvAW4Qc54wL2ku69Yg)

You can choose more than one ASIN per run by clicking on the **_+Add_** button. We'll use the default setting and scrape just the one ASIN to demonstrate how this Amazon scraper works. This is the default input in JSON format:

```javascript
{
  "asins": [
    "B08BHHSB6M"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}

```

You can view all the input fields in JSON by clicking on **_Switch to JSON editor_** :

![Amazon ASINs Scraper Switch to JSON editor](https://blog.apify.com/content/images/2022/10/Switch-to-JSON-editor.png)

All you have to do now is click the **_Start_** button, and the tool will begin extracting data. The status will change from _Running_ to _Succeeded_ when it has finished.

![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/87ZPtL0KNlfZ1O5h2gBtOUOaby2oE2Uvb_Q6Aazek7iNiFhyE_3hHB2EhopNNT_UmKS_9IGljbEvhh3XELeKNmIysonzomqQlMvlHwBwRFvXSy8RYJ7HlY8emqHlsQhXG_ZrSB4uMt0e5ROzkcqpmP5p05IdPmlDTr5y_vd9UE7AFVtSnGOxF083mg)

### **Step 3. Download your Amazon data**

Now go to the storage tab and view or download your data in any of the available formats.

![Step 3. Download your Amazon review data](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/FV9Q4GbjAHJwXGYmOWZT9TZiqNZIaextWAezag19uojcmG8HGuuIhW3rtfsCgn-zOwPkbTN38QbIpA2h813jnVKD4TWKwYA3wgNYVAJ3EWS43045Ju9gb_c82ggcVmtBGTqjHbJJSrOQrw3ubpdIjHKLRKqYTx2nYUPh-8dykZmmBz0ywR8kICBRpg)

Here's the output for this run in JSON format:

```javascript
{
  "title": "Apple iPhone 11 Pro, 64GB, Midnight Green - Unlocked (Renewed Premium)",
  "url": "https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BHHSB6M?smid=",
  "asin": "B08BHHSB6M",
  "inStock": true,
  "brand": "Amazon Renewed",
  "price": {
    "value": 549,
    "currency": "$"
  },
  "listPrice": {
    "value": 590.06,
    "currency": "$"
  },
  "savedPrice": {
    "value": 41.06,
    "currency": "$"
  },
  "shippingPrice": null,
  "stars": 4.3,
  "starsBreakdown": {
    "5star": 0.7,
    "4star": 0.12,
    "3star": 0.05,
    "2star": 0.03,
    "1star": 0.1
  },
  "reviewsCount": 13443,
  "answeredQuestions": 1000,
  "breadCrumbs": "Cell Phones & Accessories Cell Phones",
  "thumbnailImage": "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51+Uw6N7BnL._AC_SY300_SX300_.jpg",
  "description": "Shoot amazing videos and photos with the Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras. Capture your best low-light photos with Night mode. Watch HDR movies and shows on the Super Retina XDR displaythe brightest iPhone display yet. Experience unprecedented performance with A13 Bionic for gaming, augmented reality (AR), and photography. All in the first iPhone powerful enough to be called Pro.",
  "features": [
    "This phone is unlocked and compatible with any carrier of choice on GSM and CDMA networks (e.g. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular, Cricket, Metro, Tracfone, Mint Mobile, etc.).",
    "Tested for battery health and guaranteed to come with a battery that exceeds 90% of original capacity.",
    "Backed by a one-year satisfaction guarantee, with free access to Amazons Technical Support team throughout the full year and ability to replace or return the product if it does not work as expected.",
    "Includes a brand new, generic charging cable that is certified Mfi (Made for iPhone) and a brand new, generic wall plug that is UL certified for performance and safety. Also includes a SIM tray removal tool but does not come with headphones or a SIM card.",
    "Inspected and guaranteed to have minimal cosmetic damage, which is not noticeable when the device is held at arms length. Successfully passed a full diagnostic test which ensures like-new functionality and removal of any prior-user personal information."
  ],
  "attributes": [
    {
      "key": "Package Dimensions",
      "value": "9.13 x 8.5 x 1.69 inches"
    },
    {
      "key": "Item Weight",
      "value": "15.5 ounces"
    },
    {
      "key": "ASIN",
      "value": "B08BHHSB6M"
    },
    {
      "key": "Item model number",
      "value": "A2160"
    },
    {
      "key": "OS",
      "value": "IOS 12"
    },
    {
      "key": "RAM",
      "value": "64 GB"
    },
    {
      "key": "Wireless communication technologies",
      "value": "Cellular"
    },
    {
      "key": "Other display features",
      "value": "Wireless"
    },
    {
      "key": "Form Factor",
      "value": "Smart Phone"
    },
    {
      "key": "Colour",
      "value": "Midnight Green"
    },
    {
      "key": "Battery Power Rating",
      "value": "458"
    },
    {
      "key": "Included Components",
      "value": "Charging cable and block"
    },
    {
      "key": "Manufacturer",
      "value": "Apple Computer"
    },
    {
      "key": "Country of Origin",
      "value": "USA"
    },
    {
      "key": "Date First Available",
      "value": "June 17, 2020"
    }
  ],
  "variantAsins": [
    "B08BHHSB6M",
    "B08BHXC5ZS",
    "B08BHJ5XH9",
    "B08BHHSB6M",
    "B08BHSTJC5",
    "B08BK7FW5R",
    "B08BHHSB6M",
    "B07ZQRMWVB",
    "B08BHHSB6M"
  ],
  "reviewsLink": "/Apple-iPhone-64GB-Midnight-Green/product-reviews/B08BHHSB6M/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews",
  "delivery": "Fri, Sep 23",
  "fastestDelivery": "Wed, Sep 21",
  "returnPolicy": null,
  "support": "Free Amazon product support included",
  "variantAttributes": [
    {
      "key": "Size",
      "value": "64GB"
    },
    {
      "key": "Color",
      "value": "Midnight Green"
    },
    {
      "key": "Service Provider",
      "value": "Unlocked"
    },
    {
      "key": "Product grade",
      "value": "Renewed Premium"
    }
  ],
  "priceVariants": null,
  "manufacturerAttributes": [],
  "seller": {
    "name": "Amazon.com",
    "id": null,
    "url": "https://www.amazon.com",
    "reviewsCount": null,
    "averageRating": null
  },
  "condition": "Excellent condition (Refurbished)",
  "position": 1
  }

```

Now youve seen how it works, why not try it again on your own? Choose some Amazon ASINs you want to scrape, and collect and download more Amazon product data.

[![](https://console.apify.com/img/run_on_apify.svg)](https://console.apify.com/actors/ZhSGsaq9MHRnWtStl?ref=blog.apify.com)

{% embed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTRHomGg9uQ %}

_Learn more about how to find and scrape the ASIN for each Amazon product in this video tutorial_