How to Get Product and Reviews Data with the eCommerce Reviews API [Guide]

We recently introduced the eCommerce Reviews API, an exciting new product and game changer in accessing product and reviews data. In the announcement post, we explain why this new eCommerce API is a powerful tool for automated data platforms and solutions. This post outlines how to use the API in four simple steps, with links to short video tutorials illustrating how to carry out each step. This quick guide will help you get eCommerce data from the API and scale your data input.

What is the eCommerce Reviews API?

The Webz.io eCommerce Reviews API provides on-demand access to structured product and reviews data from 900+ eCommerce and marketplace sources. The data includes product metadata, and when available, verified reviews data. You get instant access to all the eCommerce data you need. Use the API to search for similar products, competitor products, product reviews, entire product categories, and more.

Getting product and reviews data: An overview

The eCommerce Reviews API lets you query and extract product and product reviews data. You do this by initiating a collection of product documents with the API. There are four steps to getting the eCommerce data you need, with each step involving a different endpoint:

• Step #1: Search for product data
• Step #2: Extract and query product data
• Step #3: Activate products to extract reviews
• Step #4: Extract and query reviews data

You can access each of the endpoints independently. You do not always need to make requests in order. However, at the beginning, you must make API requests in the above order. For example, if you’ve already added a search method and activated a product for review retrieval, you don’t need to add search methods again before visiting the rest of the endpoints and vice versa.

Our eCommerce API includes flexible search options, making it especially powerful:  

• By Keyword — Easily find products and reviews with similar keywords or names, enabling you to discover relevant information quickly.
• By Category — Expand your search with the categories method, ensuring you never miss relevant data from products or reviews.
• By Product — Obtain all the information you require for a specific product by searching through its unique URL.

These options let you narrow your search so that you can easily find the product and review information that matters most to you.

How to use the eCommerce Reviews API in 4 simple steps

Before you can use the API, you’ll need to speak with one of our data experts, who will help you get started and provide you with a token to use for running your requests. You must include your token with every request you make to the API. You can make requests to the eCommerce Reviews API using a web browser or an API platform like Postman. You could also create a script to make requests to the API if desired. Using our eCommerce API involves four simple steps:

Step #1: Search for product data

Make a request using the addNewSearch endpoint URL. You must include all three of these input parameters in the request:

• Method — The search method used to crawl product data URLs (e.g., keyword, category, or product — you can only choose one) 
• Domain — The domain you want to collect data from, e.g., amazon.com (without www).
• Value — The full URL that you want to collect products from.

Once you’ve sent your request, you’ll receive a response from the API telling you if your search method was successful (status:200) or if there was an error. The response will also include a method ID to label the request sent. The collection of product documents from these search methods takes up to 48 hours to complete.

We’ve created a video tutorial on the addNewSearch endpoint that you can watch on YouTube:

Step #2: Extract and query product data

The first step tells the API to collect product data (product documents). In this step, you use the getProducts endpoint to extract product data from the collected documents. You can also query the endpoint using our searchable fields to find specific information that might interest you. 

For example, you could use the method field to query the results related to a specific search method ID or brand_name to query the results based on a particular brand. Visit our documentation to see which fields are searchable. Please note that each page can show up to 100 results. To learn more about pagination, visit our pagination documentation page. 

After running your query, if you want to go back and see all your collected product data again, remove the query. It may take up to 48 hours until the data has been fully collected. 

You can watch a video tutorial on the getProducts endpoint on YouTube:

Step #3: Activate products to extract reviews

To extract reviews data, you must first “activate” the product uuids in which you would like to retrieve reviews data. To do this, you use the updateProduct endpoint. You must include these two input parameters in your API request:

• uuid — A unique ID representing the item that you can find in the getProducts endpoint.
• reviews_retrieval — A Boolean field that you must set to true to activate product documents.

Once you’ve made the request to the endpoint, the API will let you know if the product uuid was successfully activated or if there was an error.

With this endpoint, you can activate reviews retrieval on a particular product, and the API will collect all the historical reviews data available, and then will proceed to bring the latest reviews on an ongoing basis. It will continuously crawl and collect new product reviews so that you are always updated on the latest reviews added for the product. Reviews data may take up to 48 hours to be collected.

If you need to deactivate review retrieval on a certain product, input the relevant uuid and turn the reviews_retrieval field to false. “Deactivate” means that the API will stop collecting new reviews and revisiting the product for updates. 

Check out our video tutorial on the updateProduct endpoint on YouTube:

Step #4: Extract and query reviews data

The final step allows you to view and extract reviews data (both historical and ongoing) on activated products. You extract the reviews data using the getReviews endpoint. You can also query the endpoint with our searchable fields to find reviews or specific information.

For example, you could use the product_uuid field to search for a specific product that has reviews or rating to see the star ratings from reviews of different products. 

Each page shows up to 100 results, and you will receive reviews data in descending order. The API will continue to deliver new reviews up to every 48 hours. You can remove the query if you want to see all your collected reviews again.

We’ve also created a tutorial for this endpoint, and you can watch the video on YouTube:

Getting product and reviews data has never been easier

We’ve made getting the eCommerce data you need for your platform easy —only four quick and simple steps. Plus, you don’t have to spend time configuring parsers, rotating proxies, or bypassing anti-bot software. Our API provides custom-fit, continuous eCommerce data feeds that support various use cases, including review management, customer sentiment monitoring, market research, and product innovation. With the eCommerce Reviews API, you can dramatically expand your coverage, providing customers with the high-quality, contextual data they need for their businesses.

Ready to start getting highly relevant product and reviews data at scale? Talk to one of our data experts.