BidSpotter API

Every industrial and commercial auction on BidSpotter, one row each

BidSpotter API returns live BidSpotter data as clean JSON for industrial and commercial auctions in the us, canada and the uk: catalogues, lots and live bids.

endpoints
5
credit per call
1

1 credit per call≈ $1/1,000 calls1,000 free credits, no card

5 active endpoints. Every call is 1 credit.

  • POST/bidspotter/v1/auctions1 credit
  • POST/bidspotter/v1/lots1 credit
  • POST/bidspotter/v1/lot1 credit
  • POST/bidspotter/v1/search1 credit
  • POST/bidspotter/v1/bids1 credit
Try it live

Run the call yourself, on the real endpoint

Change a parameter and press Try it. The response on the right is what your code will receive.

BidSpotter API

3 of 5 endpoints, ready to run

View docs ↗

One row per auction: title, auctioneer, timed or live webcast, status, the date as the site shows it and in UTC, when bidding opens and closes, location and address, lot categories with counts, image and catalogue link. The site's own total and page count come back with every page.

1 credit0 required · 6 optional
POST/bidspotter/v1/auctions
idle
// Press "Try it" and this pane shows exactly what the
// live site returned this second — including an empty
// result, if that is the truth. No key, no account.

Try every endpoint in the playground

Endpoints

What BidSpotter endpoints does ReefAPI ship?

5 live read endpoints. Read-only data API: no writes, no account actions, no dashboard access on the target site.

5 endpoints

auctions

1 cr

Auction catalogues on BidSpotter, one clean row per auction.

required
—
optional
site, status, auction_type, country, state, auctioneer, category, master_category, association, sort, page, exclude_closed, include_facets

lots

1 cr

The lots of one BidSpotter auction catalogue with the auction itself.

required
—
optional
url, auction_ref, site, page, page_size, sort, query, category, brand, include_bids, include_facets

lot

1 cr

One BidSpotter lot in full.

required
—
optional
url, auction_ref, lot_id, site, include_bids

search

1 cr

Search lots across every BidSpotter auction by keyword (forklift, cnc lathe, john deere …), n…

required
query
optional
query, site, country, state, auction_type, auctioneer, category, master_category, brand, sort, page, include_bids, include_facets

bids

1 cr

Live bid state for up to 120 BidSpotter lots in one call (timed and webcast).

required
lot_ids
optional
lot_ids, site

Every parameter, every allowed value →

Missing a BidSpotter endpoint, or need a source we don't have yet?Contact us real people · same-day reply.
How it works

How the BidSpotter API works

BidSpotter is a normal ReefAPI surface — the same four rules that hold for every other engine on the key.

01
Authenticate
x-api-key header

No OAuth app, no request signing, no per-site account. One key covers all 632 engines.

02
Call
POST /bidspotter/v1/…

Every route is a POST with a JSON body. Parameters are validated against the published schema before anything is charged.

03
Pay
1 credit per call

Credits, not seats. Failed and blocked calls are never charged, and nothing is cached: every call reads the source live.

04
Read
{ ok, data, meta, error }

One envelope everywhere. meta carries latency_ms, record_count and the endpoint that answered.

Recipe

Track upcoming auctions and the lots you care about

The auction list first, then the catalogues that matter, then live bids on the lots you watch.

01auctions
POST/bidspotter/v1/auctions
{"exclude_closed": true, "page": 1}

One row per auction with auctioneer, date, type and location; page through to the site's own total.

02lots
POST/bidspotter/v1/lots
{"auction_ref": "<auction_ref from a row>", "page_size": "120", "sort": "end_date"}

Every lot with current bid, bid count and closing time.

03bids
POST/bidspotter/v1/bids
{"lot_ids": ["<lot_id>", "<lot_id>"]}

The live bid state for up to 120 lots in one call.

A dated, located list of auctions and a bid-by-bid view of the lots you are following.

request
curl -X POST https://api.reefapi.com/bidspotter/v1/auctions \
  -H "x-api-key: $REEF_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"page":1}'
response envelope
{
  "ok": true,
  "data": { … },
  "meta": {
    "api": "bidspotter",
    "endpoint": "auctions",
    "mode": "live",
    "latency_ms": …,
    "record_count": …
  },
  "error": null
}
Coverage

What the source gives, what it hides, and what we checked

Measured on 2026-11-11: 43 live calls across all five actions plus 8 deliberate bad inputs, checked against the site's own counts and pages.

Totals match the site

The current US list returned 454 auctions across 8 pages, the same total the site shows. Per-type counts (376 timed, 77 webcast, 1 tender) and the United States filter (333) matched the site's own filter counts.

Lots match the catalogue

One catalogue paged through to 129 unique lots, the number its own page shows.

Bid counts from the bid service

The lot data on the page shows 0 bids on every lot, so current bid and bid count come from the site's own bid service. The two agreed on 7 of 7 lot checks.

Hammer price only when published

The hammer price is returned only when the auctioneer publishes results on the lot page; it matched the page on 10 of 10 lots. Otherwise it is null.

Two separate marketplaces

bidspotter.com and bidspotter.co.uk list different auctions; pick one with site. Times come in UTC next to the text the site shows.

Against us: no reserve amount

Whether a lot has a reserve and whether it is met is returned; the reserve amount itself, the seller's figure, is not.

Against us: no bid history

The site shows bid history only to signed-in bidders, so it is not returned.

Against us: search needs words

search requires a query; to browse without one, filter auctions or a catalogue's lots by category.

Use cases

What people build with BidSpotter

The jobs this data is most often used for.

5

endpoints

1

credit per call

01

Price-intelligence teams use BidSpotter to get auction catalogues on BidSpotter, one clean row per auction.

02

Classifieds aggregators use BidSpotter to get the lots of one BidSpotter auction catalogue with the auction itself.

03

Resale and arbitrage tools use BidSpotter to get one BidSpotter lot in full.

04

Lead-generation teams use BidSpotter to search lots across every BidSpotter auction by keyword (forklift, cnc lathe, john deere …), n….

Pricing

What BidSpotter data costs

The cheapest call here is 1 credit, so $15/mo (Pro) buys 10,000 of them — $1.50 per 1,000 credits. Credits roll over and never expire, and failed or blocked calls are not charged.

Full pricing →
$0.67–$1.50 / 1,000 credits
  • 1,000 free credits on signup, no card
  • One key, all 632 APIs, one credit pool
  • Failed and blocked calls are never charged
  • Credits roll over and never expire
no credit card1,000 free credits · instant API key · pay by card or crypto
Quickstart

Call it in two lines

Sign up, get 1,000 credits and one key that works on every engine. Then this is the whole protocol.

curl
curl -X POST https://api.reefapi.com/bidspotter/v1/auctions \
  -H "x-api-key: $REEF_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"page":1}'
python
import os
import requests

REEF_KEY = os.environ["REEF_KEY"]

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.reefapi.com/bidspotter/v1/auctions",
    headers={"x-api-key": REEF_KEY},
    json={
        "page": 1
    },
    timeout=90,
)
print(r.json()["data"])
FAQ

Have a question? We got answers.

The questions people actually ask before wiring up BidSpotter.

What is the BidSpotter API?▾

BidSpotter API is a ReefAPI endpoint group for industrial and commercial auctions in the us, canada and the uk: catalogues, lots and live bids. It returns live JSON through POST requests under /bidspotter/v1.

Is the BidSpotter API free to try?▾

Yes. ReefAPI starts with 1,000 free credits, no card required. BidSpotter calls use the same shared credit balance as every other ReefAPI engine.

Do I need a BidSpotter login or account?▾

No login to BidSpotter is needed for the API response. You call ReefAPI with your x-api-key header, and the playground can run live examples before you create a production key.

How fresh is the BidSpotter data?▾

The page example is captured from a live auctions call, and production requests fetch live data through ReefAPI rather than a static sample.

How many credits does the BidSpotter API use?▾

BidSpotter actions currently cost 1 credit per successful call. Failed or blocked calls are free. All APIs draw from one credit pool.

Can I call BidSpotter from an AI assistant or MCP client?▾

Yes. Connect ReefAPI once through MCP and your assistant can call bidspotter actions with the same key, credit pool and JSON envelope used by normal REST requests.

Is the BidSpotter API a BidSpotter scraper?▾

It is the managed alternative to a DIY BidSpotter scraper. Instead of building and maintaining your own scraper — proxies, headless browsers, captcha and constant breakage — you call one ReefAPI endpoint and get the same industrial and commercial auctions in the us, canada and the uk: catalogues, lots and live bids back as clean JSON.

Why does my BidSpotter scraper keep getting blocked?▾

Most BidSpotter scrapers break on anti-bot defenses, rate limits and IP bans that need rotating residential proxies and browser fingerprinting to clear. ReefAPI handles all of that for you — no proxies, no captchas, no maintenance — and returns live JSON. Blocked calls are free.

Same key

116 Classifieds & Second-hand APIs on the same key

One key, one credit pool, one response envelope. If you are pulling BidSpotter, you are one call away from the rest of the category — no second contract, no second integration.

Contact

Need something this API does not do?

Name the endpoint, the field, or a source we do not carry yet. We ship new APIs every week and you would be first to get the key. Real people read every message and reply the same day.

0/4000

No account needed · we reply from [email protected]

Try it on your own data before you pay anything

The call above is the real endpoint, not a recording. A free key gives you 1,000 credits, the other 631 APIs, and the same envelope everywhere.

Endpoints, parameters and credit costs on this page are read from the live catalog and cannot drift from what the API accepts. Field notes were captured on 2026-11-11.