How does Terapeak do it?

February 21, 2008 2:03 PM

How do sites like Terapeak and Hammertap get their data from eBay?

I'm exploring opening an eBay store with my eBay-savvy fiance, and as someone with a systems engineering background, I see the advantage to doing research through tools like Terapeak and Hammertap before we actually decide what to sell and how to sell it. However, I'm also very intrigued by these sites from a technical perspective, and I wish I could figure out how they get their data.

So my question to all of you DBA junkies is this: How do these sites mine their data? Or do they just have a contract with eBay to get data dumps sent to them and then they parse it and deliver it to the customer? And how would you, as a DBA-savvy person, go about creating your own Terapeak or Hammertap?

Many thanks in advance!

posted by omnipotentq to Computers & Internet (1 answer total)

Best answer: Terapeak is certified by eBay via their Certified Provider Program. As such, they obviously have eBay's blessing, which means they're not just scraping the site for date but are given (or more likely, have purchased) direct access to eBay sales data.

If you want to get into the Terapeak/Hammertap game, you, too, can become an eBay Certified Provider, just click the pricing and getting certified tabs on that page.
posted by beagle at 2:15 PM on February 21, 2008