Search Web Services

Change Log

  • March 2025: Updated accepted values for bookcondition. Updated currency parameter for supported payment currencies.
  • December 2024: Updated sort order descriptions.
  • November 2024: Added language parameter. Added Language to Short, Medium, and Long Book Record Formats.
  • June 2024: Retired Subjects from Medium and Long Book Record Format returns. Field will be omitted from returned record.
  • January 2024: Updated Vendor Image to N, Y, Y, Y
  • July 2023: Updated Extra Book Ship Cost field to always return 0.0.
  • October 2019: Added allvendorimageurls parameter.
  • December 2017: Added pt (Product Type) parameter.
  • August 2015: Added targetsite parameter. Added instructions for obtaining GZIP compressed results.
  • May 2015: Updated formatting and layout. Added groupcode parameter and sortorder=20 (sort by relevance).

Introduction

Search Web Services (SWS) is a REST-style API that lets you search the AbeBooks inventory programmatically. It returns results in XML format, supports GZIP compression, and authenticates via a Client Key. The default rate limit is 4-5 queries per second.

Use SWS to search millions of listings from thousands of sellers across 50+ countries. Filter by ISBN, author, title, keyword, publisher, condition, binding, seller location, and more.

Before you start

  • Encoding: All URL parameters must use ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) encoding, not UTF-8. For example, "Hölderlin" must be encoded as H%F6lderlin, not H%C3%B6lderlin.
  • Rate limit: The default query rate is 4-5 queries per second. Exceeding this returns HTTP 429.
  • Response format: All responses are returned in XML. Compressed (GZIP) responses are available by including Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate in your request header.

How it works

Search the AbeBooks inventory by ISBN, author, title, keyword, or publisher. Results include listing prices, shipping costs, cover images, seller details, and listing descriptions. Refine results with filters for condition, binding, seller location, and rating. Add affiliate network tracking to receive commission on sales you generate.

Deprecated fields

Field Status Date Notes
Subjects Removed June 2024 No longer returned in any output size.
Extra Book Ship Cost Returns 0.0 July 2023 Retained for backward compatibility; no meaningful data.

Getting Started

To gain access to Search Web Services, you must first join our Affiliate Program and then request a Client Key.

Step 1: Join Our Affiliate Program

AbeBooks SWS can only be used by members of our Affiliate Program, providing your users with the books they need, us with valuable traffic, and you with a great source of income. Up to 5% in commission can be earned. Find out more and join our Affiliate Program here: https://www.abebooks.com/books/AffiliateProgram/

Step 2: Request a Client Key

Once you have joined our Affiliate Program, please send an email to affiliate@abebooks.com containing the following information:

  1. The IP address you'll use to make the requests
  2. URL
  3. Email address
  4. Technical contact name
  5. Affiliate ID

We'll review your application and send instructions for generating your Client Key.

Creating Search Requests

Each search request is a URL that contains request parameters. A typical search request looks like this:

https://search2.abebooks.com/search?clientkey=<your client key here>&title=things
  • https://search2.abebooks.com/search? — The URL where all search requests are performed.
  • clientkey=<your client key here> — Fill in your Client Key after the = sign. This tells our system that you are authorized to search our inventory. Note: the Client Key is case sensitive.
  • & — This sign separates the various parameters such as title, ISBN, author etc.
  • title= — This is a parameter name. Use this to tell our system which parameter to search. Note: parameter names are case sensitive.
  • things — This is a parameter value. Use this to tell our system which value to search.

Request parameter categories

  • Book search criteria (primary and secondary parameters)
  • Output value parameters
  • Book record format
  • Sort order