Wallapop Scraper – Technical Test

This script automates the extraction of car listings from Wallapop using Selenium. It collects data from 10 product pages and saves it into a structured JSON file.

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Setup & Usage Instructions

1. Install dependencies
   Make sure you have Python 3.11+ and Chrome installed. Then install Selenium:

   pip install selenium

2. Run the script
   From the project folder, run:

   python main_wallapop.py

3. Output
   A file named products_wallapop.json will be saved in the /output folder.

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Summary of Technical Decisions

• Selenium + ChromeDriver chosen for compatibility with JavaScript-rendered pages.
• Explicit waits (WebDriverWait) used instead of fixed delays to ensure element presence.
• Resilient scraping: uses find_elements + fallback defaults to avoid breaking on missing content.
• Simple JSON structure: clean and portable for further processing.
• Randomized user behavior: delay and interaction simulation for realism.

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Description of Anti-Bot Measures

To simulate human behavior and reduce detection:

• User-Agent spoofing: Custom desktop browser signature is applied.
• Real-time navigation: Browser accepts cookies, scrolls, and opens each product page individually.
• Randomized delays: Between 1–4 seconds added between requests.
• Browser dimensions: Configured to mimic real user screens (1920x1080).
• Try/except for fault tolerance: Script continues even if one page fails.

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Output Examples

Example JSON entry:

[
  {
    "title": "BMW Serie 3 1997",
    "price": "4500 €",
    "description": "BMW 318TDS in good condition, always in garage. Everything original. Includes 17\" wheels.",
    "image": "https://cdn.wallapop.com/images/...",
    "url": "https://es.wallapop.com/item/..."
  }
]

Optional screenshot snippet:

driver.save_screenshot(f"output/screenshot_{i}.png")

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Logging & Unit Tests

• Console logs inform about cookies, extracted product count, and any errors.
• No unit tests included, since the script relies on interactive, stateful page content.
• Exceptions are handled per product to prevent full script failure.

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Final Notes

This solution fulfills the test’s requirements:

• Scrapes a real-world JavaScript site
• Demonstrates basic anti-bot evasion
• Includes user interaction (clicks, navigation, scroll)
• Produces clean JSON output

Ready to extend with additional features like proxy rotation, screenshot capture, or headless execution.