Scrappa's GET /api/offerup/categories endpoint returns OfferUp's complete category tree so you can build category pickers without hardcoding ids.
Three levels, not two
The default response is the full tree: 14 top-level categories, 137 second-level, and 1,093 third-level. The counts object reports what came back so you can assert the tree is complete rather than trusting the request.
Pass exclude_l3=true for the lighter two-level tree when you only need a top-level picker.
Category ids are paths, not numbers
Ids are dotted hierarchical paths such as 1, 1.2, and 5.1, where 5 is vehicles. The widely repeated claim that these are flat numeric ids is wrong, and a lookup table keyed on the wrong id format silently returns nothing.
Pass any id to search as the cid parameter for keyword-free category browsing. category_id behaves differently and requires a keyword — see Search.
Run this endpoint
Endpoint
Parameters
Start with the required fields, then add optional filters only when your use case needs them.
Runnable path
This endpoint has no required query parameters.
1 optional filter available.
string
Optional
Return only the top two levels. Defaults to false, which returns all three.
false
Request Examples
<?php
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, [
CURLOPT_URL => "https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0",
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
"x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
],
]);
$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);
curl_close($curl);
if ($err) {
echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
echo $response;
}
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;
$response = Http::timeout(30)
->withHeaders(['x-api-key' => 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'])
->get('https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0');
if ($response->successful()) {
echo $response->body();
} else {
echo "Error: " . $response->status();
}
const options = {
method: 'GET',
headers: {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'
}
};
fetch('https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0', options)
.then(response => {
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
}
return response.text();
})
.then(data => console.log(data))
.catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));
const axios = require('axios');
const options = {
method: 'GET',
url: 'https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0',
headers: {
x-api-key: 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
}
};
try {
const response = await axios(options);
console.log(response.data);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error:', error.message);
}
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
uri = URI.parse("https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0")
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == 'https'
request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri.request_uri)
request['x-api-key'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'
begin
response = http.request(request)
puts response.body
rescue => e
puts "Error: #{e.message}"
end
import http.client
import json
conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("scrappa.co")
headers = {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
}
try:
conn.request("GET", "/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0", headers=headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error: {e}")
finally:
conn.close()
import requests
headers = {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
}
try:
response = requests.get('https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0', headers=headers)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.text)
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
print(f"Error: {e}")
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.Response;
import java.io.IOException;
public class ApiExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
Request request = new Request.Builder()
.url("https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0")
.addHeader("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")
.build();
try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
if (response.isSuccessful()) {
System.out.println(response.body().string());
} else {
System.out.println("Error: " + response.code());
}
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}
package main
import (
"fmt"
"net/http"
"io/ioutil"
)
func main() {
client := &http.Client{}
req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0", nil)
if err != nil {
fmt.Println("Error creating request:", err)
return
}
req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")
resp, err := client.Do(req)
if err != nil {
fmt.Println("Error making request:", err)
return
}
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
if err != nil {
fmt.Println("Error reading response:", err)
return
}
fmt.Println(string(body))
}
#!/bin/bash
curl -X GET \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" \
"https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0"
using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
class Program
{
static async Task Main()
{
using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE");
try
{
var response = await client.SendAsync(new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, "https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0"));
var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(content);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
}
}
}
import axios from 'axios';
async function run(): Promise<void> {
try {
const response = await axios({
method: 'GET',
url: 'https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0',
headers: {
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE',
},
});
console.log(response.data);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error:', error);
}
}
void run();
use reqwest::Client;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let client = Client::new();
let response = client
.get("https://scrappa.co/api/offerup/categories?exclude_l3=0")
.header("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")
.send()
.await?;
println!("{}", response.text().await?);
Ok(())
}
Response Schema
Example response fields are illustrative; inspect the JSON before integrating.
Example response fields
Scan these fields before integrating.
success
counts
categories
Common categories fields
id
label
level
children
{
"success": true,
"counts": {
"level_1": 14,
"level_2": 137,
"level_3": 1093
},
"categories": [
{
"id": "5",
"label": "Vehicles",
"level": 1,
"children": []
}
]
}
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