Data sources
What we read, and what we leave out
SkySearchAI only uses a source on member accounts when the platform's own terms allow it: an official API, usually with your own free key. Where a platform's terms do not allow automated collection for a public product, member accounts do not use it, and every report says so instead of showing a blank.
Used on member accounts 7 sources
| Source | How it is read | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apple App Store (Search API, top charts) | Apple's public API and chart feeds | Every app links to its App Store page, and no review text is shown. Apple documents these feeds for promoting App Store content, so this use is under legal review. |
| Printful catalog API | official API | Product base costs, linked to each Printful product page. |
| Printify API | official API, your own token | Printify allows a merchant to share their own token. A member's own token is used, never ours. |
| Meta Ad Library API | official API, your own verified token | Your own identity-confirmed Meta token, never ours. Meta returns product ads for EU and UK audiences only. |
| Empire Flippers marketplace | Marketplace API | Empire Flippers invites syndication. Each listing links back to Empire Flippers; figures are seller-stated. |
| Hacker News (Algolia API) | public API | Titles, points and links only, each linked to the discussion. The API has no terms of its own, so this is under review. |
| Exchange rates (ExchangeRate-API) | official API | Rates By Exchange Rate API, with attribution. |
Not used on member accounts 23 sources
| Source | Route | Why it is left out |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | web pages and autocomplete | Amazon's Conditions of Use exclude collecting listings or prices and any robots or data mining. |
| AliExpress | web pages | AliExpress terms prohibit systematically retrieving site content to build a database. |
| DHgate | web pages | DHgate claims its listings and grants no licence to reuse them, and its robots.txt disallows search. |
| Made-in-China | web pages | Made-in-China's User Agreement forbids copying or crawling its information without written consent. |
| CJdropshipping | API | CJ's User Agreement forbids using its content commercially or re-displaying it outside CJ without written permission. |
| eBay Browse API | official API | Not used right now. eBay's API licence also forbids using eBay content to suggest or model prices, which is what a margin calculation does. |
| Etsy Open API | official API | Not used right now. Etsy's API Terms (August 2026) also forbid collecting Etsy content for analytics without written authorization. |
| FastMoss (TikTok Shop data) | web API with a session cookie | FastMoss terms forbid scraping and displaying its data in any application. |
| Google Play | web pages (google-play-scraper) | Google's terms bar automated access against robots.txt, and Play's robots.txt disallows these pages. |
| Google autocomplete | undocumented endpoint | No licence to reuse Google content commercially; a licensed route is needed first. |
| Google Trends feed | RSS | Google grants no licence to reuse Trends data inside a commercial product. |
| Google News RSS | RSS | The feed's own notice limits it to personal, non-commercial reading. |
| eBay autocomplete | undocumented endpoint | eBay's User Agreement bars robots, and that host's robots.txt disallows everything. |
| YouTube search pages | web pages | YouTube's terms bar automated access except through its API. |
| YouTube Data API | official API | Allowed for a product like this only from one project we hold, with data deleted within 30 days and no derived metrics. Stored scans do not meet that yet. |
| Gumroad Discover | site search endpoint | Gumroad's Terms bar scrapers and any commercial exploitation of the service. |
| Meta Ad Library via a scraper | scraper (Apify) | Meta requires express written permission for automated collection. The official API with your own token is used instead. |
| Data API or browser | Reddit's Data API Terms require a separate agreement for commercial use. | |
| Flippa | undocumented API | Flippa's Terms bar data mining and robots, and it offers no public developer API. |
| TrustMRR | web pages | TrustMRR's Terms ban scraping, sharing its data with third parties and using it to ground AI. |
| TikTok ad library API | approval-gated API | Approval-gated, EU-only, and commercial use needs TikTok's written approval. |
| X (Twitter) | browser session | X's terms ban scraping without express written permission. |
| Open-web search (Exa) | local research bridge | Exa's terms bar redistributing results, and it runs only on the operator's machine. |
This is our reading of each platform's published terms, checked September 2026. It is not legal advice. Where a platform offers an official API, adding your own key under Account, API keys switches that source on for your account.