Usage Policy

Rate limits

The API enforces rate limits to ensure fair access and system stability. Limits are applied per key across:

• Requests per second
• Requests per minute / hour
• Concurrent requests

If you exceed a rate limit you'll receive a 429 Too Many Requests response. Back off and retry using exponential backoff (see Errors).

Rate limits may vary by endpoint and may be adjusted at any time. Price Hero reserves the right to throttle, restrict, or suspend access for usage patterns inconsistent with normal application behavior, including excessive or structured queries that suggest data extraction or scraping.

Caching and storage rules

To protect the integrity of Price Hero's proprietary data, the following rules apply to how API outputs may be stored or cached.

What you may cache

• Temporary performance caching is permitted, e.g. caching a response at the request level or for short-term reuse within a session.
• Reference identifiers only may be stored persistently: catalog item IDs, brand IDs, and category IDs, solely for the purpose of re-querying the API.

What you may not store

• Pricing data, market estimates, or condition-based valuations
• Variant-level or attribute-level product data
• Bulk API responses or offline datasets derived from API outputs
• Historical archives of pricing or catalog data

Caching time limit

Any cached API response must be temporary and ephemeral. Cached data may not be retained for more than 24 hours from the time of retrieval. Caching may not be used to reduce or eliminate reliance on the API over time.

Prohibited usage

API access is granted for use within permitted workflows only. The following are not allowed:

• Sharing API credentials with third parties or allowing third-party direct access
• Operating the API as a proxy, service bureau, or resold service
• Embedding keys in client-side or publicly accessible code
• Using automated methods to extract data at scale outside normal application workflows
• Attempting to bypass rate limits or usage controls

Price Hero may suspend or terminate access immediately for violations.

For full details, see the API Commercial Agreement.