Lotte Auto Auction API: Korean Dealer Auction Lots as JSON

How auction data differs from marketplace data

A marketplace listing has an asking price and stays up until the car sells. A dealer auction lot has an auction date and is offered to member dealers at that session. That is why KoreaCarsAPI keeps the two apart: auction lots come back with is_auction=true, and marketplace listings with is_auction=false.

KoreaCarsAPI only returns data. It is an independent service, not affiliated with Lotte Rental, and it does not place bids. Bidding happens on the auction itself, by its members.

Who uses Lotte Auto Auction data

Auction data mostly interests the trade.

• Exporters who work with a licensed dealer and want to review upcoming lots before the session.
• Pricing teams who compare auction lot data with marketplace asking prices.
• Analysts who watch which models and mileages reach auction and how often.
• Developers who build lot review tools for dealers and their clients.

What a lot record contains

The vehicle part is the same as for any source: year, brand, model, generation, trim, engine volume, fuel, transmission, body type, colour and options. The listing part is where auctions differ. It carries the lot's URL and title, odometer, auction_at for the auction date, and condition and damage fields.

Price and current_bid are returned where the auction shows them, as data fields. Photos come as a full set with original links, and created_at, updated_at and last_seen_at let you follow a lot through time. When an auction publishes an inspection, inspections[] holds it.

Which fields are filled depends on what the auction shows for each lot. Some lots carry a price, some a current bid, some neither; some have a detailed inspection and some only a condition summary. Build your tools so that each field can be missing without breaking the page, and label missing data as not shown rather than zero.

Exporting Lotte lots

Use GET /cars with is_auction=true and Lotte Auto Auction's entry in domains[]. Follow next_url to page through all active lots. Add lang=en for English field values.

To narrow things to particular models, GET /search with brand, model and odometer filters and domains[] set to Lotte Auto Auction's ID from GET /domains returns only matching Lotte lots. For a daily routine, a full export of Lotte lots followed by your own filtering is usually simpler and gives you a complete local copy to work from.

# SOURCE_ID is the Lotte Auto Auction entry from GET /domains
curl --get https://api.auctionsapi.com/cars \
  -d is_auction=true \
  -d "domains[]=SOURCE_ID" \
  -d lang=en \
  -d api_key=$API_KEY

Practical tips for auction data

Auction data moves on a schedule, and your process should follow it.

• Sort and group lots by auction_at, since that is how dealers plan their review.
• Read condition and damage before price; for auction lots they explain most of the variation.
• Treat current_bid as a snapshot at the time of the last update, not as a result.
• A lot may come back at a later session. Track it by car_id and VIN rather than by lot title.
• A missing inspection never means a clean car.

Lotte with the other auctions and the marketplaces

Lotte is one of six dealer auctions in KoreaCarsAPI. Autobell Auction, K Car Auction, SK Car Rental Auction, HeyDealer Auction and Kolon Auto Auction all use the same lot format, so one export with several domains[] entries covers them together.

On the retail side, Encar, KB ChaChaCha and K Car show asking prices for the same models. Reading auction lots next to retail listings is the clearest way to see the spread between the trade and retail markets in Korea.

Questions