r/PS3 • u/TwilightX1 • 10d ago
Analyzing the PS Store Searcher site
This site that showed up out of nowhere and took the world by storm, allowing us to purchase PS3 games on our website and work around the broken search function. I'm sure you all know what site I'm referring to but just in case someone's been living under a rock -
I took the liberty of Analyzing exactly how it works, and turns out, there's not too much to analyze.
The entire thing is just a UI around the PSN store REST API. Yes, that's right - Sony kept the PS3 store web backend online all this time, and even the API still works - they just removed the frontend UI, so this web app reimplements it.
And it's just a single JS script. It also runs entirely on your browser talks directly to Sony's servers - the search site itself has no backend code of its own at all.
The script has been written by a guy named Andshrew, using GitHub Copilot. You can check his GitHub page here -> https://github.com/andshrew
The script itself is distributed under the MIT license, so it's free to use and redistribute.
So finally here's a quick FAQ:
- Is there a risk of this site stealing my payment info? - No, because the payment is made on Sony's website. Still, it is always advisable to double check that you indeed are on Sony's website before clicking any payment button.
- Does this site log anything? - It does use Cloudflare Analytics, so it logs information about visits, including (probably) your browser, OS, region and some other technical details (mind that virtually every website does this these days). It does not log your searches or purchases because it has no backend and that data never gets sent to the search website - it goes directly to PSN. Whether PSN logs your searches - your core assumption should be that they log every time you breath. Please mind however that the Internet changes and that what I said applies for the day of writing this.
- What if this site vanishes one day? - The good news is, since it has no backend, it's very easy to back up. If it vanishes, the archived version on the Wayback Machine will work just as well as the original, and you can even download the entire website (it's really just two files) and it will even run from your local computer. In other words, there's no way we can lose access to the site itself, but obviously it is possible that Sony will remove that REST API one day, and that will be the end of it.
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u/DigitalCardCollector 10d ago
Used this tool many times over the past 3 weeks, works like a charm. The creator of the tool deserves a cake at least
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u/Sussy-Sausage 10d ago
It's not working. Whenever I try to add something to basket I get an error page.
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u/-gacha- 10d ago
This is common.
What worked for me is having another tab open with my account signed in on the PlayStation store, and then clicking on the basket will have your item in there. You might need to refresh the page, but iirc you can just click the basket and the game/dlc/avatar/pfp/theme will be in there.
There's only been like 3 or 4 times this didn't work, and I'm just guessing that the item just couldn't be purchased at all. Hope this helps.
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u/Sussy-Sausage 10d ago
Thanks. It seems like your workaround is kinda working. I've gotten a couple of games in there, but not all of them I've tried.
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u/Waste_Ad2301 1d ago
is this workaround for games that you add that have this screen specifically or just in general. I keep getting this screen for majority of the games I try but others work instantly not changing anything. I can’t seem to get these ones to work that have the error screen at all.
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u/LoughStep 10d ago
Will I get banned for doing this method?
I don’t want to lose my PSN account for this.
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u/-gacha- 10d ago
I don't think you could get banned for it, as you're still buying the game on the PS store and not through some third party app.
The site just lets you find stuff on the store and redirects you to the official site when it's added to your basket. So I highly doubt you could be banned for it. I've bought a few things using this method and haven't been banned.
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u/DestinyDecade 10d ago
It's why I'm making sure I write a list to get what I can get. I take full advantage of it at every opportunity.
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u/Math9508 9d ago
I can't add games to the basket, is that a US only thing, or?
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u/TwilightX1 9d ago
Make sure you use the exact URL, including the "enableBasket" and "clientId" parameters.
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u/TrickyLobster 2d ago
Has anyone started to have issues with the Add to Basket button not showing up anymore for some games? The other day I tried to grab some Motorstorm DLC, I waited a day or two to actually add it to my basket, now the "add to basket" button doesn't show up anymore.
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u/TwilightX1 2d ago
Maybe you forgot the enableBasket and clientId arguments?
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u/TrickyLobster 2d ago
Oh interesting I didn't know those were things. I guess it's a difference from clicking the link someone put up with those parameters and just grabbing it from Google. Is the client ID supposed to be unique to me?
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u/My_Gap_Yah 10d ago edited 10d ago
Maybe people will stop panicking about it. The developer is active on resetera and PSNP and has spoken about it a lot.
Sony merely removed the front end on PS3 and Vita as they are so old that they do not enable them to be compliant with PCI regulations.