Lebanese retailer audit¶

Per-retailer reference for the retailers in (and adjacent to) 961tech's scraper roster. Produced for Foundation: Lebanese retailer audit + scraper roadmap (#30). Closes by handing #20 — add 3-5 more retailers a prioritized list it can execute against.

1. Scope & method¶

What this is. A structured per-retailer reference — page structure, pricing model, SKU scale, anti-bot signals, affiliate program, and a recommendation — for the 3 retailers 961tech currently scrapes plus 13 candidates audited in two passes and a third spot-check pass for verification. Plus a roadmap section that orders the next picks for #20 and flags any retailer that's strategically interesting but technically infeasible.

What this isn't. Not a re-research of global aggregator competitors — that's competitive-landscape.md. Not a buyer-behavior study — that's personas.md. Not a category-scope decision — that's #32. Not an exhaustive crawl of every Lebanese tech shop; the Instagram-only and WhatsApp-only "your guy" tier is captured at the bottom in §7 Open questions.

Method. Direct WebFetch against each retailer's homepage and at least one components category page (CPU first, GPU/motherboard fallback). Per-retailer field findings are first-hand observation. Cross-references to competitive-landscape.md §4.4 where it adds non-redundant UX or trust-signal context. Where a field could not be observed from the fetched pages, the entry says Unknown — <reason> rather than guessing. A spot-check pass after v1 corrected currency-display, platform-identification, and SKU-scale errors against a parallel re-fetch of every row.

Coverage. 16 retailers with full audit rows: 3 currently scraped (§2), 9 prioritized-next (§3), 2 deferred for access blockers (§4), 2 skipped for thin PC-parts catalogs (§5). The set covers the established Lebanese tech-retail surface; smaller IG/WhatsApp-led retailers are out of scope for conventional scraping (track via #21 LLM extraction instead).

Honest limits. Affiliate-program existence is rarely public in Lebanon — most retailers prefer direct-relationship deals — so most rows show Unknown and require human follow-up. SKU-scale estimates are order-of-magnitude only; precise counts require running a scraper. Anti-bot signals were tested with a single anonymous fetch using WebFetch's browser-style User-Agent; behavior may differ for the project's undici-based fetcher in src/scrapers/core/http.ts.

2. Currently scraped (3)¶

These three are wired into src/scrapers/sites/. Recommendation for all three is Continue (already on roster); the entries document the current state for the reviewer or a future maintainer who needs the page-structure summary without rereading the scraper code.

1. PCAndParts¶


URL	pcandparts.com
Languages	EN-only. No language switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, case, cooling. Plus laptops, monitors, gaming gear (peripherals), prebuilts. Broad PC-parts focus.
Pricing model	USD numeric primary; some items display "Request Price" with an "Inquire" button instead of a number. A subset of items are flagged "(TAX included)" inline in the title; tax-handling is per-listing, not site-wide.
SKU scale	Large 500+ (CPU category alone shows "Showing all 149 results"; 8 standard categories at similar scale ⇒ ~1,000+ component SKUs, plus laptops/peripherals). Spot-check: $122 i3-14100, $192 i5-12400, $655 Ryzen 9 9950X3D — all USD.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. WooCommerce with the Flatsome theme (per competitive-landscape §4.4). Category URLs follow `/product-category/<slug>/`. Product cards are `div.product-small.type-product`, link inside `a.woocommerce-LoopProduct-link`, price in `.woocommerce-Price-amount`, out-of-stock signaled by `outofstock` class on the card.
Pagination	Numbered pages (WooCommerce default `/page/N/` URL pattern). At default per-page count, the CPU category fits on one page; site offers 200/300-per-page options.
Anti-bot signals	UA gating. Default `curl` returns 403 on category pages; browser-style User-Agent (the scraper's `undici` UA) returns 200. No CAPTCHA or Cloudflare challenge once UA is acceptable.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no public affiliate page; site advertises a "Price Matching Policy" but not an affiliate scheme. Direct outreach required.
Notes	"Lebanon's #1, since 1998." Trust-density above the fold (WhatsApp + Telegram + IG + phone + address + price-matching banner). #3 (Call For Price affordance) is partly relevant: PCAndParts uses "Request Price" with an inquiry button — better UX than 961Souq's bare label, but still not a structured quote flow. Dominant retailer in Lebanese PC-parts SERPs. MASTER-named as one of the three best Lebanese retailers (alongside Expert-Zone and Mojitech).

Recommendation: Continue (already on roster). PCAndParts is the price leader and the breadth anchor. Maintenance priority is high — selectors should be re-verified whenever the Flatsome theme updates.

2. 961Souq¶


URL	961souq.com
Languages	EN-only. No language switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, case, CPU coolers. Plus heavy peripherals + laptops + general electronics. Broadest of the three.
Pricing model	Mixed USD + heavy "Call For Price." On the CPU category page, ~78% of visible products show "Call For Price" (spot-check: 21/27 cards); the remainder show USD numeric (often with strike-through original + sale price, e.g. `$576.00 / $630.00`).
SKU scale	Medium 100-500 for CPU specifically (~27 cards visible on the first page; total not surfaced via header). Site-wide is large 500+ including peripherals + laptops.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. Custom Shopify theme (not Dawn/Debut). Category URLs follow `/collections/<slug>`. Product cards are `div.product-item-collection.product-card`, title in an `<h4>` inside `div.product-info-container`, price in `small.product-price` (either `<div>$NNN.NN</div>` or `<span>Call For Price</span>`), sold-out via `div.sold-out-ban` whose `display:none` style toggles when out of stock.
Pagination	Standard Shopify pagination (single page indicator visible on CPU; full pattern likely `?page=N`).
Anti-bot signals	None observed. Default fetch returns 200.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no public program disclosed. WhatsApp CTAs prominent.
Notes	The "Call For Price" volume is structural, not incidental — 961Souq's catalog includes many discontinued or low-stock SKUs they retain for SEO without active pricing. The current scraper persists `priceUsd: null` for these, and the matcher links them to canonical products if title parses; downstream UI must surface them as "Call For Price" rather than hide them (#3 — "Call For Price" first-class state design). Competitive-landscape §4.4 verdict: 5/10 craft, broken inquiry mechanism (text label with no button) is a wedge for 961tech.

Recommendation: Continue (already on roster). 961Souq is the breadth play — many SKUs others don't list, even if half are quote-only. Volume of "Call For Price" listings is the reason to keep them indexed: 961tech's three-state stock signal turns their weakness into our trust signal.

3. Macrotronics¶


URL	macrotronics.net
Languages	EN-only. No language switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, case, CPU coolers. Plus laptops, monitors, peripherals, networking. Broad PC-parts focus.
Pricing model	USD-only with mandatory VAT-inclusive display. Every price line carries "Including VAT" beneath the number; site header also states "All prices include VAT." This is rare in Lebanese e-commerce and is Macrotronics' standout trust signal.
SKU scale	Medium 100-500. CPU filter sidebar reads "Processors (46)"; generalizing across 8 component categories ⇒ ~300-400 component SKUs. Smaller than PCAndParts/961Souq.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. Custom Shopify theme (not Dawn). Category URLs follow `/collections/<slug>`. Product cards are `div.card.product-card` inside `motion-list.card-grid`. Title in `a.product-card__title` (relative href), price in `span.price__regular` (always present even for sold-out), sold-out indicator is a disabled `button` inside `.quick-add` reading "Sold Out".
Pagination	No pagination needed at the category sizes observed (CPU fits one page). Pattern presumably `?page=N` if SKU count grows.
Anti-bot signals	None observed.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no public program. Brand-partner logos (ASUS, Gigabyte, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple) present but not affiliate-program signals.
Notes	Established 2008. Ghazir showroom + warehouse + service center; phone `+961 9 853 008`. The VAT-inclusive display is the single trust signal that distinguishes Macrotronics from PCAndParts and 961Souq — and it directly motivates 961tech's tax-toggle design (competitive-landscape §5.3 #1). Smallest catalog of the three but the cleanest pricing semantics.

Recommendation: Continue (already on roster). Macrotronics is the cleanliness anchor — VAT-inclusive pricing means listings parse to one canonical price without conditional logic. Worth maintaining priority parity with the other two even though catalog is smaller.

3. Prioritized next (9)¶

Candidates audited fresh for this doc, ordered by recommendation strength (H first, then M, then L). Each is a distinct, currently-operating Lebanese retailer with a meaningful PC-parts presence.

4. Expert-Zone¶


URL	ezonelb.com
Languages	EN. No currency or language switcher visible on homepage.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, PSU, cooler, case, motherboard. Plus peripherals (keyboards, mice, monitors, headsets), networking, UPS, printers, gaming furniture.
Pricing model	USD-only numeric. Sample homepage prices: $143.00 (Intel i5-12400F), $120.00 (MSI MAG 255F E20 monitor, was $132.00), $92.00 (GravaStar Mercury X mouse), $1,460.00 (MSI RTX 5080 Ventus 3X), $84.00 (Arzopa A1 portable monitor). Prices carry a `--ONLY--` suffix annotation (display flourish, not a currency code). No LBP toggle.
SKU scale	Medium 100-500. Sub-categories present for AMD Ryzen and Intel processors; total component count not surfaced via header.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. WooCommerce with the Woodmart theme family (URL pattern `/product-category/computer-parts/processor-cpu/` and shop-grid markup confirm WordPress/WooCommerce).
Pagination	Unknown — pagination controls not visible in the category-page excerpt fetched. WooCommerce default `/page/N/` likely applies.
Anti-bot signals	None — clean WebFetch retrieval; no 403, Cloudflare, or CAPTCHA.
Affiliate program	Unknown — footer affiliate links not explicit in fetched content.
Notes	Beirut-based (Bechara El Khoury district, facing Panda Plast). Phone `+961 1 657 725`; WhatsApp `+961 76 821 812`. B2C retail + wholesale; same-day Beirut delivery. Brand partners: Logitech, ASUS, MSI, GravaStar, Keychron, XFX. Gaming-focused positioning ("YOUR PC GAMING PARTNER"). MASTER-named as one of the three best Lebanese retailers (alongside PCAndParts and Mojitech).

Recommendation rationale. H — High priority for #20. MASTER-blessed strategic visibility plus WooCommerce/Woodmart platform reuses the PCAndParts/CompuOne pattern at near-zero marginal dev cost. Clean USD pricing semantics, no anti-bot, no Call-For-Price noise. Component breadth is solid but bounded (Medium 100-500) — pure scale isn't the case for H, MASTER's prestige signal plus the platform-cost reuse is. Gaming-enthusiast positioning is a complementary segment to CompuOne's POS/networking lean.

5. CompuOne¶


URL	compuonelb.com
Languages	EN-only. No switcher.
Categories carried	All 8 PC-parts categories (CPU, GPU, MB, RAM, storage, PSU, case, cooler) plus heavy peripherals (221 SKUs in that category alone), laptops, networking, POS, security, software. Per-category SKU breakdown visible on the shop landing.
Pricing model	USD numeric primary. "Call for Price" on a subset of high-end SKUs (similar pattern to 961Souq but lower density).
SKU scale	Large 500+. Site exposes a total of 670 products across 11 categories on the shop landing (spot-check confirmed exact). 34 pages × ~20 per page.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. WooCommerce (WordPress backend; familiar product-grid markup; spot-check confirmed `wp-content/uploads/`, `.product` class containers).
Pagination	Numbered pages with a "Load More" affordance. URL pattern `/shop/page/N/`. ~34 total pages.
Anti-bot signals	None observed. Direct fetch returns 200 cleanly.
Affiliate program	Unknown. Footer mentions "Become a Reseller" (B2B) but no public affiliate scheme.
Notes	Multi-line phone (4 numbers — +961 9 221062, 9 213510, 3 570049, 3 509730), email, Tayeh Center / Zouk Mosbeh location. Hours Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 9am-1pm. WhatsApp integration. "24-hour returns" policy. Component coverage is sparser than peripherals — this retailer leans peripherals/POS/networking more than enthusiast components.

Recommendation rationale. H — High priority for #20. Same WooCommerce platform as PCAndParts means the existing WooCommerce-shaped scraper helpers (pcandparts.ts's pickImage logic, the woocommerce-LoopProduct-link selector pattern) transfer directly with minor selector tweaks. ~670-SKU scale is meaningful, no anti-bot, predictable pagination. Caveat: component-category depth is moderate (their wedge is peripherals + POS, not enthusiast PC parts), so match rates against 961tech's CPU/GPU canonical products will trail PCAndParts.

6. Mojitech¶


URL	mojitech.net
Languages	EN-only. No switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, case, cooler. Plus monitors, peripherals (keyboards/mice/headsets), laptops, desktops, gaming consoles, Apple products, networking, CCTV, drones, smart home. Very broad.
Pricing model	USD-only numeric for stocked items, with a "Call for Price" subset on high-end / bulk SKUs (~15-20% of catalog per spot-check). USDT (crypto) accepted as a payment option alongside COD/cards — distinctive in the Lebanese market. Sample prices: AOC 24G11E monitor $118, AOC 27G15N $176, Apildella portable monitor $115.
SKU scale	Large 500+. Shop reports 12,238 products across 136 pages at ~90 per page — by far the largest catalog observed in this audit. Spot-check confirmed via `Showing 91-180 of 12238 results` on page 2.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. WooCommerce (spot-check identified the previously-unknown platform: `/wp-content/` paths confirm WordPress + WooCommerce; pagination at `/shop/page/N/` is the WooCommerce-default pattern).
Pagination	Path-based: `/shop/page/N/` with numeric links 1-5 plus jump-to-end. 136 pages total.
Anti-bot signals	None detected. No Cloudflare, CAPTCHA, or 403.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no mention in footer or contact pages.
Notes	B2B-friendly (corporate@mojitech.net contact, bulk capacity implied). Same-day to 72-hour delivery across Lebanon. Physical store in Beirut (New Rawda, Cabella St.) with department-specific phone extensions (laptops, gaming, service). "We compete any price!" positioning. MASTER-named as one of the three best Lebanese retailers (alongside PCAndParts and Expert-Zone).

Recommendation rationale. H — High priority for #20. Spot-check upgraded this from M after identifying the platform as WooCommerce — the previous "platform-discovery cost" objection that held it at M is gone. Now: MASTER-blessed prestige + WooCommerce reuses CompuOne/Expert-Zone/Sbeity's selector pattern + the largest catalog in the audit at 12,238 products. The catalog also extends well beyond PC parts (consoles, drones, smart home), so the scraper must filter by category URL to avoid matcher noise — that's a one-line CATEGORY_URLS definition, not a real cost. Strongest pure-scale impact for the M2 milestone.

7. Sbeity Computer¶


URL	sbeitycomputer.com
Languages	EN-only. No switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage (HDD/SSD), PSU, case, CPU cooler. Plus printers, networking, POS, security/CCTV, accessories. Agent-estimated ~85% PC components/hardware vs ~15% B2B/security categories.
Pricing model	USD-only with transparent per-SKU pricing. Examples: $19 keyboard, $1,590 HP laptop. Spot-check: pagination header reads `Showing 1–16 of 1759 results`. No Call-For-Price observed — quote-driven model not used here.
SKU scale	Large 500+. Component-section pagination reads `/shop/page/[N]/?category=component` — 110 pages × 16 per page = 1,759 component SKUs (exact, verified). Largest pure-PC-components catalog of any audited candidate.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. WooCommerce (vanilla JS/jQuery, no SPA; YITH plugin verified for compare buttons; standard add-to-cart, wishlist).
Pagination	Standard WooCommerce numbered pagination: `/shop/page/[N]/?category=component`. 16 items per page, 110 pages total in the components segment.
Anti-bot signals	None detected. Direct fetch returns 200.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no public affiliate links or program mentions.
Notes	Established 2000 (one of the longest-tenured Lebanese tech retailers). Beirut-based — Boulevard building, Mar Mikhael / Hazmiyeh. Both physical showroom and full e-commerce. B2C model with transparent pricing despite the company also operating B2B distribution lines (POS, security, network). No LBP toggle — USD standardization.

Recommendation rationale. H — High priority for #20. Largest pure-PC-components catalog of any candidate (1,759 SKUs verified to the unit), cleanest USD pricing semantics with no Call-For-Price noise, WooCommerce reuses the PCAndParts/CompuOne/Expert-Zone/Mojitech pattern. Pagination URL is parametric (?category=component) so selector work is small but novel. Sbeity's longevity (established 2000) and physical-showroom + e-commerce dual model is the same shape as Macrotronics — established, trustworthy, low scraper risk.

8. Ayoub Computers¶


URL	ayoubcomputers.com
Languages	EN-only. No switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, PSU, motherboard, case, cooler — full PC-components stack. Plus monitors, peripherals (keyboards/mice/docks), laptops, desktops, gaming consoles, networking, POS, surveillance, smart home. Broad.
Pricing model	USD-only, all numeric, no Call-For-Price observed. Cleanest pricing semantics of the audited candidates. Sample: Kingston DataTraveler $5, Kingston NV3 SSD $137.
SKU scale	Large 500+. "Computer Components" category reports 1,282 total (spot-check verified via `Items 1 to 12 of 1282 total`); RAM sub-category 103.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. BigCommerce (CDN URLs reference `cdn11.bigcommerce.com`; product-listing pages use `?CategoryTree=<slug>` query patterns; Stencil theme markers present). Per-page count is configurable (8/12/16/20/40/100 options).
Pagination	Numbered pages (1-6 visible on a sample category) + Next button. Default 12 per page, configurable up to 100.
Anti-bot signals	None observed.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no public program disclosed in About / Contact.
Notes	Established 2008. Wholesale + retail; "One Stop Shop" claims 36K+ clients Lebanon-wide. Free delivery across Lebanon. WhatsApp support. No physical Beirut address surfaced in About; primary contact is digital + WhatsApp. Brand partners include Apple, Corsair, Logitech, TP-Link.

Recommendation rationale. H — High priority for #20. Largest top-tier-clean candidate catalog (1,282 component SKUs verified), fully-USD pricing without Call-For-Price noise, no anti-bot. BigCommerce is the only candidate in the H tier that requires a new platform shape for the scraper roster (the other four H picks all reuse the WooCommerce pattern) — this is the work, but BigCommerce is well-documented and the listing markup is a flat HTML grid scrapeable with the same cheerio patterns. The platform-discovery cost is the only reason Ayoub is the fifth H pick rather than the third.

9. Syscom¶


URL	syscom.com.lb
Languages	EN-only navigation. USD/LBP currency switcher in header — distinctive in the candidate set; only Syscom has a real, functional dual-currency display.
Categories carried (per nav)	Laptops, desktops, Apple products, computer parts (processors, motherboards, RAM, storage, graphics — listed in navigation), networking, printers, peripherals, surveillance/POS systems.
Pricing model	Dual USD/LBP with a working header switcher. Quantity discounts (`Discount By QTY`). Sample prices: $500.00, $1,340.00, $515.00. Spot-check confirmed switcher functions.
SKU scale	Medium 100-500 (estimated). Spot-check on `/64-laptop-desktop` showed 72 products across 6 pages at 12/page; component categories not yet enumerated but parallel scale likely.
Page structure	Server-rendered PrestaShop (URL structure `/NN-category-slug` — e.g. `/64-laptop-desktop`, `/146-apple-products`, `/25-computer-parts`; currency switcher, account login UI all consistent with PrestaShop).
Pagination	Numbered pages — 6 pages visible on the sampled `/64-laptop-desktop` category, 12 items/page.
Anti-bot signals	None on homepage or category pages.
Affiliate program	Unknown.
Notes	Dekweneh, Lebanon (physical store + B2C online). WhatsApp-prominent contact (+961 70 156 157). Carries Apple premium line. PrestaShop is a fourth platform shape for the roster (currently 0× in 961tech) — would be new scraper work but PrestaShop is well-documented. Moved out of Deferred after the spot-check identified the actual URL routing (the v1 audit had tried stale `/en/<numeric-id>` URLs that no longer route; the live pattern is `/NN-slug`).

Recommendation rationale. M — Medium priority for #20. Strategic value is the dual USD/LBP currency switcher — the only Lebanese retailer in this audit that exposes both currencies as a first-class user choice rather than a single-currency display. That makes Syscom the natural pilot for 961tech's currency-localization work (#37) and a useful test case for the two-state price normalization in the matcher. PrestaShop adds a new platform shape (5^th in the audit; 4^th in the prioritized-next bucket) — that's the cost, and it's why the recommendation is M rather than H despite the strategic value. Picks up after the H tier ships.

10. PCBuildingLeb¶


URL	pcbuildingleb.com
Languages	EN-only. No switcher.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, case, CPU cooler — all 8 PC-parts categories present as standalone components, not just bundled into custom builds. Plus peripherals (keyboards/keycaps, mice, headsets), racing-simulator gear, prebuilt laptops, accessories/cables, security cameras.
Pricing model	USD-only numeric. Sample prices: $145 i5-14400F, $135 i5-13400F, $120 i5-12400F. No LBP alternative.
SKU scale	Small <100 in core PC components (spot-check correction — original "Medium 100-500" estimate was too generous; CPU category exposed only 3 products at audit-time fetch). Curated catalog across components + peripherals + sim-racing; total site-wide catalog likely Medium but the PC-builder-relevant slice is thin.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. Shopify with the Omni Themes template family (footer attribution `Powered by Omni Themes`).
Pagination	Standard Shopify grid pagination.
Anti-bot signals	None observed.
Affiliate program	No — no public affiliate / partner page. Direct contact: info@pcbuildingleb.com, +961 76 752 225.
Notes	"Build Your PC" advisory + custom-build assembly is part of their pitch but the catalog clearly stocks individual components when stock is available, not just bundles. Strong gaming/sim-racing tilt. Active on Instagram (@pcbuildinglebanon). Loyalty program + 24/7 support claims.

Recommendation rationale. L — Low priority for #20 (downgraded from M after spot-check). 3-CPU shelf is the corrective signal — match-rate impact on top-line CPU/GPU coverage would be near-zero for the cost of writing the scraper. Shopify Omni Themes does mean dev cost is low (reuses 961Souq/Macrotronics patterns), so if the gaming-peripherals breadth is a strategic priority, picking PCBuildingLeb is cheap; otherwise, the catalog thinness puts it below the M tier. Worth watching — if PCBuildingLeb's core-component shelf grows in the next 6-12 months, recommendation should be revisited.

11. PC Station LB¶


URL	pcstationlb.com
Languages	EN-only (region selector for Lebanon noted in navigation).
Categories carried	Individual components: CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, cooler. Plus laptops, monitors, prebuilts, peripherals, accessories. Confirmed parts retailer, not assembly-only.
Pricing model	USD-only. USDT (crypto) also accepted — same payment-flexibility pattern as Mojitech.
SKU scale	Small ~70 at audit time (spot-check correction — original "Large 500+" estimate was an unsupported agent extrapolation). 69 visible across 3 pages on `/collections/all`, and every product was marked Sold Out at the time of the spot-check. Possible inventory freeze, possible store-mode misconfiguration, possible genuinely-small catalog — observable data is thin.
Page structure	Server-rendered HTML. Shopify (spot-check identified the previously-unknown platform: `<meta name="generator">` reads `Shopify`; CDN URLs follow `pcstationlb.com/cdn/shop/`; `/collections/all` route works).
Pagination	Numbered Shopify grid pagination — 3 pages visible at audit time, ~23 products/page.
Anti-bot signals	None detected.
Affiliate program	Unknown.
Notes	Serves "gamers, professionals, tech enthusiasts." Delivers nationwide Lebanon. Dual business model: sells both individual PC components AND prebuilt systems. Carries branded peripherals (UGREEN partnerships noted). Operating as a legitimate parts retailer plus assembly service, not assembly-only. The all-Sold-Out state at audit time is a meaningful uncertainty for #20 sequencing — confirm live inventory before scraper development.

Recommendation rationale. L — Low priority for #20 (downgraded from M after spot-check). The Sold-Out-everywhere state combined with only 69 listed products makes the catalog impact unclear; if it's a transient inventory freeze, picking PC Station LB later is fine; if it's the steady state, the matcher payoff is small. Shopify means dev cost is low. The scraper would mostly produce inStock: false rows until the catalog refreshes — useful as a price-history signal but not as a price-comparison wedge.

12. Microcity¶


URL	gomicrocity.com
Languages	EN-only — no language switcher.
Categories carried	Storage (~100+ SKUs), RAM (~40), laptops, desktops, peripherals (keyboards, mice, headphones, cameras, speakers), networking, printers, office supplies. CPU and motherboard categories exist in the navigation but are empty / unstocked (spot-check correction — original audit reported 404; categories actually return zero-products pages).
Pricing model	USD-only — observed `$27`, `$73`, `$79`, `$133`, `$203`, `$830`. No LBP toggle, no Call-For-Price observed, no HT/VAT annotation.
SKU scale	Medium 100-500 estimated across active categories. The 70+ category labels suggest larger taxonomy but the verified-active categories (storage, RAM, peripherals, laptops) bottom out around 300-500.
Page structure	Server-rendered custom PHP (`.php` extensions in URLs: `/allproducts.php`, `/buyandsell/index.php`; non-standard category paths `/category/[name]`). Not WooCommerce, not Shopify, not BigCommerce.
Pagination	Unknown — no pagination controls visible in fetched category pages; products may load all-at-once. URL pattern uses `/category/[name]` without page parameters.
Anti-bot signals	None — accessible via WebFetch; no 403, Cloudflare, or CAPTCHA.
Affiliate program	Unknown — homepage notes "Join for partner discounts" (B2B language) but no formal affiliate scheme. Wholesale model is mentioned ("buyers from 20+ countries").
Notes	Hamra, Leon Street near LAU, Beirut. Phone +961 1 742223 / +961 1 746673 / +961 1 739941; WhatsApp +961 70 740469. Established 2002. B2B distributor with ~80% export to Middle East/Africa per agent. Buy/Sell marketplace section. MASTER-named retailer.

Recommendation rationale. L — Low priority for #20. MASTER-named so it stays in the audit, but the catalog shape doesn't fit a PC-builder comparison engine well: CPU/MOBO categories are empty (their nav exists but no products are stocked there), the strongest-stocked sections are storage/RAM/peripherals (which match 961tech's lower-priority categories), and the custom PHP platform is the highest dev cost in the candidate set after Mojitech (now-WooCommerce) is reclassified. B2B/export-led model is also a tell that B2C web-catalog is not their primary surface. Reasonable to pick only if 961tech wants storage/RAM coverage breadth specifically, or to validate that MASTER's mental model of Microcity matches the current site state.

4. Deferred / infeasible (2)¶

Retailers worth tracking but currently blocked by access issues — anti-bot, broken category routes, or site state requiring stabilization. Not Skip — these may become viable with manual verification or after retailer-side fixes.

13. Multitech¶


URL	`multitech-lb.com` (`.com.lb` variant ECONNREFUSED)
Status	Unreachable from automated probe — confirmed by spot-check pass. Both `https://multitech-lb.com` and `https://www.multitech-lb.com` return 403 Forbidden to default browser-UA WebFetch; `https://multitech.com.lb` refuses connection.
Likely cause	Cloudflare WAF / IP-range blocking / geo-restriction. Distinct from PCAndParts' UA-gating (which a custom UA defeats) — the 403 here returned even with a real browser User-Agent.

Recommendation: Defer. Strategically uncertain, technically blocked. Per competitive-landscape.md §4.4, Multitech is described as "Apple + PC, retail/wholesale" — the Apple-heavy framing means the PC-components fraction of their catalog is unknown, and the value of investing in custom anti-bot bypass for an unverified component depth is questionable. Two paths forward: (1) manual visit (browser, residential IP, possibly VPN to a Lebanese exit) to confirm whether their PC-components catalog has scrapable depth before committing engineering time; (2) direct retailer outreach for a feed/API or affiliate relationship that bypasses the scraper-feasibility blocker. Track as a sub-question of #20; do not block #20 on it.

14. Tech Titan¶


URL	techtitanlb.com — homepage accessible
Languages	EN/AR (bilingual support inferred from homepage).
Categories carried (per homepage)	CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, laptops, gaming peripherals, smart home, networking, multimedia, cameras, cosmetics.
Pricing model	USD-only on homepage samples (e.g. ~$8-$2,650+ range observed; spot-check confirmed: ASUS ROG $690, Lenovo $599, AirPods $125).
SKU scale	Unknown — the 728-product claim from public listings is unverifiable because every category page is blocked.
Page structure	Server-rendered WordPress + WooCommerce (developer "Trithea" credited in footer; spot-check reconfirmed platform).
Pagination	Unknown — `/product-category/computer-parts/page/2/` pattern expected per WooCommerce defaults but not verifiable.
Status	Category pages exhibit anti-bot/DDoS protection (spot-check confirmed: redirect loops + "verification in progress" hangs). The v1 audit's "demo mode" hypothesis is now refuted — the protection is active anti-bot, not site-side maintenance.
Affiliate program	Unknown — no explicit affiliate link in footer.
Notes	Bir El Abed, Beirut. Phone `+961 76 653 008` (WhatsApp). Email `info@techtitanlb.com`. Claims same-day Beirut delivery. Public WebSearch snippets reference 728 products in computer-parts — if accurate, would put Tech Titan among the larger Lebanese PC-parts retailers.

Recommendation: Defer. Anti-bot is real (spot-check upgraded from "possibly demo mode" to confirmed active protection). WooCommerce platform shape is already mastered, so the dev cost of the scraper itself is near-zero — but any work is wasted if the protection blocks the runtime fetch. Apply the Multitech playbook: residential-IP verification or direct retailer outreach for a feed / affiliate relationship. If anti-bot can be bypassed (custom UA + session cookies, or explicit retailer cooperation), Tech Titan likely jumps to M in #20 — possibly H if the 728-SKU claim verifies.

5. Skip — out of scope (2)¶

Retailers that are reachable and operating, but whose PC-parts catalog is too narrow to justify a scraper slot. Documented for completeness so future revisits don't re-litigate.

15. PcMacLB¶


URL	pcmaclb.com
Languages	EN-only.
Categories carried	CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, PSU, case, cooler — all categories labeled, but most have very few SKUs. RAM category contains only 1 SKU (and that one SKU is mis-classified — actually a storage product). Plus broader catalog of cables, screens, office/POS, networking, laptop parts.
Pricing model	USD-only (range $2-$115 observed).
SKU scale	Site-wide ~312 SKUs across 26 pages (spot-check corrected — site has grown from the v1 estimate of 70-100), but Computer Parts segment is still ~60 SKUs with the RAM-misclassification issue unchanged. The PC-parts-relevant surface is unchanged from v1.
Page structure	Server-rendered. WooCommerce indicators not fully confirmed in spot-check; ecommerce CMS suggested by shop pagination + categories but platform fingerprints are weak.
Pagination	"Load more" + per-page dropdown (9/12/18/24); 5 pages in Computer Parts.
Anti-bot signals	None.
Affiliate program	Unknown.
Notes	Beirut-based IT distributor (`+961 3 814 142`). Self-described as "RAM + components" specialist — but the RAM category has 1 active SKU. Site-wide growth is in non-component categories (cables, screens, accessories), not in core PC parts.

Recommendation: Skip — too narrow on the PC-parts axis. Site-wide catalog growth is real (4× from the v1 estimate) but lands in categories 961tech doesn't index as primary. Computer Parts segment still ~60 SKUs with broken RAM classification — same matcher payoff as before. Even with WooCommerce making integration cheap, the H/M tier candidates above all out-deliver this. Revisit in 12 months if the core PC-components surface grows specifically.

16. Gamma Computers¶


URL	gammalb.com
Languages	Unknown — no language switcher detected; appears EN/AR mixed.
Categories carried	CPU (2 SKUs — Pentium-only), motherboard (mining-grade ESONIC only), RAM (~32 — Kingston DDR¾/5), storage (~38 — Seagate/WD/Kingston), monitor (~40), PSU/case/cooler unknown depth. Plus laptops (gaming + consumer; ~36 gaming laptops, full consumer line). Used/refurbished mentioned but `/laptops-used/` returned 404.
Pricing model	USD numeric with `HT` (hors taxe / pre-tax) annotation. Sample prices: $15.00 HT (laptop sleeve), $24.00 HT (keyboard + mouse combo), $750.00 HT (Acer Nitro 5 i7-11800H, was $800.00). Pre-tax display is unusual in Lebanese tech retail but the currency is USD, not LBP. No currency switcher.
SKU scale	Medium 100-500 total, but PC-components segment is thin (153 PC components total per agent count). ~1,383 site-wide products counting laptops + general electronics.
Page structure	Server-rendered with WooCommerce-style cart; likely WooCommerce or custom PHP.
Pagination	Configurable per-page (9/12/18/24); category URLs like `/product-category/pc-components/cpu/`.
Anti-bot signals	None.
Affiliate program	Unknown.
Notes	Jounieh, Lebanon (Dahr Sarba). `+961 71 642 500`, `info@gammalb.com`. Business model is laptops + general electronics primary; new PC parts secondary. CPU catalog is critically thin (2 Pentium models, no mainstream Ryzen/i5/i7). Motherboards exclusively mining-grade. Used-laptop section advertised on homepage but the URL is dead.

Recommendation: Skip — new-PC-parts catalog too thin. CPU shelf has 2 Pentium SKUs and no mainstream Intel/AMD desktop processors; motherboards are mining-grade outliers, not consumer-grade. While RAM/storage/monitors show passable depth, the core CPU/GPU/MOBO tiers are absent or skeletal — and those are the categories that anchor a PC-builder comparison engine. Heavy laptop inventory plus dead used-section signals that Gamma operates as a generalist consumer-electronics retailer rather than a PC-builder-focused parts shop. Used-market integration is explicitly out of scope per competitive-landscape.md §4.2. Add to the audit's negative signal: a Lebanese retailer's homepage saying "PC + used laptops" usually means the PC component depth is shallow.

6. Scraper roadmap¶

#20 targets adding 3-5 retailers to bring the roster from 3 to 6-8. With this audit (after the v1 → spot-check corrections), the recommended order is:

Expert-Zone (H) — first. MASTER-named as one of the three best Lebanese retailers. WooCommerce/Woodmart selectors transfer directly from PCAndParts, near-zero new platform work. Clean USD pricing, no anti-bot. Estimate: half a day including fixtures + tests.
CompuOne (H) — second. WooCommerce reuse from PCAndParts/Expert-Zone at half-day cost; ~670 verified SKUs adds meaningful breadth. Estimate: half a day.
Mojitech (H) — third. MASTER-named as one of the three best Lebanese retailers. Spot-check identified the platform as WooCommerce (was "unknown / custom" in v1), so the previously-largest-dev-cost candidate is now also WooCommerce — selectors reuse the prior three picks' work. 12,238-product catalog dwarfs everything else in the audit; the scraper must filter by category URL (parts only, not consoles/drones) but that's a CATEGORY_URLS map, not a real cost. Estimate: half-to-one day (the 12K scale means matcher tuning may surface noise that the smaller retailers didn't expose).

That covers #20's 3-retailer floor with the strongest combined signal: MASTER-blessed prestige (Expert-Zone + Mojitech), proven dev-cost reuse (all three are WooCommerce, all three reuse PCAndParts' selector pattern), and ~13.5K combined SKU coverage from the three picks alone. Optional 4^th-7^th picks if the milestone wants 6-8 retailers:

Sbeity Computer (H) — fourth. Largest pure-PC-components catalog (1,759 SKUs, verified to the unit), WooCommerce again so selector reuse continues; pagination URL is parametric (?category=component) — minor selector novelty. Estimate: half a day.
Ayoub Computers (H) — fifth. The H tier's only platform-novelty pick: BigCommerce (different markup pattern than the four WooCommerce siblings). Cleanest USD-no-Call-For-Price semantics in the audit; 1,282 component SKUs. Estimate: one full day for BigCommerce selector work plus per-page-count parameter handling.
Syscom (M) — sixth. PrestaShop platform (4^th platform shape in the project; first appearance in the prioritized roster). The strategic asset is the working dual USD/LBP currency switcher — useful pilot for #37 i18n work. Estimate: one day for PrestaShop selector discovery + currency-switcher state handling.
PCBuildingLeb (L) / PC Station LB (L) — seventh-eighth, optional. Both Shopify, both small catalogs (3-CPU shelf and 69-product all-Sold-Out respectively). Pick only if M2 wants 8 retailers and Shopify-pattern reuse is the wedge; otherwise defer to a Wave-2.
Microcity (L) — last in priority. Custom PHP, MASTER-named so worth tracking, but the catalog shape (empty CPU/MOBO categories, storage/RAM-led) doesn't fit the builder-engine. Estimate: 1-2 days (custom PHP discovery).

Strategically-relevant-but-infeasible (called out separately)¶

Multitech — Apple-PC retailer, anti-bot blocked on automated fetch (browser UA still 403's; spot-check reconfirmed). Manual / VPN'd verification needed before any scraper investment.
Tech Titan — homepage works, category pages have active anti-bot/DDoS protection (spot-check refuted the v1 "demo mode" hypothesis). WooCommerce shape means near-zero scraper-development cost if the protection can be bypassed (residential IP, custom UA + cookies, or direct retailer cooperation) — Tech Titan could jump to M or H in a Wave-2.

Why this makes #20 trivial to plan¶

Each H/M pick has its platform identified (no more "unknown" entries — Mojitech and PC Station LB were resolved in the spot-check pass), pagination pattern observed, anti-bot signals checked, and an estimated dev cost. The H tier (Expert-Zone, CompuOne, Mojitech, Sbeity, Ayoub) reuses the WooCommerce platform shape for four of the five picks — write the WooCommerce shared pattern once via Expert-Zone, get CompuOne, Mojitech, and Sbeity at incremental selector-tweak cost. Only Ayoub introduces real platform-novelty (BigCommerce) in the H tier. The matcher impact (how well titles parse to canonical Products) is a known unknown only at Mojitech's 12K scale, where novel SKU breadth could expose #21's LLM-extraction need ahead of schedule — that's a feature of the sequencing, not a bug.

Two skipped retailers (PcMacLB, Gamma) document the audit's negative space — future re-audits can skip them unless their core-PC-component surface changes meaningfully.

7. Open questions¶

Affiliate-program reality — every retailer in this audit returned Unknown on affiliate program. Lebanese tech-retail commerce is relationship-led; commercial deals are bilateral, not platform-listed. Surfacing this as a question for #41 monetisation: does 961tech start with postback-based attribution + CPS rev-share as the default offer, or with CPC that bypasses retailer cooperation? The audit can't answer; field outreach can.
Multitech's actual catalog — anti-bot blocked first-pass and spot-check audit. Manual / VPN'd verification needed before #20 considers including it.
Tech Titan anti-bot — spot-check upgraded the v1 "demo mode" hypothesis to confirmed active anti-bot/DDoS protection. Bypass options are residential-IP testing, custom UA + session cookies, or direct retailer outreach. High-value unblock given WooCommerce platform reuse + 728-SKU public claim — Tech Titan could jump to M or H in a Wave-2.
Lebanese IG-only retailers — competitive-landscape.md §5.4 #4 deferred this here. Field-survey of Lebanese PC-related Instagram accounts (PC Hub Lebanon @pchubleb is the canonical mention) belongs in a separate effort that pairs with #21 LLM-extraction onboarding rather than this audit's scraper-feasibility framing.
Long-tail beyond this set — additional smaller retailers may exist in the Lebanese long tail (Beirut-suburb computer shops, regional electronics stores). Worth a SERP-led second-pass audit after the M2 6-8-retailer roster ships and we have data on whether the milestone target is met or wants a Wave-2.
PC Hub Lebanon (@pchubleb) — competitive-landscape.md §5.4 #5 flagged this for both #36 personas and the retailer roadmap; #36 shipped without identifying it as a retailer. Status (retailer? community?) still open.
PCAndParts UA gating in CI — the existing scraper works because core/http.ts sets a custom UA. If CI ever runs from an IP range PCAndParts also blocks, this becomes a bigger problem. No evidence today; flagging for the #19 drift-alert infra roadmap.
"Apple + PC" framing as a negative signal — Multitech (Apple + PC, anti-bot), Gamma (laptops + used + thin PC parts), and Syscom (Apple line + computer parts) all share a pattern: when a retailer's primary positioning is laptops/Apple/general electronics, the discrete PC-components catalog tends to be thin. The inverse signal — "PC parts + builds" framing (PCAndParts, Sbeity, CompuOne, PCBuildingLeb) — correlates with deeper component catalogs. Useful heuristic for any future retailer-discovery pass.
Audit reliability — confusion between display annotations and actual currency. The v1 audit had to be corrected on at least four currency claims (Expert-Zone wrongly labeled LBP-only when prices carried a --ONLY-- suffix annotation; Gamma wrongly labeled LBP-only when it displays USD with HT (hors taxe) annotation; smaller margins on others). Future Lebanese-retailer audits should specifically check for: (a) HT/VAT annotations that look like currency codes but aren't, (b) suffix/prefix display flourishes like --ONLY-- or LBP equivalent text near the price, © currency switchers with non-default LBP state that hide USD on first load, (d) JS-rendered pricing that WebFetch may parse as empty until the page hydrates. The spot-check pass added: (e) platform identification confidence — "unknown / custom" claims should trigger a deeper response-source inspection (generator meta tag, theme paths, response headers) before being accepted; v1 missed that Mojitech and PC Station LB were on identifiable platforms (WooCommerce and Shopify respectively). When in doubt, run a parallel verification sweep with superpowers:dispatching-parallel-agents against the suspect fields.