How To Copy Web Page Data Into Microsoft Access From Sites Like Amazon And Walmart

Ever notice how you can clearly see prices on sites like Amazon or Walmart, but when you try to pull that data into Microsoft Access it is like the prices do not exist at all? In this video, I explain why that happens and show a practical workaround that lets you capture exactly what you see on the screen and save it in Access.

This question came from one of my Platinum members who wanted to track and compare weekly prices between Amazon and Walmart without constantly switching browser tabs and relying on memory. While APIs and background web requests are usually the first tools to reach for, many modern websites intentionally hide or inject pricing data using JavaScript, which makes those methods fail even though the data is visible on screen.

I walk through why APIs are often unavailable or impractical for everyday consumers, why HTTP requests and browser controls come up empty, and why logging in requirements make background methods useless for sites like banks and credit card companies. If you have ever wondered why Access cannot see data that your eyes clearly can, this video explains exactly what is going on.

The solution I demonstrate is what I like to call a good enough approach. Instead of fighting hidden HTML and JavaScript, we simply let the browser load the page normally, copy the visible text using standard Windows techniques, and paste that data directly into Access. It is not fancy and it is not perfect, but it works reliably and gets the job done.

This is a developer level technique that brings together tools I have covered before, including FollowHyperlink, Sleep, AppActivate, and SendKeys. The goal is not elegance but practicality, especially when you just want working data you can store, compare, and use in your own databases.

In part two of this series, I take the same approach and apply it to a real world site like Amazon, where things get more interesting and there are a few extra gotchas to watch out for. If you have ever wanted a no nonsense way to grab real screen data into Access, this technique is worth knowing.