AdCommerce Discontinued in eBay US & CA, Still Available for eBay EU & AU

As we announced in early July, the AdCommerce pay-per-click ad program that allowed eBay sellers to purchase pay-per-click advertisements on search result pages linking to their eBay stores and listings will be retired for eBay.com and eBay.ca as of August 4, 2010.

The service will continue for eBay sellers using AdCommerce in Europe and Australia, and it will continue for e-commerce retailers worldwide as it has in the past.

The AdCommerce API is still available through the Developer's Program and we encourage you to check it out. It currently supports all ad creation, management and reporting functionality, enabling developers to provide additional services to their e-commerce customers and assist in improving their performance. There's more to come for developers interested in using AdCommerce later this summer, including an API Sandbox for testing, so stay tuned for more info.

Thank you,
eBay AdCommerce team

eBay Greater China Developers Conference: Aug 27

Update (Aug 11): Due to popular demand, this event has sold out! Watch the blog for more events like these.

邀您加入第三届 eBay 大中华区开发者大会

尊敬的 eBay 开发者、卖家、合作伙伴，

“eBay 大中华区开发者大会 “ 是 eBay 在中国举办的一年一度的 eBay 开发者聚会， 2010 年将是其第三次举办。

您将有机会结识数百名电子商务技术同行和 eBay 及 PayPal 的技术专家，探讨如何充分利用 eBay 的跨国电子商务交易平台，更有效地开发自己的应用，用技术创造财富。

本次大会 ， 将主要介绍 eBay 2010 及 2011 全球技术走势 ， 展示 eBay 最新的 API 商业潜力 ， 纵览 PayPal 系统集成方案 ， 并且分享 eBay API 系统架构及优化经验等。 [ 查看详情 ]

谁应参加本次大会：

• eBay 和 PayPal 的 API 开发者及感兴趣者
• 拥有技术团队或希望组建技术团队的 eBay 卖家
• eBay 和 PayPal 的技术合作伙伴

会议时间和地点：

日期： 2010 年 8 月 27 日 （星期五）

时间： 08:30 – 18:00

地点：深圳某酒店（详见报名成功后我们发送给您的确认函）

如何参加：

填写 报名表 （姓名，公司，职位， Email ，手机号码）

大会完全免费，名额有限，请在报名截止日期 8 月 10 日前从速报名。

注册本大会过程中如有任何疑问，请电邮至 DL-eBay-CBT-API(at)ebay.com

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Dear eBay Developer, Seller, and Guest,

We extend to you a cordial invitation to attend the eBay Greater China Developers Conference.

eBay Greater China Developers Conference is an annual event for affiliate developers and entrepreneurs in Greater China who build innovate e-Commerce applications with eBay and PayPal API platforms. 2010 marks the third year of this technical event.

Sessions at the conference provide you with an opportunity to hear about the latest advancements in applications for eBay, the world's largest online marketplace. Through discussion with other developers and entrepreneurs, you can enhance your techniques for developing an app which best fits the marketplace. [See Details]

Who Should Attend?

• Developers targeting at developing advanced and profitable apps for eBay and PayPal users
• Entrepreneurs who are eager to grow their businesses with eBay and PayPal
• Anyone who is interested in the latest trends for eBay and the e-commerce world

When and Where

Date: August 27th, 2010 (Friday)

Time: 08:30 – 18:00

Place: Shenzhen (details to be included in the confirmation letter after you sign up for the event)

How Do I Register?

The event is free. Registration closes on August 10, 2010.

To sign up for the event, please fill in the online registration form.

For enquiries please email us at DL-eBay-CBT-API(at)ebay.com

679 Trading, Shopping, Merchant Data API Docs Now Available

Please remember to use a test environment when updating applications to use a new schema version.

To find out when a version of the API will be available, see the table at the top of the Release Notes for that API.

You can find the latest API documentation at the eBay Developer Documentation Center.

Developer Impact: eBay Buyer Protection in US, UK, DE

eBay DE just announced that a new eBay Buyer Protection program will be available on the DE site starting in September.

• Original announcement (German)
• Original announcement (English)

Developers will find that there is currently an issue retrieving new eBay Buyer Protection cases (for item not received and not as described problems) that were filed in the eBay Resolution Center. These cases are not being returned via the Trading API call GetUserDisputes. As a workaround, sellers today can view all their cases on the eBay website.

In September, we are releasing a way to retrieve the eBay Buyer Protection cases with a new ResolutionCaseManagement API. You will be able to subscribe to notifications that will send a message to your server when a case is opened, closed, or changes state.

In a future release, we will provide a single API that allows you to manage cases from both the old and new eBay Buyer Protection systems.

The new eBay Buyer Protection is currently live on the US and UK sites. In September it will be live for DE as well.

Reminder: Old Item Condition Values Start Breaking Listings July 27

As of July 27, 2010, several categories are requiring that you specify the new, more granular Item Condition values using the new ConditionID field. This is a mandatory code change for developers.

We suggest:

Call GetCategoryFeatures for your category and site to determine if the new Item Condition values are required for that category. GetCategoryFeatures will also tell you what the possible values are.

Example request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <GetCategoryFeaturesRequest   xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <RequesterCredentials>
  <eBayAuthToken>ABC...123</eBayAuthToken>
  </RequesterCredentials>
  <CategoryID>63861</CategoryID>
  <Version>675</Version>
  <DetailLevel>ReturnAll</DetailLevel>
</GetCategoryFeaturesRequest> 

Example response:

...
<Category>
  <CategoryID>12345</CategoryID>
  <ConditionEnabled>Required</ConditionEnabled>
  <ConditionValues>
    <Condition>
      <ID>1000</ID>
      <DisplayName>Brand New</DisplayName>
    </Condition>
    <Condition>
      <ID>1500</ID>
      <DisplayName>New other (see details)</DisplayName>
    </Condition>
    <Condition>
      <ID>2000</ID>
      <DisplayName>Manufacturer refurbished</DisplayName>
    </Condition>
    <Condition>
      <ID>2500</ID>
      <DisplayName>Seller refurbished</DisplayName>
    </Condition>
    <Condition>
      <ID>3000</ID>
      <DisplayName>Used</DisplayName>
    </Condition>
    <Condition>
      <ID>7000</ID>
      <DisplayName>For parts or not working</DisplayName>
    </Condition>
    <ConditionHelpURL>http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/contextual/condition_1.html</ConditionHelpURL>
  </ConditionValues>
</Category>
...

ConditionEnabled=Required means that the category requires the new way of specifying Item Condition.

Note: You will not see the value "Required" until after July 27. We suggest that you pass in ConditionID for any category that is currently flagged as "Enabled."

ID=1000 means that, to specify that the item is brand new, you should use ConditionID=1000 in your AddItem request.

DisplayName=Brand New means that you should display the value "Brand New" to your users when they are choosing their Item Condition value. You will pass the corresponding ID value in your AddItem request.

ConditionHelpURL is the help page that describes the criteria for the different conditions. For example, a "Brand New" item is described as "A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is applicable). Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See the seller's listing for full details."

We recommend that you provide this URL to your user during the listing flow so they can verify that their item meets the expected criteria.

Example AddItem request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <AddItemRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <RequesterCredentials>
  <eBayAuthToken>ABC...123</eBayAuthToken>
  </RequesterCredentials>
  <ErrorLanguage>en_US</ErrorLanguage>
  <WarningLevel>High</WarningLevel>
  <Item>
   ...
  <ConditionID>1000</ConditionID>
   ...
</Item>
</AddItemRequest>

ConditionID contains the value you got from the GetCategoryFeatures ID field.

When you call GetItem, you will also see the new values returned:

Example GetItem response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <GetItemResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
<Timestamp>2010-07-15T00:38:23.311Z</Timestamp>
<Ack>Success</Ack>
<Version>675</Version>
<Build>E675_CORE_BUNDLED_11481347_R1</Build>
<Item>
...
<ConditionID>1000</ConditionID>
<ConditionDisplayName>Brand New</ConditionDisplayName>
</Item>
</GetItemResponse>

After July 27:

New listings: If the new condition ID values are required, and you do not pass them in, the listing will fail.

Existing listings: If the new condition ID values are required and you try to revise the listing without passing in the new values, the revise will fail. For example, if you try to update price or quantity without also including the new item condition values, the revise will fail. The listing will continue to exist on the site, but it will not have the new price or quantity.

For more information, see:

• Specifying an Item's Condition
• Java Code Sample
• .Net Code Sample

677 Trading and Shopping API Docs Now Available

Please remember to use a test environment when updating applications to use a new schema version.

To find out when a version of the API will be available, see the table at the top of the Release Notes for that API.

You can find the latest API documentation at the eBay Developer Documentation Center.

Developer Impact: Fall 2010 Changes

Today, Dinesh Lathi posted an important announcement about the Fall 2010 Seller Update (SR10.3). Here is the developer impact for those features. More details will follow in the documentation as each feature is released. Most Fall 2010 changes will go live the week of September 7, 2010.

New shopping experience for iPod/MP3 players, GPS, and DVDs highlight s great eBay values on these hot holiday products. Starting mid-September, listing with the eBay catalog will be required in these subcategories (Auction-style and Fixed Price, including Good 'Til Cancelled). Pay no Insertion Fees when you list or relist with the catalog.

Developer Impact:

eBay will be providing a 100% product-based shopping experience in three categories. These categories are:

• iPod & MP3 Players (subcategory # 73839) [US, CA, UK, IE, DE, AT]
• GPS Devices (subcategory # 156955) [US, CA, UK, IE, DE, AT]
• DVDs, HD DVDs & Blu-ray (subcategory # 617) [US, CA]

This means that sellers will need to list using a product ID in those categories if a product ID is available for that item. If no product ID is available, sellers should list the usual way in that category.

Items listed with a product ID will show up on the improved product page. The best-value item will appear in an easy to use "value box" at the top of the page. Several factors go into determining who gets this placement, including eTRS status and competitive pricing.

Items that have an available product ID, but are not listed with that product ID will not be eligible for prominent placement on the product page, and will not get the insertion fee discount. However, the AddItem call will not fail.

More Catalogs Available

To support this requirement, eBay has increased the number of items that it provides pre-filled item information for. You may find product IDs for items that did not have product IDs in the past.

Code to Support Even More Future Catalogs

eBay is bringing more catalogs on as they become available. We suggest as a best practice that you build into your listing process for all items an initial search for a product ID. As a convenience, you can search for product ID by UPC and by product title. Then if a product ID is not available, list without the product ID.

This ensures items can take advantage of the additional information provided with pre-filled information, the improved product experience, and will be eligible for prominent placement.

For more information, see:

• Highlighting Value Overview
• Listing an Item with Attribute and/or Product Data

Release Date:

Enforcement: September 13 September 7

Site Support:

US, CA, UK, IE, DE, AT

eBay Listing Analytics application gives you new insight into how your listings are performing: impressions, clicks, sales.

eBay is replacing the Search Visibility tool with the Listing Analytics application to provide more information on listing performance. At the same time, the corresponding BestMatchItemDetails API is being updated.

Get answers to key seller questions:

• How do my listings rank for a given search?
• What does my sales funnel (impressions, clicks, views, and sold items) look like for my active and completed listings?
• How do my listings compare to the top five listings showing up on the first page of search results (impressions, average views) for a given query?
• What are best practices for getting more buyers to click on my listings and buy after they click them?

While every effort is made to ensure that API changes are backward compatible, the new version of the BestMatchItemDetails API may not be compatible with the previous version of the API.

For more information, see:

• Listing Analytics Application Overview

Release Date (Application and API):

US and Motors: Week of September 7

International: Early October

Site Support:

US, Motors, CA, CAFR, UK, IE, DE, AT, CH, FR, IT

Bulk-edit more fields, revise up to 500 listings at once with new functionality in the eBay bulk edit and relist flow.

Developer Impact:

With this release, the new on-site bulk listing management flow becomes generally available on the site. The underlying API that drives the flow will be made available in early 2011. It is a new API that is optimized for bulk editing and relisting.

The new API is robust and flexible and off-loads many listing tool functions like business logic validation to the API itself. Developers may want to consider this as an alternative to the Trading API.

The new API will be released early next year. There are currently no plans to deprecate the Trading API.

For more information, see:

• Bulk Listing Management Flow Overview
• DevCon Presentation: Bulk Editing and Relisting [PDF]

Release Date:

Bulk listing management flow: General release week of September 7

New API: Early 2011

Site Support:

All sites

Get your unpaid items re-listed and back in front of buyers fast with auto-relist option in Unpaid Item Assistant. Choose to exempt some customers from the automated process.

Developer Impact:

Starting in September, Unpaid Item Assistant will be turned on automatically for all PowerSellers and above. The UPI Assistant will automatically open unpaid item cases 16 days after a buyer hasn't paid. This duration can be changed in the seller's My eBay Site Preference Settings (My eBay > My Account > Site Preferences > Unpaid Item Assistant Preferences).

eBay is also offering the option to automatically relist the item when the UPI case closes without a payment. Sellers must opt-in to this feature.

In addition, you can create a list of preferred customers for whom cases will not automatically be created.

Unpaid Item Assistant is available for eBay Checkout items and those that offer only approved electronic payment methods (for example, PayPal, Paymate, Integrated Merchant Credit Cards, and so on).

The UPI Assistant is not directly available via the API. Some developers may already provide similar functionality using the Trading API call AddDispute. You may want to turn that feature off for PowerSellers and above to avoid duplication. Or, your sellers may wish to opt out of UPI Assistant.

For sellers who opt into the auto-relist feature, there is currently no way to determine via the API if an item has been automatically relisted. You may wish to keep a careful eye on any UPI cases and see if GetSellerTransactions starts returning any unexpected RelistedItemID values. Sellers may prefer not to opt into the auto-relist feature.

For more information, see:

• Unpaid Item Assistant Overview
• RelistedItemID

Release Date:

The week of September 7

Site Support:

All sites

Industry-standard shipping terms —Economy, Standard, Expedited, and One-day—used to describe domestic shipping services. Shipping options displayed prominently along with estimated delivery time on the item page and in checkout.

Developer Impact:

To reduce shipping-related questions—including confusion about the carrier services offered and time of delivery— we will be displaying the shipping options offered, along with estimated delivery, more prominently throughout the buying process. The existing generic shipping service (e.g. Standard Flat Rate, Expedited Flat Rate, Overnight Flat Rate, and Other) will be automatically renamed with one of the new Industry-standard shipping terms and the corresponding delivery estimates will be automatically added as shown in this table:

Current service name	New service classification	Shipping time used for estimated delivery
Other (see description)	Economy shipping	1 - 10 business days
Standard Flat Rate Shipping Service	Standard shipping	1 - 5 business days
Expedited Flat Rate Shipping Service	Expedited shipping	1 - 3 business days
Overnight Flat Rate Shipping Service	One-day shipping	1 business day

In addition, we are adding three new generic shipping services for sellers who ship into the U.S. from abroad. These services have longer shipping estimates to better account for international shipping and customs clearing times.

New service name	Shipping time
Economy Shipping from outside U.S.	11 - 20 business days
Standard Shipping from outside U.S.	5 - 10 business days
Expedited Shipping from outside U.S.	1 - 4 business days

At the top of the item page and during checkout, four familiar industry-standard service level terms will be used:

• Economy (1-10 business days)
• Standard (1-5 business days)
• Expedited (1-3 business days)
• One-day (1 business day)

As always, the estimated delivery displayed to buyers will be the shipping time plus your handling time. If the sellers selects a branded shipping service (e.g. UPS Ground, or USPS Priority Mail) this information will continue to be available on the shipping details section of the item page and during checkout.

If a seller currently lists with any of the UPS or USPS services or the "Overnight Flat Rate Shipping Service," their listings won't require any changes.

If a seller currently uses "Standard Flat Rate Shipping", "Expedited Flat Rate Shipping" or "Other (see description)", they should make sure their carrier's published delivery estimates match the shipping times eBay will be using for estimated delivery (See the table above). They may want to change their listings—and possibly their services or handling time to stay competitive and set the right expectations for their buyers.

For more information, see:

• Shipping Services Update Overview
• Specifying Shipping Costs when Creating or Revising a Listing
• ShippingServiceCodeType

Release Date:

The week of September 7

Site Support:

US, UK, DE

Shipping to Alaska and Hawaii, APO/FPO addresses, and special US areas such as Guam and Puerto Rico: Exclude these buyers or show exact charges based on their location.

Developer Impact:

Sellers set the new special shipping rates in their My eBay. There is no way to specify this with the API. Developers should pass a flag in AddItem to indicate that the special shipping rates should be used for a particular listing.

For more information, see:

• Shipping Location Updates Overview

Release Date:

The week of September 7

Site Support:

DE, UK, North America, Asia-Pacific

Pass on your shipping discounts to buyers with the Shipping Calculator: Specify one domestic and one international discount.

Developer Impact:

Sellers set the shipping discounts in their My eBay. There is no way to specify this with the API.

For more information, see:

• Shipping Discounts Overview

Release Date:

The week of September 7

Site Support:

US, CA, AU

Low-cost shipping insurance: Available exclusively with eBay label printing.

Developer Impact:

This feature is only available on the eBay site as part of the label printing process. There is no API equivalent.

For more information, see:

• Shipping Insurance Overview

Release Date:

The week of September 7

Site Support:

US

Updates to reduce and manage buyer contacts: Ask a question link moved down on item page; Automated Answers turned on for all sellers.

Developer Impact:

No new API changes for this feature.

For more information, see:

• Automated Answers Overview

Release Date:

Early August.

Enhancements to My Messages: Use it as your central inbox for buyer email with out-of-office reply, customized email signatures, and message filtering.

Developer Impact:

Newly available in the Sandbox, a preview version of upcoming changes to MyMessages allows you to set selected messages as high priority, retrieve only high priority messages, and get counts of high priority messages.

For more information, see:

• My Messages Updates Overview
• Trading API Release Notes

Release Date:

Preview currently available in the Sandbox

Available in Production the week of September 7

Site Support:

All sites

Category and Item Specifics changes consolidated with other updates. Find out if your listings are impacted.

Developer Impact:

Please refresh your cached categories and item specifics when the changes go live.

For more information, see:

• Upcoming Changes to Categories and Item Specifics

Get complete details about all these important updates.
See the Seller Checklist for more information about how these updates affect you.

Sellers and developers will benefit from reviewing this information.

For more insight, you're also invited to:
Take part in an upcoming webinar on Thursday, July 15.
Join me and other leaders from eBay in a Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, July 14. Check the Announcement Board for more details coming soon.
Talk with members of my staff during the next two days on a special discussion board we've set up for this purpose.
As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

We recommend taking advantage of the resources that Dinesh mentions above. More developer impact details will follow in the documentation as each feature is released.