Buy APIs Requirements | eBay Developers Program

Many of the Buy APIs are a (Limited Release). The use of eBay’s Buy APIs in production is intended for eBay partners only. You must Production access process through the eBay Partner Network. Acceptance of applications is based on the proposed business model, as well as a formal agreement to abide by the policies and requirements stipulated by eBay.

Note: There is no guarantee that your application for production use of the APIs will be approved.

Using the APIs in sandbox

Anyone with an eBay developer account can use the Buy APIs in the sandbox with the exception of methods in the guest_checkout_session and checkout_session resources which are those methods used for guest checkout and eBay member checkout, respectively.

Developers who require access to guest checkout/eBay member checkout methods should reach out to Developer Technical Support (DTS) and/or their Business Unit contact to request approval. Once approved for production use of the Buy APIs for guest checkout and/or eBay member checkout use cases, developers will then be granted access to use the guest checkout and/or eBay member checkout methods in the sandbox as well.

We advise you to complete the Production application process and obtain approval before you invest significantly in application development and testing.

Beta launch phase

Some of the eBay Buy APIs are currently beta releases. This means that they are subject to change and consumers may be asked to update their integration accordingly, depending upon the nature of the change. For details about the implications of different phases of eBay API releases, see API launch stages in the Using eBay RESTful APIs guide.

Production eligibility requirements

Users must meet standard eligibility requirements, get approvals from eBay support organizations, and sign contracts with eBay to access the Buy APIs in production. Meeting the standard eligibility requirements is not a guarantee that production access will be granted. See Production access process for additional information and instructions for requesting production access.

These requirements are grouped into:

Contractual requirements
Technical requirements
Application requirements for checkout
User experience requirements for eBay guest checkouts
Guest checkout flow requirements

Contractual requirements

Use of the eBay APIs in production requires the following accounts:

An eBay member account (on ebay.com) (This is required in order to use sandbox.)
An eBay Developers Program account (This is required in order to use sandbox.)

In addition to all the contracts and agreements associated with the accounts, such as the eBay User Agreement, the API License Agreement, and the eBay Partner Network Agreement, there are contracts with eBay that are specific to the eBay Buy APIs and your business model. You may also be required to sign Mutual Non-disclosure Agreements (MNDAs) depending on your business model. Also, if you want to download the item feed files or get paid for selling eBay items, you need to become an affiliate by joining the eBay Partner Network. For additional information, see Affiliate Marketing Resources.

Technical requirements

Depending on your use case, your application must meet one or both of the following requirements:

Application must be fully functional and reviewable on the eBay sandbox
Application must implement affiliate tracking details (needed for revenue share capability)

Application requirements for checkout

There are two types of checkouts:

The member method of the Order API. This is for eBay members who are signed in.
The Checkout with eBay widget flow. This is for eBay guests, who are anonymous.

The following describes the requirements for these checkout types.

Application requirements for eBay member checkout (Order API)

To use the checkout_session resource, which supports eBay member checkout, you need approval. This approval will give you access for member checkout in both the sandbox and production API environments. To request approval, see Production access process.

The requirements for using eBay member checkout will be communicated to you with your access approval. They will be similar to the requirements for the Application requirements for eBay guest checkouts. However, there could be additional requirements, and some guest checkout requirements may not apply.

Application requirements for eBay guest checkouts (Checkout with eBay)

The guest_checkout_session resource lets eBay guests purchase items using the Checkout with eBay widget. This lets eBay guests purchase items by credit card, direct debit, or other payment method.

Partners must include the following data elements within the commerce flow and adhere to all user experience requirements detailed in the tables below.

User experience requirements for eBay guest checkouts

The following sections list the requirements for the browse, view item, partner cart and checkout experiences by marketplace. For a list of marketplaces supported by the Buy APIs, see Buy API Support by Marketplace.

Note: The following user experience requirements apply to all guest checkouts, except where noted.

User experience guest checkout item requirements

The following table lists the browse/search requirements for items in all marketplaces.

	Fields Returned by Browse and Feed APIs
Fixed Price Items	Required: Only surface FIXED PRICE items Browse and Feed APIs: filter `buyingOptions` for `FIXED_PRICE`
Sort browse	Prohibited: Disabling eBay's sort functionality. Partners and users are not permitted to sort items. Note: The data provided is already sorted to present the most relevant/best match according to eBay's algorithms; further sorting would produce a sub-optimal experience.
Free Shipping	Recommended: Surface only items offering free shipping Browse API: filter `maxDeliveryCost` for `0`
Delivery Country	Required: Filter delivery country for domestic market You can sell only items that are delivered within the same country as the marketplace of the item. For example, if the marketplace is EBAY_DE you can sell only items delivered in Germany. Browse API: filter `deliveryCountry` Feed API: filter `shipToIncludedRegions`

User experience guest checkout view item and Partner's cart pages

The following table lists the information required on the View Item and Partner's Cart pages in all marketplaces supported by the Order API.

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
eBay Logo	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show the eBay logo Provided by eBay (ebay-logos.zip).

AU Groceries

Page

eBay Logo

✔

View Item

Cart

Show the eBay logo

Provided by eBay (ebay-logos.zip).

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
eBay Item Image	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show an eBay image of the item The image of the item must be an eBay image. Response fields: `image.imageUrl` `additionalImages.imageUrl`

AU Groceries

Page

eBay Item Image

✔

View Item

Cart

Show an eBay image of the item

The image of the item must be an eBay image.

Response fields:

image.imageUrl
additionalImages.imageUrl

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Title	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show the title of the item DE: Full title required. Other sites: You can show a shortened version of the full title as long as the full title can be displayed if the buyer hovers over it. ES, FR, GB, IT: Full title recommended Response field `title`

AU Groceries

Page

Title

✔

View Item

Cart

Show the title of the item

DE: Full title required.
Other sites: You can show a shortened version of the full title as long as the full title can be displayed if the buyer hovers over it.
ES, FR, GB, IT: Full title recommended

Response field title

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Price	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show the BIN (Buy It Now) Price Shipping costs must always be called out separately. Even if it is free shipping. DE: You must disclose that the cost includes any 'value added taxes' (VAT). See Value Added Tax below. Response field `price` Recommended: Show strikethrough price / discount / savings Response container name `marketingPrice`

AU Groceries

Page

Price

✔

View Item

Cart

Show the BIN (Buy It Now) Price

Shipping costs must always be called out separately. Even if it is free shipping.
DE: You must disclose that the cost includes any 'value added taxes' (VAT). See Value Added Tax below.

Response field price

Recommended: Show strikethrough price / discount / savings

Response container name marketingPrice

AU Groceries

Page

Unit Price ✔ ✔ ✔ View Item

Show the unit price and unit measure when returned

This is returned only by some European marketplaces.

Response fields:

unitPrice
unitPricingMeasure

CA, ES, FR, GB, IT: Recommended

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Description	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item
	Show item description You can show a shorten version of the description as long as there is a link to the full description. Response fields: `description` `shortDescription` For item variations that share the same description. Response container name `commonDescriptions`

AU Groceries

Page

Description ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ View Item

Show item description

You can show a shorten version of the description as long as there is a link to the full description.

Response fields:

description
shortDescription

For item variations that share the same description.

Response container name commonDescriptions

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Quantity	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show the total number of items being purchased Manually coded by partner.

AU Groceries

Page

Quantity

✔

View Item

Cart

Show the total number of items being purchased

Manually coded by partner.

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Condition		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show item condition You must indicate when the item is not new. Note: All items in the groceries category are new. Response field `condition`

AU Groceries

Page

Condition

✔

View Item

Cart

Show item condition

You must indicate when the item is not new.

Note: All items in the groceries category are new.

Response field condition

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Shipping Cost	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show shipping cost Response field `shippingOptions[i].shippingCost` Note: This requires providing the buyer's US zip code in the X-EBAY-C-ENDUSERCTX contextualLocationrequest header. Show domestic shipping only You can sell only items that are delivered within the same country as the marketplace of the item. For example, if the marketplace is EBAY_DE you can sell only items delivered in Germany. Exception on View Item page: Items on the US marketplace that are shippable or delivered to Taiwan can be shown. Recommended: Show item location Response fields: `itemLocation.city` `itemLocation.country` Manually coded by partner.

AU Groceries

Page

Shipping Cost

✔

View Item

Cart

Show shipping cost

Response field shippingOptions[i].shippingCost

Note: This requires providing the buyer's US zip code in the X-EBAY-C-ENDUSERCTX contextualLocationrequest header.

Show domestic shipping only

You can sell only items that are delivered within the same country as the marketplace of the item. For example, if the marketplace is EBAY_DE you can sell only items delivered in Germany.

Exception on View Item page: Items on the US marketplace that are shippable or delivered to Taiwan can be shown.

Recommended: Show item location

Response fields:

itemLocation.city
itemLocation.country

Manually coded by partner.

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Shipping Options			✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show shipping option Show the shipping options. Response container name `shippingOptions` CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, IT: This can be a link to this information.

AU Groceries

Page

Shipping Options

✔

View Item

Cart

Show shipping option

Show the shipping options.

Response container name shippingOptions

CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, IT: This can be a link to this information.

AU Groceries

Page

Estimated Delivery Date

✔

View Item

Cart

Show estimated delivery date

Response fields:

shippingOptions.minEstimatedDeliveryDate
shippingOptions.maxEstimatedDeliveryDate

Note:

For some shipping types these fields are null because the data is not available. When this happens, after the purchase is complete, you need to show the buyer the following.

To get the estimated date, click on the link in the purchase confirmation email from eBay. On the page that appears, you can contact the seller and ask them for the delivery date.

US: This requires providing the buyer's US zip code in the X-EBAY-C-ENDUSERCTX contextualLocation request header.

DE: This can be a link to this information.

CA, ES, FR, GB, IT: Recommended

AU Groceries

Page

Shipping Exclusions

✔

View Item

Link to shipping exclusions

GB: Wherever "Free postage" is included, the "see exclusions" link must be added in close proximity to the postage information and the text must be red as required by Trading Standards.

DE, ES, FR, IT: Recommended

Manually coded by partner.

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Payment Methods			✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔		View Item Cart
	Show Available Payment Methods CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, IT: You can use a link to this information so long as the payment information is also available at checkout out. Manually coded by partner.

AU Groceries

Page

Payment Methods

✔

View Item

Cart

Show Available Payment Methods

CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, IT: You can use a link to this information so long as the payment information is also available at checkout out.

Manually coded by partner.

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Seller Name	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	Show the eBay seller user name Response field `seller.username` Strongly Suggested: Show Seller Ratings Response fields: `seller.feedbackPercentage` `seller.feedbackScore`

AU Groceries

Page

Seller Name

✔

View Item

Cart

Show the eBay seller user name

Response field seller.username

Strongly Suggested: Show Seller Ratings

Response fields:

seller.feedbackPercentage
seller.feedbackScore

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Seller Terms and Conditions			✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔		View Item
	Show the seller's terms and conditions This can be one click away if the link is transparent, such as labeled "Terms and Conditions" or grouped with the seller information under "legal information". Response field: `seller.termsOfService` CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, IT: This can be a link to this information.

AU Groceries

Page

Seller Terms and Conditions ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ View Item

Show the seller's terms and conditions

This can be one click away if the link is transparent, such as labeled "Terms and Conditions" or grouped with the seller information under "legal information".

Response field: seller.termsOfService

CA, DE, ES, FR, GB, IT: This can be a link to this information.

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
Return Information			✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item
	Show seller return information This can be one click away if the link is transparent (i.e. labeled "returns policy" or grouped with seller information under "legal information". Response container name `returnTerms` DE, FR, GB: Must link to the seller's full return policy.

AU Groceries

Page

Return Information ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ View Item

Show seller return information

This can be one click away if the link is transparent (i.e. labeled "returns policy" or grouped with seller information under "legal information".

Response container name returnTerms

DE, FR, GB: Must link to the seller's full return policy.

AU Groceries

Page

(EEK) European Energy
Efficiency rating ✔ ✔ View Item

Show the European energy efficiency rating

Response field energyEfficiencyClass

ES, FR, GB, IT: Recommended

AU Groceries

Page

Value Added Tax

✔

View Item

Cart

Show the Value Added Tax (VAT)

VAT is included in the price and does not need to be specifically stated.

DE: This must be shown like this:

	AU Groceries	AU	CA	DE	ES	FR	GB	IT	US	Page
In Footer: Links to eBay User Agreement and Partner's Privacy Policy	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	View Item Cart
	In the footer, include the following links: Link to the eBay User Agreement For the link specific to the marketplace, see eBay Disclosure Links. Link to the Partner's privacy policy Partner's must create a privacy policy and provide the link to this document in the footer. For information about privacy policies, see the Protecting User Privacy section of the API License Agreement. Manually coded by partner.

AU Groceries

Page

In Footer: Links to eBay User Agreement and Partner's Privacy Policy

✔

View Item

Cart

In the footer, include the following links:

Link to the eBay User Agreement

For the link specific to the marketplace, see eBay Disclosure Links.
Link to the Partner's privacy policy

Partner's must create a privacy policy and provide the link to this document in the footer.

For information about privacy policies, see the Protecting User Privacy section of the API License Agreement.

Manually coded by partner.

User experience guest checkout purchase page

The following table lists the information required on the checkout (Buy button) page for all marketplaces supported by the Order API.

	Fields Returned by Order API Guest Methods
eBay Logo	Show the eBay logo Provided by eBay (ebay-logos.zip).
Seller Name	Show seller name of each item in cart Response field `lineItems[].seller.username`
Title	Show item title of each item in cart Response field `lineItems[].title`
Quantity	Show quantity of each item in cart Response field `lineItems[].quantity`
Item Price	Show price of each item in cart Response field `lineItems[].netPrice`
Total Shipping Cost	Show shipping costs and delivery date Show shipping options Response container name `shippingOptions` Show shipping address Response container name `shippingAddress` Show shipping cost Response field name = `pricingSummary.deliveryCost` Show import charges Response field name = `lineItems.shippingOptions.importCharges` Show estimated deliver date Response fields: `shippingOptions.minEstimatedDeliveryDate` `shippingOptions.maxEstimatedDeliveryDate`
Total Cost	Show total cost of the order Response field `pricingSummary.total` DE: You must disclose that the Total Cost includes any 'value added taxes' (VAT). Requirements if there are import charges: You must show a breakdown of the shipping and import costs. At a minimum you must show the subtotal, shipping cost, import charges, and order total. You can also show additional cost breakdown, such as delivery discount, etc. Response fields: subtotal = `pricingSummary.total` - `pricingSummary.importCharge` - `pricingSummary.deliveryCost` shipping cost = `pricingSummary.deliveryCost` import charges = `pricingSummary.importCharges` order total = `pricingSummary.total` You must show the buyer the details about the shipping and import costs and there must be a link to the eBay Global Shipping Program terms and conditions (https://pages.ebay.com/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html). This information can be displayed in a pop-up. The following are examples of the text: This amount includes seller specified domestic shipping charges as well as applicable shipping and handling fees, but is independent of import charges. For additional information, see the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions. This amount includes applicable customs duties, taxes, brokerage, and other fees. Exclusions apply. For additional details, see the terms and conditions. See examples of how to display the messages and the cost breakdown

Guest checkout flow requirements

The following table lists the requirements for guest checkout flows for all marketplaces supported by the Order API.

Order API Guest Checkout Resources

Guest Purchase Order ID

	Order API Guest Checkout Resources
Guest Purchase Order ID	Do not show the purchase order ID to the buyer This ID is used only by the partner in the getGuestPurchaseOrder method to retrieve the purchase order details. Response field `purchaseOrderId`
Buyer's Contact Information	Provide buyer's email and their full billing and shipping address. This is needed to facilitate the checkout and post-transaction communication between the seller and buyer.

Do not show the purchase order ID to the buyer

This ID is used only by the partner in the getGuestPurchaseOrder method to retrieve the purchase order details.

Response field purchaseOrderId

Buyer's Contact Information

Provide buyer's email and their full billing and shipping address.

This is needed to facilitate the checkout and post-transaction communication between the seller and buyer.

Production access process

The following is the application process for obtaining production access.

If you haven't already, sign up for an eBay Partner Network (EPN) account:
- Ensure that the information you provide is accurate and be as thorough as possible when completing your application.
- Read and understand the EPN Policies.
Completely fill out and submit the Buy API Application.
- Reply to the submission confirmation email and include mocks and data flows of your user experience.
- Within 10 business days, the eBay Partner Network will respond, approving or declining your application.
If your business model is approved by the eBay Partner Network, open a support ticket with eBay Developer Support, using "Buy API Production Access (eBay user ID)" in the subject line. In the ticket, include the following:
- EPN registered eBay user ID
- Detailed instructions on how to access and test your application in Sandbox
- The approval email from EPN as an attachment
The eBay Developer Support team will initiate the application review/approval process:
1. eBay Developer Support team reviews the application for compliance
2. You must make changes as requested by the eBay Support team
3. When the Support team is satisfied with your app, you are given eBay contracts
4. Upon return of signed contracts, the eBay Support team enables production access for your application