As you develop your application, it’s a good idea to follow these practices:

  • Use existing valid access tokens instead of creating new tokens.

  • Use the modern and RESTful APIs when developing your application. Some benefits include:

    • HTTP is widely used, so sending and receiving HTTP requests and responses doesn’t require much bandwidth.

    • JSON and URL addressing protocols are used, which minimizes the work needed to get your application up and running since all APIs of this type have the same easy-to-learn interface format.

  • To make efficient use of your API calls, cache data locally and avoid retrieving duplicate data multiple times.

  • Follow the best practices (if any) that eBay defines for each call. For example:

    • Use calls that return more data. Some APIs include several calls that provide similar services. Using calls that return more data reduces the number of calls you need to make and makes your application more efficient.

    • Use filters to retrieve incremental updates for calls that return large result sets. Certain calls, such as those related to getting category information, return large result sets. If the data includes historical information or information that doesn’t change frequently, we recommend that you store all the data initially, and then use filters to only retrieve incremental updates.

    • Subscribe to order-related platform notifications to reduce the number and frequency of order retrieval calls. For example, eBay can send you a notification when a fixed-price listing generates a sale or an auction listing ends.

  • Always test your application in the Sandbox.

  • As with all applications, your application should implement at least basic error handling.

  • Build flexibility into your application and stay up to date with API-specific release notes.

    Because we support several versions of an API at any given time, you have more time to adapt to changes made to the eBay website. You don’t have to upgrade each time a new version of an API comes out, but you might be interested in new features and changes to functionality that you currently use. We also limit support for outdated functionality. Regularly check the API release notes and API updates to stay current.

  • Understand when listing-related fees are charged.

    All seller fees that apply only when a seller lists an item through a UI, tool, or mobile application also apply when an application lists an item through an API. We recommend that you design your application to inform users when they will be charged additional fees. If using the Trading API, consider using “verify” calls instead of add, revise, and relist item calls. Verify calls provide the same validation but don’t actually publish,update, or relist an item. So they return the same errors or warnings and also show the applicable fees that will be charged to the seller if the listing is published, updated, or relisted.

  • Consider providing a Sign-in with eBay option to create a great user experience.