eBay have added new capabilities to the public eBay API portfolio so third-party developers in the eBay Developers Program can create powerful experiences and manage their eBay business at scale. If you use any third party tools, almost without exception (bar a few that scrape the eBay site) they will use the eBay API (Application Programming Interface) to communicate with eBay.
One of the most interesting is the addition of the send offers to buyers eBay API call which, when multichannel management services add the feature to their tools, will enable sellers to manage send offers to buyers off eBay in the tool they are most familiar with using.
How important is the eBay API?
Since October 2016, eBay’s Buy APIs have generated $550M in GMB globally:
- eBay serves ~150 – 250M API calls per hour
- In an average week, eBay serves ~30B API calls
In Q1 of 2019, external developers used our public Sell APIs to:
- Created more than 700,000 new listings
- Managed about 2x that number
In Q1 of 2019, external developers used our public Buy APIs to:
- Drive more than $154M GMB globally
- # of transactions: 3.2M
New eBay API calls
Login with eBay
Sign in for new users can feel cumbersome if there are too many steps. eBay are taking away friction by allowing third-party developers to delegate authentication to eBay by simplifying their integration and improving their new user experience. No need for local authentication or managing identity moving forward, now using Login with eBay, developers will be able to tap into eBay’s authentication services to verify their user’s identity. Catch, a new shopping experience created by eBay in Germany, brings fun, inspiration and value by offering cool, trendy and unexpected products at the best prices. Catch has already integrated Login with eBay into its sign-in flow. Login with eBay is currently available for all developers.
Volume Pricing in Marketing API
Selling more of the same thing allows sellers to save money and time, and move product more quickly. Sellers can now offer a volume discount to their buyers when they buy multiples of the same item. If sellers can sell more than one item to the same buyer, it’s a bigger win. The seller spends less time managing orders, packing items, and can save on shipping costs.
Offers to Buyers in Negotiation API
This new capability allows Sellers to send offers to buyers that are watching their product with an exclusive discount. Buyers will instantly get notified on their mobile and desktop devices and can accept the offer or counter with the price they would like to pay to purchase. This creates more engagement and opportunities for ecommerce between our buyers and sellers. This capability will be available later this year.
Best Offer Support in the Inventory API and Merchant Integration Platform (MIP) feed solution
Selling applications that use the Inventory API and MIP will be able to adopt and offer eBay’s Best Offer capabilities to buyers. This capability will be available later this year.
Aspect Guidance in Taxonomy API & Trading API
eBay updated the Taxonomy API and Trading API to provide guidance on important item specifics that are required, recommended, and optional for sellers to add into their listings. Required item specifics are the most-searched-for aspects by buyers. Our guidance to sellers is intended to boost their listing visibility. Our algorithms use filled item specifics from these three classifications to power accurate search recall, create search-engine friendly links to seller’s listings as well giving those listings exposure in our search result filters on mobile and desktop. Item specific guidance takes the guesswork out of knowing which item specifics are important.
