getActivityOptions

Note: The Return Management API is enabled in production. The getActivityOptions call will only return data for US sellers that are opted into eBay Return Center and have returns associated to them. The eBay Return Center pilot launched on July 10, 2012. The eBay Return Center full launch is scheduled for early August 2012. Please refer to http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/return-process.html for more information on eBay returns and seller opt-in process.

A seller can use this call to return the next required action for a specific return. This call is not applicable to a buyer.

Request Details

In the getActivityOptions request, the seller must provide the return ID to identify the return. If not already known, the return ID can be retrieved with a call to getUserReturns.

Working with the Response

In addition to the standard timestamp and version fields and the errorMessage container (if errors and/or warnings exist), the response for getActivityOptions includes one or more activityOptions fields, which will contain the next action required in the return case. Possible actions include 'ISSUE_REFUND', which is triggered after the seller has received the returned item, and 'PROVIDE_SELLER_INFO', which is triggered if the buyer is requesting a Return Merchandise Authorization number before returning the item.

getActivityOptions Input

The box below lists all fields that could be included in the call request. To learn more about an individual field or its type, click its name in the box (or scroll down to find it in the table below the box).

getActivityOptions Output

The box below lists all fields that might be returned in the response. To learn more about an individual field or its type, click its name in the box (or scroll down to find it in the table below the box).

See also Samples.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<getActivityOptionsResponse xmlns="http://www.ebay.com/marketplace/returns/v1/services">
  <!-- Standard Output Fields -->
  <ack> AckValue </ack>
  <errorMessage> ErrorMessage
    <error> ErrorData
      <category> ErrorCategory </category>
      <domain> string </domain>
      <errorId> long </errorId>
      <exceptionId> token </exceptionId>
      <message> string </message>
      <parameter name="string"> ErrorParameter (string) </parameter>
      <!-- ... more parameter nodes here ... -->
      <severity> ErrorSeverity </severity>
      <subdomain> string </subdomain>
    </error>
    <!-- ... more error nodes here ... -->
  </errorMessage>
  <timestamp> dateTime </timestamp>
  <version> string </version>
  <!-- Call-specific Output Fields -->
  <activityOptions> ActivityOptionType </activityOptions>
  <!-- ... more activityOptions nodes here ... -->
</getActivityOptionsResponse>

Return Value	Type	Occurrence	Meaning

Standard Output Fields [Jump to call-specific fields]

ack	AckValue	Always	Applicable values: • Failure (out) eBay encountered a fatal error during the processing of the request, causing the request to fail. When a serious application-level error occurs, the error is returned instead of the business data. • PartialFailure (out) eBay successfully processed the request, but one or more non-fatal errors occurred during the processing. Inspect the message details and resolve any problems before resubmitting the request. • Success (out) eBay successfully processed the request and the business data is returned in the response. Note that it is possible for a response to return Success, but still not contain the expected data in the result. • Warning (out) The request that triggered the error was processed successfully but with one or more warnings.
errorMessage	ErrorMessage	Conditionally	Information for an error or warning that occurred when eBay processed the request. This field is not returned if the ack value is Success.
errorMessage.error	ErrorData	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	Details about a single error.
errorMessage.error.category	ErrorCategory	Conditionally	There are three categories of errors: request errors, application errors, and system errors. Applicable values: • Application (out) An error occurred due to a problem with the request, with the most likely source being the application sending the request. For example, the request is missing a required data element or it contains an invalid field. The problem must be corrected before the request can be resent. Inspect the error message to find the cause of the problem. If the problem is due to an application error, modify the application and resend the request. If the error is due to invalid data, the source of the data must be corrected before you resend the resend request to eBay. • Request (out) An error occurred due to a problem with the request, with the most likely source being missing or invalid data in the request. The problem must be corrected before the request can be retried. Inspect the error message to find the cause of the problem. If the problem is a result of end-user data, alert the end-user to the problem and provide the means for them to correct the problem. Once the problem is resolved, resend the request to eBay. • System (out) Indicates that an error has occurred on the eBay system side. For example, a database or server could be down. Inspect the error message to find the cause of the problem. If the problem is on the eBay side, an application can retry the request a reasonable number of times (eBay recommends twice). If the error persists, contact Developer Technical Support. Once the problem has been resolved, the request may be resent in its original form.
errorMessage.error.domain	string	Conditionally	Name of the domain in which the error occurred.
errorMessage.error.errorId	long	Conditionally	A unique code that identifies the particular error condition that occurred. Your application can use error codes as identifiers in your customized error-handling algorithms.
errorMessage.error.exceptionId	token	Conditionally	Unique identifier for an exception associated with an error.
errorMessage.error.message	string	Conditionally	A detailed description of the condition that caused the error.
errorMessage.error.parameter	ErrorParameter (string)	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	Various warning and error messages return one or more variables that contain contextual information about the error. This is often the field or value that triggered the error.
errorMessage.error.parameter [ attribute name ]	string	Conditionally	The name of the input parameter returned with the error. Inspecting the parameter (or its input value) will often aid in understanding the cause of the error. Not all error messages contain this value.
errorMessage.error.severity	ErrorSeverity	Conditionally	Indicates whether the reported problem is fatal (an error) or is less- severe (a warning). Review the error message details for information on the cause. If the request fails and the application is the source of the error (for example, a required element is missing), update the application before you retry the request. If the problem is due to incorrect user data, alert the end-user to the problem and provide the means for them to correct the data. Once the problem in the application or data is resolved, re-send the request to eBay. If the source of the problem is on eBay's side, you can retry the request a reasonable number of times (eBay recommends you try the request twice). If the error persists, contact Developer Technical Support. Once the problem has been resolved, you can resend the request in its original form. If a warning occurs, warning information is returned in addition to the business data. Normally, you do not need to resend the request (as the original request was successful). However, depending on the cause of the warning, you might need to contact the end user, or eBay, to effect a long term solution to the problem. Applicable values: • Error (out) eBay encountered a fatal error during the processing of the request, causing the request to fail. When eBay encounters an error, it returns error data instead of the requested business data. Inspect the error details and resolve the problem before resubmitting the request. • Warning (out) The request was successfully processed, but eBay encountered a non-fatal error during the processing that could affect the data returned. For example, eBay might have changed the value of an input field. In this Return, eBay returns a successful response, but it also returns a warning. For best results, requests should return without warnings. Inspect the warning details and resolve the problem before resubmitting the request.
errorMessage.error.subdomain	string	Conditionally	Name of the subdomain in which the error occurred.
timestamp	dateTime	Always	This value represents the date and time when eBay processed the request. The time zone of this value is GMT and the format is the ISO 8601 date and time format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSSZ). See Time Values in the eBay Web Services guide for information about this time format and converting to and from the GMT time zone.
version	string	Always	The version of the response payload schema. Indicates the version of the schema that eBay used to process the request.

Call-specific Output Fields

activityOptions

ActivityOptionType

Always,
repeatable: [1..*]

The returned value indicates the next possible action that a seller can take to resolve a return. If ISSUE_REFUND is returned, the next logical step would be to call issueRefund. If PROVIDE_SELLER_INFO is returned, the next logical step would be to call provideSellerInfo. The value that is returned is dependent on the status of the return.

Applicable values:

• ISSUE_REFUND

(out) This value indicates that the seller's next action is to issue a refund to the buyer.

• OTHER

(out) This value is reserved for future use.

• PROVIDE_SELLER_INFO

(out) This value indicates that the seller's next action is to provide an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number to the buyer.

getActivityOptions Samples

getActivityOptions Change History

Version	Description
1.0.0 2012-04-23	(added) New call.

User-Contributed Notes

ReturnId	ReturnIdType	Required	Container consisting of the unique identifier for a return. A return ID value is the only input parameter for getActivityOptions, and is required. Return ID values are returned in the ReturnId.id field of each ReturnSummary container returned in the getUserReturns response.
ReturnId.id	string	Required	This string value is the unique identifier for a return, and is returned in the responses of getUserReturns and getReturnDetail. For getReturnDetail, getActivityOptions, issueRefund, and provideSellerInfo, a ReturnId is a required input field. Max length: 38.

Return Management API Call Reference Version 1.0.0