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Something New, Something Old, Something ...
Posted by
Curtis Gavin
in Developers Conference
Wednesday, Jun.17.2009, 6:09 PM PT
... that sellers might really find useful?
Ganga Muthyala, Sr. Product Manager for the eBay Platform, presented on three of eBay's API offerings:
- Finding API, a new API that will be available at the end of next week
- Merchandising API, an existing API that will be updated in the fall
- Feedback API, a recently released API
These APIs provide access to data that can be used to create powerful and interesting applications.
Finding API
This is an API to search for items listed on eBay. It replaces FindItems and FindItemsAdvanced in the Shopping API and GetSearchResults in the Trading API. (No official date has been set for the deprecation of these search calls.)
The Finding API uses the same underlying technology as the site search and provides better search relevancy and improved filtering. This API can be used by sellers for research or it can be used to find items for buyers. Because it is lightweight and supports a variety of popular message formats, the Finding API is suitable for use with gadgets. Because its search capabilities are so rich, it can help power a shopping portal.
The Finding API introduces some new concepts: domains and aspects. Domains are buy-side groupings of items (e.g., shoes), as opposed to categories (e.g., Clothing, Shoes & Accessories or Sporting Goods). Aspects are standard characteristics of an item. For example, size, style, and color are all aspects of men's shoes.
The Finding API releases next Friday, 6/26.
Merchandising API
The Merchandising API was released last summer. This API provides data to help create applications with cross-sell and upsell opportunities for buyers. The Merchandising API can be used to keep buyers engaged. It includes calls to retrieve related or replacement items. It also provides data on most-watched items and top-selling products to help buyers browse for ideas.
The next release of the Merchandising API is planned for this fall. This upcoming release provides the following capabilities:
- Get deals on eBay
- Get related or similar products
- Get products associated with a specific artist or author
The interfaces for these new calls have not been finalized, but these seem like great additions to an already interesting API.
Feedback API
The Feedback API has been available since February this year. This API lets an authenticated seller find out more about his DSR scores by providing a variety of ways to aggregate the DSR data. DSR data can be collected for a specific set of transactions, transactions from a time period, transactions associated with a specific category, or for transactions associated with specific shipping details (e.g., domestic shipping only).
DSRs are critical to sellers, so providing a way for sellers to analyze their scores is very valuable. This information can help sellers improve their business.
All three of these APIs are great additions to eBay's family of APIs.
Is the beer bash still going on?
-Curtis
