How can I use custom item specifics?

For the category Computers & Networking > Software > Operating Systems > Windows, we want to be able to select not only Condition, but also Platform, Brand, Media type, Category, Windows Edition.  How can that be done?

This is covered by the Trading API call GetCategorySpecifics :

This call will return the most popular custom item specifics.  A sample request / response for US category 41882 (Windows OS) is shown below.

If you look carefully at the XML response, you'll see that it's close, but not an exact match for what you get from the HTML UI.  

Custom Item Specifics from ebay.com HTML UI :
- Platform
- Brand
- Antivirus & Utilities Type
- media type
- Education & Reference Type -> Religion

Note that "Education & Reference Type" is not in the XML response because this is not one of the most popular custom item specifics.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetCategorySpecificsRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Version>561</Version>
  <CategoryID>41882</CategoryID>
  <RequesterCredentials>* </RequesterCredentials>
</GetCategorySpecificsRequest>


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetCategorySpecificsResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Timestamp>2008-05-01T23:04:44.742Z</Timestamp>
  <Ack>Success</Ack>
  <Version>561</Version>
  <Build>e561_core_Bundled_6452526_R1</Build>
  <CategoryItemSpecifics>
    <CategoryID>41882</CategoryID>
    <ItemSpecifics>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>Platform</Name>
        <Value>Windows (PC)</Value>
      </NameValueList>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>Brand</Name>
        <Value>Microsoft</Value>
      </NameValueList>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>media type</Name>
        <Value>CD</Value>
        <Value>DVD</Value>
      </NameValueList>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>Category</Name>
        <Value>Operating Systems</Value>
      </NameValueList>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>Windows Edition</Name>
        <Value>Windows XP Home Edition</Value>
        <Value>Windows Vista</Value>
      </NameValueList>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>Antivirus &amp; Utilities Type</Name>
        <Value>Repair, Rescue &amp; Recovery</Value>
      </NameValueList>
      <NameValueList>
        <Name>Business &amp; Productivity Type</Name>
        <Value>Business &amp; Office Suites</Value>
      </NameValueList>
    </ItemSpecifics>
  </CategoryItemSpecifics>
</GetCategorySpecificsResponse>

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