New eBay APIs Give Developers Access To Managed Payments Program

Online marketplace eBay has introduced numerous new API capabilities to enable developers to manage their businesses at scale, the company said in a blog post.

“Our goal is to empower developers, enhance the ecosystem of eBay applications and add value for our buyers and sellers,” eBay said.

The company launched the new Finances API, which aims to give developers a better view of eBay transactions and to allow for easier payouts to banks accounts. It also helps sellers with accounting and reconciliation.

In addition, eBay launched a new feature in the Account API that determines whether a seller has opted in to the managed payments program. Also, the Fulfillment API now lets managed payments sellers give full or partial refunds to buyers.

“We have also announced enhanced Promoted Listings capabilities with the Recommendation API. This API provides guidance for Promoted Listings to help sellers optimize their advertising strategy by leveraging trending ad rates and recommended listings,” the company said. “Our third-party developers can use this new capability to competitively elevate sellers’ visibility in sponsored placements across eBay.”

For example, eBay said that promoted listings helped shoe company Reebok: “Reebok saw great success in following eBay’s Promoted Listings recommendations. They promoted more than 100 items at eBay’s trending rate for their multi-quantity inventory,” the company said. “Over the past five months, Reebok has seen a 55 percent lift in overall sales and a 142 percent lift in sales for the items that were promoted.”

There’s also a new Volume Pricing in Marketing API, which means that “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 and packing items, and can save on shipping costs.”

Another new API, the Offers to Buyers in Negotiation API, will “(allow) 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.”