eBay order API allows getting all the required order information from the stores listed on the eBay marketplace.
Order data is important for B2B software to provide functions such as inventory management, shipping management, order fulfillment, order management, and other related eCommerce operations.
To implement this, they need to integrate with shopping carts and marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc. eCommerce integration means that B2B software vendors will be able to get and manage store data such as orders, order status, and other necessary information to perform their core tasks.
This article talks about eBay order API integration, why and how to develop it easily and quickly by using a unified API.
Why do eCommerce software vendors need to get order data?
As mentioned earlier, B2B software needs order data from shopping platforms and marketplaces to provide additional functionality to e-merchants. Before we get into the details of eCommerce integration and the specifics of the eBay order API, let's take a look at the features that B2B software would provide after retrieving the order data.
Managing and synchronizing inventory levels
Inventory management software needs to get order data from eBay and other platforms to synchronize inventory across multiple sales channels that the e-retailers may use to sell and market their products. They need to keep inventory up to date to ensure their customers have the right information as they place orders, and an integrated inventory with shopping platforms that provides access to order data is the way to go.
Managing warehouse operations
Integration with shopping platforms’ APIs including eBay order API allows warehouse management systems to get access to order data. The order data then enables the WMS to organize operations, including receiving orders, packing, shipping, and more.
Managing order statuses
Not to mention, that any B2B software needs to be updated with order statuses so they can perform their core functionalities. Having access to the order data makes it easier for the software to change or update stock levels for the e-retailers and other software that need the status to finish their jobs.
Managing order fulfillment
Order fulfillment is the ultimate goal of an eCommerce business, and the B2B software that provides this capability must ensure that fulfillment is accurate and fast, thereby enhancing the customer experience.
The connection between your B2B software and, say, the eBay order API, helps the former to get order data from eBay and use it to ensure that orders are fulfilled accurately and there is no delay in between.
Similarly, your B2B software needs to connect to all the shopping platforms where your customers have built their e-shops and access order data to perform its tasks efficiently.
Reporting and analytics
Order data can actually help you get detailed insights into how a product is performing on a particular platform or all shopping carts and marketplaces as a whole.
You can decide if the product is actually beneficial to you or if you should reconsider it. Similarly, order data from a particular platform can help you analyze the efficiency or suitability of a platform for your products and services. Moreover, it's not just about one platform, but you get to know the details of all the platforms where your customers have their e-shops.
eBay Integration Challenges
Integration with eBay has to be through a connection between eBay API and the B2B software’s API. However, no matter how important eBay integration is, there are a lot of challenges that have to be faced before you reach the goal. Take a look.
Even a basic integration with eBay is challenging and time consuming. It takes the advanced developers about 3 months to create an integration.
The eBay API is not consistent and works with different data formats like XML or JSON. Therefore, data related to products, orders, customers, and categories may be in different formats, making it difficult to access and organize for processing.
eBay has a reputation of producing uninformative and significant numbers of bugs/errors which take a lot of time to handle and fix. Not to mention, the number of integrations you are looking for can multiply the problem.
eBay integrations cost about $4000-$6000 per month, considering all the set up, infrastructure, training and employment salary, etc. Also, the integrations need to be updated regularly as the eBay API is constantly adding new versions. So, these costs add up and make the process of integration a hefty investment.
eBay Order API - How to Import Order Information?
The easier way to implement eBay order API integration is to use a unified API provided by API2Cart. It allows B2B software vendors to connect their software with eBay and 40 other shopping platforms and marketplaces at once. That means, no separate integrations are required for different platforms or software.
API2Cart provides 100+ API methods to get, add, update and sync different store data such as orders, products, customers, shipments, etc. In particular, it has an order.list method that retrieves information like the number of orders placed on the store, customer name, phone number, email address, billing and shipping details, shipping methods and other info.
Here is the response structure of order.list method:
{
"return_code": 0,
"return_message": "",
"pagination": {
"previous": null,
"next": "BcHdEkJAGADQB3Kx2NXOXrjIWNpaJTIadzYj7PipL4Wn7xwmBbQQVeroU9nVsQd66LzNiW08zpkocy%2FgWmeEvIZ%2Bl1jfW35anTVtjKCXzLe2dHl%2FpiYwC7JGpn9JEAspAk5HUvKlrFQv2gMQVJ%2FjWybQjH6KIcyUKLDBHvfBxim1AUKqqeYEi6ec9qS9uu4f"
},
"result": {
"orders_count": 1,
"order": [
{
"id": "000000001",
"order_id": "1",
"basket_id": null,
"channel_id": null,
"customer": {
"id": "1",
"email": "[email protected]",
"first_name": "John",
"last_name": "Smith",
"phone": null
},
"create_at": {
"value": "2019-12-20T13:48:19+0000",
"format": "Y-m-d\\TH:i:sO"
},
"currency": {
"id": "USD",
"name": "US Dollar",
"iso3": "USD",
"symbol_left": "$",
"symbol_right": "",
"rate": 1,
"avail": true,
"default": true
},
"shipping_address": {
"id": "2",
"type": "shipping",
"first_name": "John",
"last_name": "Smith",
"postcode": "12345",
"address1": "Green str.35",
"address2": "",
"phone": "",
"city": "Chicago",
"country": {
"code2": "US",
"code3": "USA",
"name": "United States of America"
},
"state": {
"code": "IL",
"name": "Illinois"
},
"company": "",
"fax": "",
"website": null,
"gender": null,
"region": null,
"default": false,
"additional_fields": {
"prefix": "",
"suffix": "",
"middlename": "",
"tax_id": null
}
},
"billing_address": {
"id": "1",
"type": "billing",
"first_name": "John",
"last_name": "Smith",
"postcode": "12345",
"address1": "Green str.35",
"address2": "",
"phone": "",
"city": "Chicago",
"country": {
"code2": "US",
"code3": "USA",
"name": "United States of America"
},
"state": {
"code": "IL",
"name": "Illinois"
},
"company": "",
"fax": "",
"website": null,
"gender": null,
"region": null,
"default": false,
"additional_fields": {
"prefix": "",
"suffix": "",
"middlename": "",
"tax_id": null
}
},
"payment_method": {
"name": "checkmo",
"additional_fields": {
"additional_payment_info": null
}
},
"shipping_method": {
"name": "UPS Ground",
"additional_fields": {
"code": "custom_custom",
"provider_code": "custom"
}
},
"shipping_methods": [
{
"name": "UPS Ground",
"additional_fields": {
"code": "custom_custom",
"provider_code": "custom"
}
}
],
"status": {
"id": "complete",
"name": "Complete",
"history": [
{
"id": "complete",
"name": "Complete",
"modified_time": {
"value": "2019-12-20T13:48:19+0000",
"format": "Y-m-d\\TH:i:sO"
},
"notify": true,
"comment": "Reference order #000000001
Payment method:checkmo
Shipping method: UPS Ground
Complete
"
}
],
"refund_info": null
},
"totals": {
"total": 9,
"subtotal": 10.5,
"shipping": 0,
"tax": 0,
"discount": 0,
"additional_fields": {
"hidden_tax": 0
}
},
"total": {
"subtotal_ex_tax": 10.5,
"wrapping_ex_tax": null,
"shipping_ex_tax": 0,
"total_discount": 0,
"total_tax": 0,
"total": 9,
"total_paid": 9,
"additional_fields": {
"shipping_discount_ex_tax": 0,
"subtotal_discount_ex_tax": 0,
"tax_discount": 0,
"subtotal_tax": 0,
"wrapping_tax": null,
"shipping_tax": 0
}
},
"discounts": [],
"order_products": [
{
"product_id": "5",
"order_product_id": "1",
"model": "sku_1",
"name": "Product1",
"price": 1.5,
"price_inc_tax": 1.5,
"quantity": 7,
"discount_amount": 0,
"total_price": 10.5,
"tax_percent": 0,
"tax_value": 0,
"tax_value_after_discount": 0,
"options": [
{
"option_id": 0,
"name": "Color",
"value": "mint green",
"price": 0,
"weight": 0,
"type": null,
"product_option_value_id": null
}
],
"variant_id": null,
"weight_unit": null,
"weight": 0,
"barcode": null,
"parent_order_product_id": null
}
],
"bundles": [],
"modified_at": {
"value": "2019-12-20T13:48:19+0000",
"format": "Y-m-d\\TH:i:sO"
},
"finished_time": null,
"comment": "",
"store_id": "1",
"warehouses_ids": [],
"refunds": [],
"gift_message": null,
"additional_fields": {
"base_currency_code": "USD"
}
}
]
}
}
This method is supported for eBay and other eCommerce platforms and marketplaces.
Conclusion
API2Cart is a perfect solution for SaaS vendors who want to connect their software to eBay API and other such eCommerce platforms without much hassle. It eliminates the need to hire, train, and onboard advanced developers, set up infrastructure, or even make connections with each platform separately.
All you need to do is integrate your B2B software with API2Cart and add your clients' stores to your API2Cart account. In turn, API2Cart automatically connects your software to all of these platforms so that you can easily and quickly access and manipulate data related to orders, products, customers, prices, categories, and more.
To test how API2Cart works, leverage a 30-day free trial.
