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Published: May 03 2007, 11:24:00 AMUpdated: November 28 2020, 3:40:04 PM
Product

I am seeing the value "PromotionalShippingMethod" as the ShippingServiceSelected and as a ShippingServiceOption.
What does this mean, and how should it be handled?

Correct handling of the PromotionalShippingMethod shipping service

Summary

Sellers can specify a Promotional shipping rule in their My eBay: Combined Payments and Shipping Discounts settings.
This rule applies to combined payments only.
It does not apply to the checkout of single item purchases.
The PromotionalShippingMethod shipping service represents the promotional rule.
 

Detailed Description

When the GetOrders or GetOrderTransactions API call returns the ShippingServiceSelected as PromotionalShippingMethod, it means that the buyer was offered and selected the promotional shipping cost for that order.
Here is the XML snippet showing the ShippingServiceSelected container:

<ShippingServiceSelected>
 <ShippingInsuranceCost currencyID="USD">0.0</ShippingInsuranceCost>
 <ShippingService>PromotionalShippingMethod</ShippingService>
 <ShippingServiceCost currencyID="USD">10.0</ShippingServiceCost>
</ShippingServiceSelected>

In this case, the API application should honor this shipping service.

  • Question:
    How do I know which shipping service the seller wants to use for the PromotionalShippingMethod?
  • Answer:
    The promotional shipping rule feature does not ask the seller for the actual shipping service that will be used.
    It is left up to the seller to notify the buyer directly of the actual shipping service used.
    eBay does not provide for any automated way to capture the actual shipping service used for promotional shipping.
    The service provider (API enabled application) should ask the seller to provide the actual shipping service used for PromotionalShippingMethod in order to provide an optimal buying experience for their customers.
If the API application is a third party checkout provider, and the order shows that the PromotionalShippingMethod is returned in the ShippingDetails container as one of the shipping services, it is acceptable for the third party checkout application to present PromotionalShippingMethod as one of the selections the buyer can make.

In order for a promotional discount to be applied to an item in an order, the promotional discount must have been in effect when the items was listed, and the item must have been opted into that promotional discount, and the promotional discount must have been in effect when the transaction was created for that item.

Items are opted into the promotional discount by indicating "true" for the Item.ShippingDetails.PromotionalShippingDiscount boolean input field in the AddItem or RelistItem call.


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