FAQ on newly introduced GTIN mandate

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Published: June 29 2015, 9:18:00 AMUpdated: November 28 2020, 12:59:00 PM

Product

Trading API

1. What is the new Product Identifier mandate ?

New listings of branded items in new or manufacturer refurbished condition will be required to include the item’s brand, MPN, and GTIN in select categories.
Please refer to the doc for more details : http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2015/product-identifiers.html

2. What is the definition of "branded product" from listing perspective ?
From an input data standpoint, the three fields in question – Brand, MPN and GTIN – must be filled out wherever they are flagged as required, they cannot be left blank.
If the seller is selling an unbranded product, they should explicitly specify “Unbranded” as the value for brand, and enter “Does not apply” for MPN and GTIN if their product doesn’t have those identifiers.

3. Are listings going to be blocked if Product Identifiers are missing ?
Yes, starting June 29th, the Product Identifier mandate will start blocking the listing when :
-> Manually listing or relisting an item
-> Automatically relisting items that are not good till cancelled or auction items
-> When revising, product identifiers (brand, MPN, GTIN), titles, categories, item specs, and condition
-> Existing good till cancelled renewals that are being renewed automatically will not be blocked starting June 29 but may be lower in search results.

4. Will we need to send Brand/MPN in the productlistingdetails container as well as the item specifics?
a.   In order to search for matching products in eBay catalogs, send Brand / MPN in PLD. We suggest specifying in both places(PLD and Item Specifics) to support all your seller needs. If they are attempting to do both in one shot, then specify it in both places.
b.   What if our seller doesn’t want to list against the catalog?
i.   When sellers list using a product from the eBay catalog, product information is automatically prefilled onto their listings, by default. However, sellers can choose to decline this prefill, or supplement it with other data of their own.

5. Will Brand/MPN show as required when checking getcategoryspecifics for applicable required categories?
Yes (see more details below in technical implementation section)

6. When required, are both the GTIN & Brand/MPN required, or do you have the choice of one or the other?
Both are required. If there is no brand, then they can specify “unbranded” (it’s one of the values for brand) and if there is no MPN, specify “Does Not Apply”.
This is returned in GeteBayDetails (see more details below in technical implementation section)

7. For variation listings, can you still just specify the identifiers in the productlistingdetails container, or is it being required that it’s passed in the variationspecifics?
a.   Specify UPC/ISBN/EAN it in the variations container – Variations.Variation.VariationProductListingDetails.UPC or Variations.Variation.VariationProductListingDetails.ISBN or Variations.Variation.VariationProductListingDetails.EAN
b.   Brand has to be in the item specifics (it cannot be in variations), MPN can either be in item specifics or variations.

8. Are the getcategoryfeature calls showing requirements already, or not until the categories actually require them?
These will start showing up sometime around Jun 15th.

9. Could a multi-variation listing be dropped if a product identifier for a variation cannot be found in the catalogue?
Yes, it is mandatory to specify Item Specifics in addition to Identifier at item level (Single SKU) or Variation level (MSKU item). Brand and MPN will be part of required Item Specifics for categories that will be mandated.
In case the required Item Specifics are missing AND the Identifier passed did not find a matching product, the listing will be blocked.

10. Which categories are going to allow product identifiers for variations and when?
If the category allows for variation it will accept product identifiers for them starting in June (see more details below in technical implementation section)

Technical implementation :
1. How to determine if an identifier is required for a category ?
Execute GetCategoryFeatures request with the identifier for example :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetCategoryFeaturesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
<RequesterCredentials>
    <eBayAuthToken>***</eBayAuthToken>
</RequesterCredentials>
     <FeatureID>UPCEnabled</FeatureID>
    <FeatureID>UPCIdentifierEnabled</FeatureID>
   <CategoryID>9355</CategoryID>
   <DetailLevel>ReturnAll</DetailLevel>
</GetCategoryFeaturesRequest>

The response where the identifier is required should be something like this :
<GetCategoryFeaturesResponse>
..
..
<Category>
      <CategoryID>9355</CategoryID>
      <UPCIdentifierEnabled>true</UPCIdentifierEnabled>
      <UPCEnabled>Required</UPCEnabled>
   </Category>
</GetCategoryFeaturesResponse>

Here is the doc link : http://developer.ebay.com/devzone/xml/docs/Reference/ebay/GetCategoryFeatures.html

2. How to determine if product has value for the identifier ?

GeteBayDetails response snippet to get the string to use when the product doesn’t have a value for the identifier

Sample request :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GeteBayDetailsRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
<RequesterCredentials>
<eBayAuthToken>***</eBayAuthToken>
</RequesterCredentials>
<DetailName>ProductDetails</DetailName>
</GeteBayDetailsRequest>

<GeteBayDetailsResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
   ..
   ..
   <ProductDetails>
      <ProductIdentifierUnavailableText>Does not apply</ProductIdentifierUnavailableText>
   </ProductDetails>
</GeteBayDetailsResponse>

Here is the doc link : http://developer.ebay.com/devzone/xml/docs/Reference/ebay/GeteBayDetails.html

3. How to determine if any item specific is required ?
Execute GetCategorySpecifics api request and look for <MinValues> in the response. If MinValues is 1 or more, then it is required.

Here is a KB for more details : https://ebaydts.com/eBayKBDetails?KBid=1930
Here is the doc : http://developer.ebay.com/devzone/xml/docs/Reference/ebay/GetCategorySpecifics.html

Samples :

Here is an example of Non-MSKU(no variations) listing with GTIN :

</PrimaryCategory>

</ProductListingDetails>

<ItemSpecifics> (Note :This node is optional. If you specify, then follow the GetCategorySpecifics instructions mentioned above)

</NameValueList>

<Name>Brand</Name>

<Value>Apple</Value>

</NameValueList>

</ItemSpecifics>

</RequesterCredentials>

</AddFixedPriceItemRequest>

Here are a couple of example of MSKU(variation) listings :

Example :1

<Name>Color</Name>

<Value>Yellow</Value>

</NameValueList>

</VariationSpecifics>

</VariationProductListingDetails>

</Variation>

<Name>Color</Name>

<Value>Yellow</Value>

</NameValueList>

</VariationSpecificsSet>

</Variations>

</RequesterCredentials>

</AddFixedPriceItemRequest>

Example : 2

<Name>Color</Name>

<Value>Yellow</Value>

</NameValueList>

</VariationSpecifics>

</VariationProductListingDetails>

</Variation>

<Name>Color</Name>

</NameValueList>

</VariationSpecifics>

</VariationProductListingDetails>

</Variation>

<Name>Color</Name>

<Value>Green</Value>

</NameValueList>

</VariationSpecifics>

<UPC>Not Applicable</UPC>

</VariationProductListingDetails>

</Variation>

<Name>Color</Name>

<Value>Yellow</Value>

<Value>Green</Value>

</NameValueList>

</VariationSpecificsSet>

</Variations>

</RequesterCredentials>

</AddFixedPriceItemRequest>

Use case :1

NOTE : Please DO NOT specify GTIN both at Item level and Variation level. For MSKU(variation) listings, GTIN should ONLY be provided at variation level.

If GTIN is specified both at Item level and Variation level, you may get the following error :

<ShortMessage>Catalog product details and variations are not supported at the same time for a category.</ShortMessage>

<LongMessage>You've specified catalog product details and variations, which are not supported at the same time for a category. Either list using a catalog product or list using variations.</LongMessage>

<SeverityCode>Error</SeverityCode>

<ErrorClassification>RequestError</ErrorClassification>

</Errors>

So, if you are getting this error, here are possible solutions :

1. Permanent Solution : For MSKU(variation) listings, GTIN should ONLY be provided at variation level.

2. Temporary Solution : If you do not intent to send the GTIN information at variation level, DO NOT send the GTIN information at all (neither at item level, nor at variation level). This is only applicable to MSKU listings(multi-SKU or multi-variations), and this solution is good until Sep,2015.

Use case :2

Issue : I am sending 27 ItemSpecifics and suddenly getting error -21919304: “Listing has too many item specifics. Please reduce the number of item specifics in the listing to 25 and retry the operation.” Why ?

Sol : It is allowed to only send up to 25 ItemSpecifics. In order to get rid of this error, the request must be changed to have 25 or fewer item specifics. Just FYI, here is the blog post for the same : https://go.developer.ebay.com/changes-item-specifics-and-multi-variation-listings-related-product-identifier-mandate

Use Case 3 : I am executing the AddItem request which has <UPC>Does not apply</UPC>, but still getting the following error :

<ShortMessage>Invalid value for UPC.</ShortMessage>
      <LongMessage>Invalid value for UPC.</LongMessage>
      <ErrorCode>21916691</ErrorCode>
      <SeverityCode>Error</SeverityCode>
      <ErrorParameters ParamID="0">
         <Value>UPC</Value>

Why and how to solve it ?

Sol : Please check your request and see if you are sending <ListIfNoProduct>false</ListIfNoProduct>. If the UPC does NOT exists in eBay's catalog, and you set ListIfNoProduct as false, it means you do not want eBay to list the item if UPC doesn't exist in eBay's catalog. In order to solve this issue, please do one of the following :

1. Specify <ListIfNoProduct>true</ListIfNoProduct> in your request so that eBay can list an item even though UPC doesn’t exist in our catalog.

2. Since <ListIfNoProduct> is already marked for deprecation, do not send this node at all in the request.

Use Case 4 : I am sending the UPC in the request, then why am I getting error -21919401 "Required field, UPC, is missing." ?

Sol : Let's assume you are sending :

</ProductListingDetails>

If the UPC you are sending is actually a valid value for EAN, then eBay would internally change the UPC to EAN, and since this value is considered for EAN, UPC value that was sent in the request gets dropped off automatically.

Since UPC was required for the category, and was dropped off, you get the error in the response.

In order to solve this issue, please change the request to reflect correct values applicable for each node :

<UPC>Does Not Apply</UPC>

</ProductListingDetails>

Please note, the same also applies for the error- 21919301 ‘Required field, EAN, is missing.’

Please make sure EAN and UPC values are specified in the applicable nodes only to avoid this error.

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