eBay API Quick Question

Hi guys..
I use the FindItemsAdvanced feature with a URL call to get an XML feed of products.

This is the URL i use:

(too view put your appid instead of 'MyAppID')


This is an XML of one of the items i get:

Is my CJ affiliate link code already in the feed:

Will i get my commission if i use this link?
If not what do i need to do to make it recognize me as the affiliate?

 

That's exactly how I would do it. Treating the output similar to RSS output, and "roverizing" it as it loops through the result set.

Thanks!
hanji

 

whats the diffrence between the api and the rss? will one of them give more results in SE?

 

Hello

API is a web service hosted at eBay. You can send XML requests to the web service, asking questions about auctions.. and it will return a XML response back containing auctions.

RSS is a simple syndication XML provided by eBay, which can be crafted by hand or used from any search result page at eBay (look for RSS at the bottom of the page).

Both return available auctions. API is more detailed on what you might need to search against. You can also query auctions in eBay stores, for example where RSS you cannot. You can also restrict the number of records returned, where RSS always gives you 100 or 150.. can't remember.

To start using eBay API, you need to have a developer account and key to communicate with the web service. It's abit much to take in, but really, it's pretty simple once you get your hands dirty. I wrote some posts about eBay API here: Using eBay's API to search auctions and return results

Hope this helps
hanji

 

thanks for your reply, but what i wanna know is if i have this listed in rss on my webisite "xbox 360" will it appear in search engines?What i mean is...will google see "xbox 360" a text? or will this only work with the api?

claudio

 

Using API or RSS involves server side work (ie: PHP), which will render results as HTML to the browser.. or bot. So both methods will generate content that will be indexable by search engines. Editor kit (which uses javascript) will not have good content for search engines.

hanji

 

Thanks Hanji!

 

Thanks Kerosene,

But i really don't understand

This is one of the links i get:

Now what do i do with it?

Thanks again...

 

Thanks for the quick reply..

I don't know what is an auctionid...

I use php but i don't understand this line:

$auctionid = $item->ItemID;

BTW.. is there away to set this in advance on the URL call?

 

I tried to do it:

i used the Flexible Destination Tool to generate this link:

search.ebay.com/190159912208

i got this link (which works fine)

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/***/1?AID=***&PID=***&mpre=search.ebay.com/190159912208

I tried to manually change it by changing 190159912208 to a different itemid:
190160069853

But the new link sends me to the ebay home page and not to the new item...

 

Help... Anyone....???
I just want the xml feed i get with the url call to have my affiliate links for the items...

Why do i have to use my AppID in the URL if the links (to the item pages) are not associated with my CJ account.

Please help me. I want to try a new idea but can't until i solve this.

Thanks..

 

Just get the 'link' from Item->ListingDetails->ViewItemURL, and urlencode() it. Then you would take that value and append it to your loc variable in rover code.

Here is some PHP to illustrate what I'm talking about:

$responseXml 		= sendHttpRequest($requestXmlBody, $serverUrl, $headers);
if(stristr($responseXml, 'HTTP 404') || $responseXml == '')
	$setOneError	= true;
if(!$setOneError){
	$resp 			= simplexml_load_string($responseXml);
	if(!$resp){
		$msg				= "Error returned from simplexml_load_string()";
		trigger_error($msg, E_USER_ERROR);
	}else{
		$itemNodes			= $resp->SearchResultItemArray->SearchResultItem;
		if(sizeof($itemNodes) > 0){
			foreach($itemNodes as $item){
				$itemID				= trim($item->Item->ItemID);
				$title				= $item->Item->Title;
				$buyItNowPrice		= $item->Item->BuyItNowPrice;
				$price 				= $item->Item->SellingStatus->CurrentPrice;
				$startTime 			= $item->Item->ListingDetails->StartTime;
				$bidCount			= $item->Item->SellingStatus->BidCount;
				$endTime 			= $item->Item->ListingDetails->EndTime;
				$buyItNow			= $item->Item->BuyItNowPrice;
				$link				= $item->Item->ListingDetails->ViewItemURL;
				$imageType			= $item->Item->PictureDetails->GalleryType;
				$imageUrl 			= "http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/pict/".$itemID."_0.jpg";?>
				<a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=xxxxxx&loc=<?echo urlencode($link); ?>" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><? echo $title; ?></a><br /><?
			}
		}
		unset($itemNodes);
	}
}else{
	echo "There was an error in the response.";
}
unset($responseXml);

PHP:

hanji

 

you guys are really overcomplicating things. just add this to your api call:

&trackingid=xxxxxxx&trackingpartnercode=1

where xxxxxxx is your PID and the api will return affiliate links in the ViewItemURLForNaturalSearch field

 

Very nice!
hanji