Some categories require that sellers provide a product identifier for new items in certain categories. However, whenever a product identifier (e.g., EAN, ISBN, UPC, Brand/MPN pair,) is available for a branded product, it is always a good idea to create a listing that includes the product identifier because, among other benefits, it can improve search results on eBay and on other search engines. It is also a shortcut when creating a listing with robust listing information by including pertinent and helpful item specifics.

To determine if a specific category supports or requires product identifiers, issue a GetCategoryFeatures call with the following options:

  • CategoryID

    Include this field in the call request and set its value to the ID of the category to be checked.

  • DetailLevel

    Include this field in the call request and set its value to ReturnAll.

  • FeatureID

    Include one value for each product identifier type to be checked.

    For example, if you wanted to check if EAN, ISBN, UPC and Brand/MPN product identifiers were supported/required, you would enter the following lines into the payload:

    ...
<FeatureID>EANEnabled</FeatureID>
<FeatureID>ISBNEnabled</FeatureID>
<FeatureID>UPCEnabled</FeatureID>
<FeatureID>BrandMPNIdentifierEnabled</FeatureID>
...

After a successful call, review the values that are returned in the following fields under Category:

Valid values for each of these fields are:

  • Disabled

    Indicates that particular product identifier type cannot be used in that category.

  • Enabled

    Indicates that the product identifier type can be used for that category.

  • Required

    Indicates that the product identifier type is required when listing an item in that category.

Also review the value returned in the boolean field Category.BrandMPNIdentifierEnabled. Valid values are:

  • true

    Indicates a brand/MPN pair can be used to identify a product.

  • false

    Indicates a brand/MPN pair cannot be used to identify a product.