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Large Merchant Services

Large Merchant Services (LMS) is a set of APIs designed to meet the integration needs of Large Merchant sellers and ISVs.

Mark your calendar for a webinar on LMS on May 14, 2009! This webinar will cover key features & benefits followed by an open Q&A period for your questions!

Large Merchant Services provides an efficient way to process large numbers of transactions within the eBay Trading Platform. LMS includes merchant-friendly features such as SKU-based inventory management, Orders with OrderLineItems for all transactions, and OrderAck state for robust handoff between eBay and Merchant applications.

Trading API and Shopping API use a synchronous programming model where an API Request is made, and the application waits for a Response on the same connection.
LMS uses an asynchronous execution model where:

  • Application makes a Request which returns an Identifier.
  • Application subsequently checks for completion status of the Request using the Identifier.
  • Application gathers the Response after the processing of the Request is completed.

LMS also enables large data exchange with eBay using files.

Benefits

  • Substantially reduce network bandwidth, and connection requests.
    Consolidate tens of thousands of Requests, or Responses into a single, compressed file.
  • Simplify integration.
    Familiar file-based integration method between Merchant IS systems and eBay.
  • Reduce compute capacity.
    Leverage eBay infrastructure for highly optimized, parallel execution of individual Requests.
  • Simplify error management.
    LMS will manage transport and general system errors, and retry appropriately.
  • Rich features.
    Access Trading Platform features that may not be available via the Trading API.

Supported Features

Formats: SOAP 1.2 or XML

Protocols: HTTP POST

Current Support

LMS currently includes the following APIs:

  1. Bulk Data Exchange API provides an asynchronous programming model on long duration processing requests called Jobs. There are 2 types of Jobs:
    • Upload Requests where the data is provided to LMS
      The individual Requests within a Job may be executed in any order i.e. one should not depend on side effects based on order of execution.
    • Download Reports where the data is provided by LMS.
  2. Merchant Data API defines the file format of Requests and Responses for Upload Requests and Download Reports. The functional areas covered are:

    3. SKU Management

    • Add FixedPrice Item
    • Revise FixedPrice Item
    • Relist FixedPrice Item
    • End FixedPrice Item

    Inventory Management

    • Revise Inventory Status for fast price and quantity changes
    • Active Inventory Report

    Fulfillment Related

    • Sold Item Report
    • Order Acknowledgement
    • Update Shipment Tracking Information

    3. File Transfer API provides file upload and download capability using MTOM compliant attachments.

Getting Started and Resources

Samples

Documentation

Overview

  • Making an API call: Shared details about constructing API requests
  • Large Merchant Services User Guide: Overview of key concepts, the APIs that constitute the LMS solution, and what you can do with them
  • Merchant Data WSDL: Allows you to verify the format of the 'payload' requests in your data file before upload.
  • Merchant Data XSD: Allows you to validate the XML in the 'payload' response against the latest schema to ensure proper data binding.

Call Reference

Release Notes

Complete Docs

Support