This topic discusses ways to test your application calls and data files before using them in a production environment. The eBay Developer testing environment is called the Sandbox.
Note: Use the eBay Developer Sandbox environment to test data files and application behavior before putting a Sell Feed API application using LMS Feeds into production.
Best practices for testing
In order to improve your testing efficiency, we have included the following steps that we have found to be best practices:
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Create a sample data file that includes data that will represent 'real' items that you want to upload to the eBay site.
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Test each call in the Sandbox to verify that you understand the call sequences.
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Note that you will need to use Base 64 binary encoding with the file upload calls. Use the samples in this document as a guide when troubleshooting.
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Build your own application to upload and download data to the Sandbox.
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When your application is working well, modify it to use a Production token and Production endpoints.
Sandbox Limits
The call limits for the Sandbox environment are higher than the limits in the Production environment. Therefore, you can make more calls in the testing phase of your development than you can in production. This is because you may need to make a call, get an error, revise your call and iterate through this process several times before you have your calls working the way you want them.
The Sandbox gives you enough calls to do extensive testing while still protecting eBay assets. File a service request with eBay's Developer Technical Support team if you encounter a sandbox limit impeding development.
Troubleshooting
As with most API calls, the LMS Sell Feed calls returns errors that you can use to troubleshoot your code. Before you call eBay's Developer Technical Support team for assistance, make sure to check for the common issues such as an invalid authorization token—make sure you are using the correct endpoint for the auth token (Sandbox or Production). For download tasks, if the call is successful, the results file associated with the task is downloaded. If any issues or errors are present, learn about them from the downloaded results file (getResultFile). Make edits to your request and then re-upload. You should not make edits to objects (in other words, listings) that were successfully created. For example, for a partially successful AddItemRequest uploaded feed file, you would want to completely remove the successful listings, and revise (or possibly remove) the listings that had issues (as returned by the getResultFile).
Note: There is a fee for Developer Technical Support services.
References for Error Messages
Each eBay API error is either an Application Error, System Error or a Request Error. The error type is indicated in error result sets by the value returned in the ErrorClassification return field. The error type indicates what sort of action the application, the developer, or the end-user needs to take in response to the error. For unsuccessful tasks, the errors are provided in a GZIP XML archive downloaded file from the getResultFile call.
See Error by Number to find descriptions of errors or warnings triggered by uploading XML data files.