Category support

Parts compatibility is enabled by category. Use GetCategoryFeatures to determine which categories support parts compatibility, the type of compatibility supported (i.e., BySpecification or ByApplication,) and/or the minimum required and maximum allowed compatible applications to provide when specifying parts compatibility by application.

Check individual leaf categories

To determine if a specific leaf category supports parts compatibility, issue a GetCategoryFeatures request with the category ID and the compatibility feature IDs as shown here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetCategoryFeaturesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <RequesterCredentials>
    <eBayAuthToken>ABC...123</eBayAuthToken>
  </RequesterCredentials>
  <Version>1095</Version>
  <CategoryID>33709</CategoryID>
  <FeatureID>CompatibilityEnabled</FeatureID>
  <FeatureID>MinCompatibleApplications</FeatureID>
  <FeatureID>MaxCompatibleApplications</FeatureID>
  <DetailLevel>ReturnAll</DetailLevel>
</GetCategoryFeaturesRequest>

In this case, the response indicates the category supports parts compatibility by application and that 41 is the maximum number of compatibilities that can be specified. Since MinItemCompatibility is not returned for the category, the default site setting, 0, applies. That is, you are not required to specify parts compatibility information when you list items in the category.

Category node showing support for parts compatibility

<GetCategoryFeaturesResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Timestamp>2019-02-21T21:10:31.059Z</Timestamp>
  <Ack>Success</Ack>
  <Version>1095</Version>
  <Build>E1095_CORE_BUNDLED_10949798_R1</Build>
  <CategoryVersion>1037</CategoryVersion>
  <UpdateTime>2018-03-31T18:50:03.000Z</UpdateTime>
  <Category>
    <CategoryID>33709</CategoryID>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>ByApplication</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
    <MaxItemCompatibility>41</MaxItemCompatibility>
  </Category>

  <SiteDefaults>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>Disabled</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
    <MinItemCompatibility>0</MinItemCompatibility>
    <MaxItemCompatibility>0</MaxItemCompatibility>
  </SiteDefaults>
  <FeatureDefinitions>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled/>
    <MaxItemCompatibility/>
    <MinItemCompatibility/>
  </FeatureDefinitions>
</GetCategoryFeaturesResponse>

Identify all categories that support parts compatibility

To identify categories in which you can list items with parts compatibility, submit a GetCategoryFeatures request with the parts compatibility feature IDs and ViewAllNodes set to true as shown here:

Identify all categories for parts compatibility support

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetCategoryFeaturesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <RequesterCredentials>
    <eBayAuthToken>ABC...123</eBayAuthToken>
  </RequesterCredentials>
  <Version>1095</Version>
  <FeatureID>CompatibilityEnabled</FeatureID>
  <FeatureID>MinCompatibleApplications</FeatureID>
  <FeatureID>MaxCompatibleApplications</FeatureID>
  <ViewAllNodes>true</ViewAllNodes>
  <DetailLevel>ReturnAll</DetailLevel>
</GetCategoryFeaturesRequest>

The following sample is an excerpt of the response payload for the above call:

<GetCategoryFeaturesResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Timestamp>2019-02-21T21:00:01.412Z</Timestamp>
  <Ack>Success</Ack>
  <Version>1095</Version>
  <Build>E1095_CORE_BUNDLED_10949798_R1</Build>
  <CategoryVersion>1037</CategoryVersion>
  <UpdateTime>2018-03-31T17:53:38.000Z</UpdateTime>
  ...
  <Category>
    <CategoryID>33707</CategoryID>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>ByApplication</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
    <MinItemCompatibility>0</MinItemCompatibility>
    <MaxItemCompatibility>41</MaxItemCompatibility>
  </Category>
  <Category>
    <CategoryID>170578</CategoryID>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>BySpecification</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
  </Category>
  <Category>
    <CategoryID>170577</CategoryID>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>BySpecification</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
  </Category>
  <Category>
    <CategoryID>170583</CategoryID>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>ByApplication</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
    <MinItemCompatibility>1</MinItemCompatibility>
    <MaxItemCompatibility>300</MaxItemCompatibility>
  </Category>
  ...
  <SiteDefaults>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled>Disabled</ItemCompatibilityEnabled>
    <MinItemCompatibility>0</MinItemCompatibility>
    <MaxItemCompatibility>0</MaxItemCompatibility>
  </SiteDefaults>
  <FeatureDefinitions>
    <ItemCompatibilityEnabled/>
    <MaxItemCompatibility/>
    <MinItemCompatibility/>
  </FeatureDefinitions>
</GetCategoryFeaturesResponse>

All categories that override the marketplace defaults for parts compatibility are returned. The SiteDefaults node in the response indicates:

• Parts compatibility is disabled by default
• The maximum and minimum compatibilities required for a listing are both 0 by default

The first category in the response, 33707 (Lighting & Lamps), is a parent category. The maximum number of compatibilities that can be specified for an item listed in its leaf categories (e.g., Fog/Driving Lights,) is 41, and the minimum number of compatibilities required is 0, indicating that listing with parts compatibility in its leaf categories is optional.

If any of its child categories had overridden its settings for parts compatibility, these categories would have been returned with their settings. Since only the parent category is returned, all of its child categories have inherited the parent's settings.

The remaining categories (i.e., 170577, 170578, and 170583,) are test categories. Categories 170577 (Rims Test Category) and 170578 (Tires Test Category) both support parts compatibility by specification. In these categories, item specifics are used to specify parts compatibility.