Core API
Ebay Product Data API

Getting Started

7min

Getting Started

Countdown API is an API to retrieve data from any Ebay domain worldwide in real-time. You can use Countdown API to retrieve products, reviews, search, autocomplete and more from any Ebay site.

Countdown API executes requests in real time and returns clean, structured JSON or CSV results. You can achieve fine-grained control over your request using the request parameters.

Lookup an EPID by GTIN / ISBN / UPC / EAN Countdown API can automatically convert GTIN/ISBN/UPC/EAN codes to Ebay EPIDs and return product data. For details of how to lookup Ebay product details by GTIN/ISBN/UPC/EAN please see refer to the guide.

Note that Countdown API will cache the GTIN-to-EPID mapping for 2 months. To force a new GTIN lookup (for example, if you suspect the existing mapping is stale), use the skip_gtin_cache=true request parameter (note that using skip_gtin_cache=true decrements 2 credits from your balance, instead of 1).



Retrieving Search Results from Ebay

GET /request

Getting Ebay data with Countdown API is as simple as making an HTTP GET request to the request endpoint. The only required parameters are api_key (sign up for free to get an API key) and type (which defines the type of Ebay data you'd like to retrieve).

For example, to retrieve search results ( type=search ) for the "memory cards" on ebay.com the Countdown API request would be:

HTTP
Curl
Node.js
Python
PHP


To view Countdown API JSON results clearly in your browser we recommend these extensions for Chrome and Firefox

The results of the Search request are shown below, the search results are within the search_results array. For full documentation on Search results see the Search Results docs.

JSON


Response Times & Concurrency Countdown API gathers data from Ebay in real-time and will typically return a result in 1-6 seconds. Please inspect the HTTP Response Code and update your app accordingly.

If you need to run large volumes of requests consider using the Collections API. Collections allow you to enqueue up to 15,000 requests, run them manually or on a schedule and execute them concurrently on Countdown API's infrastructure.



Getting Data for an Individual Product

GET /request

Lets say we want to change our query to request a different type of data - information on a specific product, in this case the EPID (Ebay product identifier) 233599133856 on ebay.com . Here's the Countdown API request to achieve that:

HTTP
Curl
Node.js
Python
PHP


The result of the Product request is shown below. For full documentation on Product results see the Product Results docs.

JSON


Updated 17 Aug 2024
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