eBay

How to add an eBay store to ShipStation, what features are available, other need-to-know details, and troubleshooting tips.

Sell on eBay and access 170 million active users in nearly 200 countries. Benefits like branded tracking pages, product information imports, order detail imports, and the eBay Global Shipping Program will help you to grow your brand and reach new markets.

eBay integrates directly with ShipStation to automatically import your orders so you can start shipping quickly. ShipStation will automatically notify your eBay account with each order's shipment details as soon as you create each label.

Follow this link to learn about eBay Guarantee Delivery.

Updated to eBay's REST API

ShipStation has updated our integration with eBay to use their current REST API. This allows the use of the new eBay Order Number format.

However, this update has retired some legacy features such as Automatic Customer Feedback and Promotions of Related Items in Shipping Emails.

Follow the steps in the Migrate to the New eBay Integration section to ensure you are using the current eBay integration.

eBay Requirements

Connection Requirements:

  • An active seller account with eBay.

  • eBay username and password.

    The username field for eBay store connections has a limit of 50 characters. If a username exceeds 50 characters, you will receive an error.

  • Credentials are up to date. eBay requires you to authenticate your store every year.

Order Import Requirements:

  • Include a Ship To address.

  • Contain at least one item.

Connect an eBay store to ShipStation

To connect your eBay store to ShipStation:

  1. Select the eBay tile.

    eBay logo. Button that reads, Connect
  2. Click Connect.

    eBay connection screen with the Continue button highlighted.
  3. Log in to your eBay account to authorize the connection.

After you've completed the connection steps, the store's Settings page will open. You can adjust your store-specific settings like branding and customer notifications, if you wish. Or click Save to close.

Connecting Multiple eBay Stores

To connect multiple eBay stores we recommend using an incognito or private browser window when going through each connection process.

This method will prevent your browser from automatically entering and authorizing eBay credentials from a previous login so you will not have duplicate instances of the same store connected to ShipStation.

Available Features for eBay Integration

The ShipStation integration with eBay supports the following standard features:

Additional Features for the eBay Integration

ShipStation's integration with eBay allows for the following additional features:

Feature

Description

Deliver By Date

Set a delivery date for the recipient to see during checkout. This date will automatically import into ShipStation’s Deliver By Date field.

HS Code Import from eBay V2

Merchants who use eBay V2 can import eBay Harmonization (HS) codes into ShipStation's Order Details window.

Once enabled, when an order is placed for such a product in your eBay store, the customs section of Order Details will auto-fill the product’s HS codes as the order imports into ShipStation. This feature allows you better compliance for cross-border shipping, and you can trust that packages won't get stuck in customs.

HS Code Import is not a default setting, but there is no need to set this up separately within ShipStation. You only need to enable this setting in eBay on a per-store basis.

To Enable This Feature:

  1. Go to your eBay Store Settings.

  2. Locate the setting called Import eBay item-specifics for products and variants and set it to true.

  3. Set a 6-digit HS code for any product in your eBay store that you want to use this feature.

General Limitations:

  • The Harmonization code will NOT be added to product defaults.

  • eBay’s HS code overrides ShipStation’s product information on the order, except for Customs Item Value and Country of Origin values.

  • Item options (such as Size, Color) attached to the product SKU will still import into ShipStation along with the Harmonization code.

*Map pending_cancellation to On Hold

*To map orders from pending_cancellation to On Hold in ShipStation, you must enable the store setting in Settings > Selling Channels > eBay > Store Settings.

Store settings image: Box highlights option to Import eBay Pending Cancellation orders into On Hold status

Import Click N Collect Orders

By default, ShipStation does not import Click N Collect orders, but you can enable this feature in ShipStation.

To enable Click N Collect order import into ShipStation, go to Settings > Selling Channels > eBay > Store Settings > Edit eBay Settings. Check the box Import Click N Collect Orders.

Modify Marketplace Settings popup. The option to Import Click n Collect Orders highlighted.

Supports custom field mapping

You can map certain additional eBay fields for your orders into ShipStation's Custom Fields.

  • eBay Sale Record Reference (this imports the Sales Record Number)

  • eBay Order Item ID (this imports the eBay item ID number)

  • eBay Listing Marketplace

  • eBay Purchase Marketplace

To map any of these fields to a Custom Field in ShipStation, go to Settings > Selling Channels > eBay > Store Settings > Edit eBay Settings.

eBay edit store settings popup with custom fields highlighted

Status Mapping for On Hold

You can map orders from the pending_cancellation status to On Hold status in ShipStation by enabling a store setting in ShipStation.

To enable the store setting, go to Settings > Selling Channels > eBay > Store Settings > Edit eBay Settings. Check the box Import eBay "Pending Cancellation" orders into "On Hold".

Store settings image: Box highlights option to Import eBay Pending Cancellation orders into On Hold status

Imports orders that are part of the eBay Global Shipping Program

Orders that belong to the eBay Global Shipping Program will import into ShipStation alongside your other eBay orders.

Supports eBay Guaranteed Delivery orders (Door-to-Door only)

ShipStation will import eBay Guaranteed Delivery orders alongside your other eBay orders. ShipStation supports eBay Guaranteed Delivery orders that use the Door-to-Door option.

Review our eBay Guaranteed Delivery FAQ article for more details.

Supports eBay Order Number Identifier

ShipStation will import eBay's new Order Number format.

You must migrate to the new eBay integration to import the new order number format.

Imports Recipient VAT ID

The amount paid for VAT will appear on the order summary in ShipStation.

Order Summary tab of the. Order details screen.Tax info, VAT number highlighted.

If a store allows custom statuses, this means you define that statuses your orders use in your selling channel. In most cases, if you have custom statuses you'll need to define which ShipStation statuses each custom order status corresponds to.

ShipStation will import the customer's email address with the order data and can send shipment confirmation and delivery emails to that email address (configured in your Store settings).

ShipStation will import the customer phone number with the order data.

ShipStation will import the shipping method chosen by the customer during their store checkout.

ShipStation will import the payment method used to pay for the order.

ShipStation will import discount and coupon information for the order.

ShipStation can determine if an order is a gift from the order data sent by the store.

ShipStation will import internal notes or order activity from the store into the ShipStation Internal Notes field.

ShipStation will import notes provided by the customer when they made their purchase.

ShipStation will import the total order weight from the store.

ShipStation will import the weight for each line item in the order.

ShipStation will import an image URL for each line item in the order. These images will appear as thumbnails in your Order Details and can be included in email notifications and packing slips.

ShipStation will import item options (such as color or size) for each line item in the order. This data will appear in your Order Details and can be included in customer emails and packing slips.

ShipStation will import a product stock location for each line item in the order.

Status UpdateTracking NumberCarrierServiceCarrier Fee

The shipment update ShipStation sends to the selling channel will include any Notes to Buyer set on the order in ShipStation.

Item Information

Additional Details about the eBay Integration

  • Any email communications sent from ShipStation to your customers must be in compliance with eBay's member-to-member policy. This means the emails cannot contain contact information like email addresses, phone numbers, or website URLs. Additionally, if using ShipStation Branded Tracking Page, you cannot include non-eBay store URLs or social media links. eBay will begin blocking communications - including emails from ShipStation - that violate their member-to-member policy on June 7th, 2021.

    For guidance on how to best configure your shipment and delivery email templates to ensure they comply with eBay's policy, review our FAQ article about creating an eBay compliant email template and Branded Tracking page.

  • Item SKUs: To import Item SKUs from eBay into ShipStation, you'll need to add the Custom Label attribute to your listings and define the Custom Label for each. If you're not sure how to add the Custom Label to eBay listings, follow the steps below.

    Item SKUs Availability

    This feature is only available if you're using eBay Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro.

    1. Log in to your eBay account and navigate to Active Listings.

    2. Click the Categorize link at the top right of the page.

    3. Check the Custom Label checkbox and it will be added to the list. You can change the order of how you want it to appear if you like. Click Apply.

      At this point, you should see a Custom Label column in your listings.

    4. Click [Add] to define the value for each listing.

  • Weight and Dimensions (dimensions will no longer import on the new eBay integration released on March 3rd, 2021).

    ShipStation will only receive item weight and dimensions if your store is using eBay's calculated shipping costs. If you're using flat-rate or free-shipping options, weight and dimensions will not be sent to ShipStation.

    Additionally, ShipStation can only import dimensions for single-item, single-quantity orders. If there's more than one product on an order, ShipStation will only import the weight.

  • Single shipment update only: ShipStation can only update an eBay order with shipment information once. If ShipStation tries to send eBay additional shipment updates, eBay will ignore them.

  • As eBay will only add a specific tracking number to one order, combining eBay orders in ShipStation is not advised. If you do so, you may receive an error. See the troubleshooting section below for details.

  • Automatic feedback unavailable in ShipStation: eBay no longer allows for feedback messages to be sent via ShipStation's store settings. You can still utilize eBay's Automatic Customer Feedback feature by setting it up directly in your eBay account.

eBay Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some common issues experienced by users, potential causes, and available troubleshooting tips.

Issue

How to troubleshoot or resolve

Order Import Issue: eBay orders importing with no Ship To Address

Order Details for sample eBay order. Highlights missing Ship To address information.

What it means: This issue appears intermittently when eBay does not send the Ship To address to ShipStation on the first try.

What to do:  To resolve this, we suggest waiting a few minutes and then manually refreshing the store. Or, allow the auto-refresh to run. The Ship To addresses will import into ShipStation with continued attempts.

Error: This tracking number has already been used and cannot be used for multiple transactions. However, the item has been marked as shipped.

What it means: eBay will only allow a tracking number to be added to one order. If you have combined eBay orders in ShipStation, we will attempt to update both orders on the eBay side, but eBay will not allow the tracking number to be updated for multiple orders.

What to do: If an order has been combined in ShipStation, there is nothing you can do for that case (except contact eBay to let them know). We advise you not to combine orders in ShipStation.

Modify Marketplace Connection: An error has occurred.

The eBay V1 connection pop-up no longer loads but produces an error instead.

Solution: We recommend that you migrate to eBay V2 and then reconfigure your store to correct this issue. See the eBay Migration Guide to learn how to migrate to the latest eBay version.

If you are still using the eBay V1 connection and you do not wish to migrate to eBay V2 yet, should your store run into any import error that requires a reconfigure, you must use ShipStation Legacy to reconfigure your store.

Error: Auth token has expired.

As a security measure, the authentication token eBay creates for third-party integrations like ShipStation expire after a set time. This error means the authentication token we're using has expired and needs to be renewed before you can update your eBay orders in ShipStation again.

To renew the token, reconfigure the eBay store's connection.

Error: Comment Too Long.

This error occurs on ShipNotify if your Automatic Customer Feedback message is over 80 characters.

Solution : Update the Automatic Customer Feedback to be less than 80 characters, then retry the shipment update. This eBay Help article explains the Automatic Customer Feedback feature in eBay, but not the 80 character limit.

Error: The username that was provided during store setup was not the same username that was authenticated on eBay. Please return to the store setup page and try again.

This error message means your eBay username is too long. The username field for eBay store connections has a limit of 50 characters. If a username exceeds 50 characters, you will receive an error because the username will cut off at 50 characters.

Solution: You'll need to do two things: change the username in eBay to be fewer than 50 characters and then reconfigure the store in ShipStation with the new store name. 

After you change the username in eBay, go in ShipStation to Settings > Selling Channels > Store Setup. Click Modify next to eBay on the Store Setup page,  enter the new username, and click Connect.

Cannot import orders after reconfiguring eBay within ShipStation.

If you have already tried reconfiguring the selling channel within ShipStation and you still cannot import orders, you can revoke an eBay token from the eBay side to force a reconfigure within ShipStation.

  1. Sign in to My eBay.

  2. Go to My Account > Sign in and Security > Third-Party App Access.

  3. Select Show under Third-party authorizations.

  4. Check the Revoke this authorization box and click Apply.

How can I identify my eBay Global Shipping Program orders?

All orders that are part of the eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP) use a standard address with an Address Line 1 that begins with "Reference #" to identify the orders. To make those orders stand out, or make them easier to filter, we recommend that you tag the orders with an automation rule.

  1. Create an order tag specifically for your GSP orders.

  2. Create an automation rule that looks for eBay orders with an Address Line 1 that begins with "Reference #" and applies the tag you created. Here's an example:

    Automation Rule Example for eBay, Global Shipping Program

If a store allows custom statuses, this means you define that statuses your orders use in your selling channel. In most cases, if you have custom statuses you'll need to define which ShipStation statuses each custom order status corresponds to.

ShipStation will import the customer's email address with the order data and can send shipment confirmation and delivery emails to that email address (configured in your Store settings).

ShipStation will import the customer phone number with the order data.

ShipStation will import the shipping method chosen by the customer during their store checkout.

ShipStation will import the payment method used to pay for the order.

ShipStation will import discount and coupon information for the order.

ShipStation can determine if an order is a gift from the order data sent by the store.

ShipStation will import internal notes or order activity from the store into the ShipStation Internal Notes field.

ShipStation will import notes provided by the customer when they made their purchase.

ShipStation will import the total order weight from the store.

ShipStation will import the weight for each line item in the order.

ShipStation will import an image URL for each line item in the order. These images will appear as thumbnails in your Order Details and can be included in email notifications and packing slips.

ShipStation will import item options (such as color or size) for each line item in the order. This data will appear in your Order Details and can be included in customer emails and packing slips.

ShipStation will import a product stock location for each line item in the order.

Status UpdateTracking NumberCarrierServiceCarrier Fee

The shipment update ShipStation sends to the selling channel will include any Notes to Buyer set on the order in ShipStation.

Item Information