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The eBay MCP Server provides comprehensive inventory management capabilities through the Inventory API, giving you full control over your product catalog with 32 specialized tools.

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Overview

The Inventory API uses a seller-defined SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) system to manage your items. This approach gives you complete control over your inventory tracking and simplifies bulk operations.
Key Concept: The Inventory API workflow follows three steps:
  1. Create inventory items with your SKUs
  2. Create offers to list items on marketplaces
  3. Publish offers to make them live on eBay

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Core Capabilities

Inventory Items

Create and manage product inventory with custom SKUs

Offers & Publishing

Create offers and publish listings to eBay marketplaces

Inventory Locations

Manage warehouses and fulfillment centers

Bulk Operations

Update thousands of items efficiently

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Inventory Items

Inventory items represent the products you sell. Each item is identified by a unique SKU that you define.

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Managing Individual Items

1

Create an Inventory Item

Define your product with SKU, title, description, and condition:
// Create a new inventory item
{
  "sku": "LAPTOP-XPS13-001",
  "inventoryItem": {
    "product": {
      "title": "Dell XPS 13 Laptop - 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD",
      "description": "Brand new Dell XPS 13 with latest specs...",
      "aspects": {
        "Brand": ["Dell"],
        "Model": ["XPS 13"],
        "RAM Size": ["16 GB"],
        "Storage Type": ["SSD"]
      },
      "imageUrls": [
        "https://example.com/images/laptop-front.jpg",
        "https://example.com/images/laptop-side.jpg"
      ]
    },
    "condition": "NEW",
    "availability": {
      "shipToLocationAvailability": {
        "quantity": 10
      }
    }
  }
}
Available Tools:
  • ebay_create_inventory_item - Create or replace an inventory item
  • ebay_get_inventory_item - Get item details by SKU
  • ebay_get_inventory_items - List all your inventory items
  • ebay_delete_inventory_item - Remove an inventory item
2

Update Inventory Details

Modify product information, quantity, or condition:
// Update existing inventory item
{
  "sku": "LAPTOP-XPS13-001",
  "inventoryItem": {
    "availability": {
      "shipToLocationAvailability": {
        "quantity": 15  // Updated quantity
      }
    }
  }
}

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Bulk Inventory Operations

For managing large catalogs, use bulk operations to update multiple items in a single request:
  • Bulk Create
  • Bulk Get
  • Bulk Update Price/Quantity
// Create multiple inventory items at once
{
  "requests": [
    {
      "sku": "LAPTOP-XPS13-001",
      "inventoryItem": { /* item details */ }
    },
    {
      "sku": "LAPTOP-XPS15-001",
      "inventoryItem": { /* item details */ }
    }
  ]
}
Tool: ebay_bulk_create_or_replace_inventory_item

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Offers and Publishing

Offers connect your inventory items to eBay marketplaces with pricing and policy information.

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Creating and Publishing Offers

1

Create an Offer

Link an inventory item to a marketplace with pricing:
{
  "offer": {
    "sku": "LAPTOP-XPS13-001",
    "marketplaceId": "EBAY_US",
    "format": "FIXED_PRICE",
    "availableQuantity": 10,
    "pricingSummary": {
      "price": {
        "value": "1299.99",
        "currency": "USD"
      }
    },
    "listingPolicies": {
      "fulfillmentPolicyId": "your-fulfillment-policy-id",
      "paymentPolicyId": "your-payment-policy-id",
      "returnPolicyId": "your-return-policy-id"
    },
    "categoryId": "175672"
  }
}
Tools:
  • ebay_create_offer - Create a new offer
  • ebay_get_offer - Get offer details
  • ebay_get_offers - List all offers
  • ebay_update_offer - Modify an existing offer
  • ebay_delete_offer - Remove an offer
2

Publish the Offer

Make your listing live on eBay:
{
  "offerId": "12345678"
}
Tools:
  • ebay_publish_offer - Publish a single offer
  • ebay_withdraw_offer - End a live listing
  • ebay_bulk_publish_offer - Publish multiple offers at once
3

Preview Listing Fees

Calculate fees before publishing:
{
  "offers": [
    {
      "offerId": "12345678"
    }
  ]
}
Tool: ebay_get_listing_fees

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Bulk Offer Operations

Bulk Create Offers

ebay_bulk_create_offer - Create multiple offers simultaneously

Bulk Publish Offers

ebay_bulk_publish_offer - Publish up to 25 offers at once

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Inventory Item Groups (Variations)

Create variation listings where multiple similar items (different sizes, colors) are grouped together.
Step 1: Create individual inventory items for each variation:
// Blue, Small T-Shirt
{
  "sku": "TSHIRT-BLUE-S",
  "inventoryItem": {
    "product": {
      "title": "Cotton T-Shirt",
      "aspects": {
        "Color": ["Blue"],
        "Size": ["Small"]
      }
    }
  }
}

// Blue, Medium T-Shirt
{
  "sku": "TSHIRT-BLUE-M",
  "inventoryItem": { /* similar structure */ }
}
Step 2: Create an inventory item group:
{
  "inventoryItemGroupKey": "TSHIRT-GROUP-001",
  "inventoryItemGroup": {
    "title": "Cotton T-Shirt",
    "description": "Comfortable cotton t-shirt available in multiple colors and sizes",
    "imageUrls": ["https://example.com/tshirt.jpg"],
    "variantSKUs": [
      "TSHIRT-BLUE-S",
      "TSHIRT-BLUE-M",
      "TSHIRT-RED-S",
      "TSHIRT-RED-M"
    ],
    "variesBy": {
      "specifications": [
        {
          "name": "Color",
          "values": ["Blue", "Red"]
        },
        {
          "name": "Size",
          "values": ["Small", "Medium"]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
Available Tools:
  • ebay_create_or_replace_inventory_item_group
  • ebay_get_inventory_item_group
  • ebay_delete_inventory_item_group
  • ebay_publish_offer_by_inventory_item_group
  • ebay_withdraw_offer_by_inventory_item_group

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Inventory Locations

Manage warehouses, stores, and fulfillment centers where you store inventory.

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Location Management

1

Create a Location

{
  "merchantLocationKey": "warehouse-nyc-001",
  "location": {
    "name": "New York Warehouse",
    "locationType": "WAREHOUSE",
    "locationTypes": ["WAREHOUSE"],
    "address": {
      "addressLine1": "123 Industrial Blvd",
      "city": "Brooklyn",
      "stateOrProvince": "NY",
      "postalCode": "11201",
      "country": "US"
    },
    "phone": "+1-555-0123"
  }
}
Tools:
  • ebay_create_or_replace_inventory_location
  • ebay_get_inventory_location
  • ebay_get_inventory_locations
2

Enable/Disable Locations

Control location availability:Tools:
  • ebay_enable_inventory_location - Activate a location
  • ebay_disable_inventory_location - Temporarily deactivate
  • ebay_delete_inventory_location - Permanently remove
3

Update Location Details

Modify address, hours, or contact information:Tool: ebay_update_location_details

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Product Compatibility

For automotive parts and other compatibility-based products, specify which vehicles or products your item works with. 
{
  "sku": "BRAKE-PAD-001",
  "compatibility": {
    "compatibilityProperties": [
      {
        "name": "Year",
        "value": "2018"
      },
      {
        "name": "Make",
        "value": "Honda"
      },
      {
        "name": "Model",
        "value": "Accord"
      }
    ]
  }
}
Available Tools:
  • ebay_create_or_replace_product_compatibility - Set compatibility
  • ebay_get_product_compatibility - View compatibility data
  • ebay_delete_product_compatibility - Remove compatibility

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Listing Migration

Migrate legacy Trading API listings to the modern Inventory API model.
Important: Migration is a one-way process. Once migrated, listings can only be managed through the Inventory API.
{
  "requests": [
    {
      "listingId": "123456789012"
    }
  ]
}
Tool: ebay_bulk_migrate_listing

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Common Use Cases

Complete workflow from scratch:
  1. Create inventory item with ebay_create_inventory_item
  2. Create offer with ebay_create_offer
  3. Preview fees with ebay_get_listing_fees
  4. Publish with ebay_publish_offer
See the Creating Your First Listing guide for detailed steps.
Bulk price update:
  1. Get all offers with ebay_get_offers
  2. Use ebay_bulk_update_price_quantity to update pricing
  3. Changes take effect immediately on live listings
Two approaches:Option 1: Update quantity to 0 (listing stays active)
// Use ebay_bulk_update_price_quantity
{ "quantity": 0 }
Option 2: Withdraw the offer (ends listing)
// Use ebay_withdraw_offer
{ "offerId": "12345" }
  1. Create location for each warehouse with ebay_create_or_replace_inventory_location
  2. Assign inventory items to specific locations
  3. eBay automatically calculates shipping from nearest location

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Tool Reference

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Inventory Items (7 tools)

  • ebay_create_inventory_item - Create/update item
  • ebay_get_inventory_item - Get item by SKU
  • ebay_get_inventory_items - List all items
  • ebay_delete_inventory_item - Delete item
  • ebay_bulk_create_or_replace_inventory_item - Bulk create/update
  • ebay_bulk_get_inventory_item - Bulk retrieve
  • ebay_get_listing_locations - Get item locations

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Offers (11 tools)

  • ebay_create_offer - Create offer
  • ebay_get_offer - Get offer details
  • ebay_get_offers - List offers
  • ebay_update_offer - Update offer
  • ebay_delete_offer - Delete offer
  • ebay_publish_offer - Publish listing
  • ebay_withdraw_offer - End listing
  • ebay_bulk_create_offer - Bulk create
  • ebay_bulk_publish_offer - Bulk publish
  • ebay_bulk_update_price_quantity - Bulk price/quantity update
  • ebay_get_listing_fees - Preview fees

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Locations (7 tools)

  • ebay_create_or_replace_inventory_location - Create/update location
  • ebay_get_inventory_location - Get location
  • ebay_get_inventory_locations - List locations
  • ebay_update_location_details - Update details
  • ebay_enable_inventory_location - Enable location
  • ebay_disable_inventory_location - Disable location
  • ebay_delete_inventory_location - Delete location

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Item Groups (4 tools)

  • ebay_create_or_replace_inventory_item_group - Create variation group
  • ebay_get_inventory_item_group - Get group details
  • ebay_delete_inventory_item_group - Delete group
  • ebay_publish_offer_by_inventory_item_group - Publish variations
  • ebay_withdraw_offer_by_inventory_item_group - End variations

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Product Compatibility (3 tools)

  • ebay_create_or_replace_product_compatibility - Set compatibility
  • ebay_get_product_compatibility - Get compatibility
  • ebay_delete_product_compatibility - Remove compatibility

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Migration (1 tool)

  • ebay_bulk_migrate_listing - Migrate legacy listings

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Next Steps

Create Your First Listing

Step-by-step guide to list your first item

Bulk Operations Guide

Learn efficient bulk update strategies

Inventory API Reference

Complete API documentation

Order Fulfillment

Process orders and shipments

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Rate Limits

User Tokens: 10,000-50,000 requests/day depending on seller tierClient Credentials: 1,000 requests/day (not recommended for inventory operations)
See Rate Limits for detailed information.