Best Practices and Common Errors

Best Practices

Checking for new orders:

Registering for notifications is the preferred way to check for new orders. These can deliver notifications whenever a sale is made.

See set_notification_preferences and event_notification_type for more information.

Adding or Revising multiple items

When possible, batch multiple addFixedPriceItem and reviseFixedPriceItem requests into addMultipleFixedPriceItems and reviseMultipleFixedPriceItems requests

addMultipleFixedPriceItems can add up to 5 items in a single request
reviseMultipleFixedPriceItems can revise up to 10 items in a single request

If only price and quantity updates are needed and the items do not have variations, please use updateInventory. It can update 99 items in a single request.

Using batch processing calls shortens processing time and reduces the number of calls needed.

Error handling:

In general, requests that produce errors should not be repeated. Failed requests contribute to your daily call quota.

For a complete list of errors, see https://api.bonanza.com/docs/basics/error_types.

Common errors:

CannotFindItem

Commonly caused by providing an outdated or invalid item ID in reviseFixePriceItem requests. We recommend tracking each item's unique Bonanza IDs in your database to avoid this.

ItemAlreadyExists

This is caused by addFixedPriceItem and reviseFixedPriceItem requests that result in a duplicate listing. Duplicate listings are not permitted on Bonanza.

AccountNotActive, MissingAuthToken, and TokenNotVerified

These errors are typically caused by the incomplete onboarding of a new client.

• AccountNotActive - Your client must activate their Bonanza account
• MissingAuthToken - You must include a user token in secure API calls
• TokenNotVerified - Tokens must be verified by the client before they can be used

For more details, see http://api.bonanza.com/docs/basics/user_tokens

CannotDetermineASingleRequestType

This is often caused by misformatted JSON. You can double-check that your JSON is valid with https://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/