In addition to the API, there is an open source Taxonomy SDK. This SDK is used to compare the aspect metadata that is retrieved using the fetchItemAspects Taxonomy API method.

eBay's category aspects metadata evolves fairly rapidly. New aspects may be added, existing ones removed or modified, new aspect values may be introduced or existing values removed. Also, newer categories may have been added or existing ones modified or removed. There is a consequent challenge of keeping this fast-evolving aspects metadata in sync and gaining quick insights into what might have changed.

In May 2020, eBay introduced the capability to bulk download the aspect metadata for all leaf categories in a marketplace.

This SDK is designed to aid users with insights on changes leveraging the bulk download feature for aspects. The output is a precise structured response to address the following scenarios:

  • What has changed between a previous bulk data file A and bulk data file B downloaded recently
  • My cache was last synced with file A. Compare A to the latest on the site and report differences

The output will show without any ambiguity:

  • What is new
  • What is modified
  • What is removed

Note: The output includes categories, aspects, and associated information (such as aspect constraints and values).