canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/apiz.ebay.com/commerce-identity

# Ebay Identity API

The eBay Identity API returns the authenticated user's account profile information so an application can offer 'Sign in with eBay' without storing personal data itself. The single GET /user/ endpoint, scoped through eBay's OAuth 2.0 flow, lets an integrator confirm who a user is and pull verified profile fields rather than asking the user to fill them in. Access to most profile fields is gated by OAuth scope and developer approval - eBay only releases sensitive PII to vetted business partners.

## For AI agents

Authenticate an eBay user and retrieve their account profile fields via OAuth 2.0 'Sign in with eBay'.

## Scope

Does not handle listing management, payouts, or order processing - use for retrieving the authenticated eBay user's profile only.

## Capabilities

- Retrieve the authenticated eBay user's account profile via GET /user/
- Power 'Sign in with eBay' so apps avoid storing PII themselves
- Confirm identity for an OAuth-authorised eBay user before granting account access
- Pull only the profile fields permitted by the user's granted scopes
- Use the returned profile to pre-fill application onboarding forms

## Use cases

### Sign in with eBay

Marketplaces, dropshipping tools, and third-party seller dashboards offer 'Sign in with eBay' so users do not need yet another account. The application redirects the user through eBay's OAuth flow, then calls GET /user/ to read the verified profile and create a local session without storing the user's password.

Example prompt: Exchange the eBay OAuth authorisation code for an access token, call GET /user/, and create a local user record from the returned profile.

### Seller Onboarding Pre-fill

Tools that help eBay sellers manage listings, repricing, or shipping use the Identity API to pre-fill onboarding forms with the seller's verified eBay handle and account fields. This reduces friction and avoids the user retyping data the host already trusts.

Example prompt: Call GET /user/ after OAuth and pre-populate the seller onboarding form with username and account email.

### Account Linking and Audit

Integrations that sync eBay activity into an external CRM or accounting system call GET /user/ at link-time to record exactly which eBay account was authorised. Storing the eBay user identifier alongside the OAuth token makes downstream reconciliation against eBay activity unambiguous.

Example prompt: Call GET /user/ on token exchange and persist the eBay user identifier against the local CRM contact for future reconciliation.

### AI Agent Identity Confirmation

An AI agent acting on a user's eBay account uses Jentic to call the Identity API and confirm whose account the OAuth token represents before performing sensitive operations like listing changes or payouts. Jentic isolates the OAuth credential and surfaces the single profile operation by intent.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'get the current eBay user', load the GET /user/ schema, and execute it to confirm which eBay account the active OAuth token represents.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/user/` | Retrieve the authenticated eBay user's account profile. |

## Key resources

- **User** — Single resource exposing the authenticated user's eBay account profile via GET `/user/.`

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the eBay Identity API by hand means running the OAuth2 flow, refreshing tokens, and calling the single user endpoint against the apiz.ebay.com host yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the eBay Identity API from the API Directory, store the OAuth token once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** This API exposes a single read operation, GET /user/, so you limit the agent to that one profile lookup and nothing else. You choose the operations it may call, so the agent can confirm the active user without any ability to change account data.
- **Credential handling:** Your eBay OAuth token is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'get the current eBay user', and Jentic returns the GET /user/ operation with its response schema so the agent confirms the active user without reading eBay's developer docs.

## Related APIs

- **eBay Finances API** — Pair Identity authentication with seller payouts and transactions for a fuller seller view.
- **eBay Sell Account API** — Manage seller account preferences once the user's identity has been confirmed via Identity.
- **PayPal Orders API** — Alternative OAuth-based identity assertion when the user signs in with PayPal instead of eBay.

## FAQ

### What authentication does the eBay Identity API use?

The eBay Identity API uses OAuth 2.0. Your application redirects the user through eBay's authorisation flow, exchanges the resulting code for an access token, and calls GET /user/ with that token. Through Jentic the OAuth credential is stored encrypted in the vault and injected at call time, so the agent never sees the raw token.

### Can I get every eBay user's profile fields?

No. eBay restricts which profile fields are returned based on the OAuth scopes your application has been granted, and several account fields are only released to developers approved by eBay business units. Treat the GET /user/ response as a permitted subset, not a full PII record.

### What are the rate limits for the eBay Identity API?

Rate limits are not declared in the OpenAPI spec but follow eBay's standard developer programme limits, which are applied per application and per call type and surface as 429 responses when exceeded. Identity is typically called once per session, so quota is rarely the bottleneck.

### How do I confirm the active eBay user through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, then search Jentic for 'get the current eBay user', load the schema for GET /user/, and execute it after exchanging your OAuth code. Jentic injects the bearer access token from your stored eBay credentials. Run it through Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### Can I use Identity to register a new eBay user?

No. The API only reads the authenticated user's profile; new account registration happens on eBay itself. Pair the Identity API with eBay's OAuth flow so users sign up on eBay and your app reads their profile only after they consent.

### Does the API return seller-specific fields like store name?

Identity returns account-level profile fields. Seller-specific data such as store performance, payouts, or finances lives in the seller-side APIs (for example apiz.ebay.com/sell-finances) and requires the corresponding OAuth scopes.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the eBay Identity API?

Yes. This API exposes a single read operation, GET /user/, and because Jentic One is self-hosted you write the rules that decide which operations your agent may call. You can grant the agent only that one profile lookup, so it can confirm the active eBay user without any ability to change account data. Your eBay OAuth credential stays with your own instance and is supplied at execution time rather than exposed to the agent.