Developer account registration auto-rejected, appeal also auto-denied — requesting manual review
Summary: ccal1221 expressed concern about their Developer Program registration being auto-rejected due to eBay's internal controls, despite their account being in good standing. They highlighted the non-commercial nature of their project and requested a manual review. soldierofhope shared a similar experience, noting they too faced an auto-denial and lack of response to appeals, despite providing detailed project information. Both participants called for a manual review process to understand and resolve the issue affecting their accounts.
Hi team,
I registered for the Developer Program under username ccal1221 and received an email indicating my account activation could not be approved, citing eBay's "internal eligibility and risk controls." I did not receive any notification of the original rejection — I only discovered it when trying to sign in, and the appeal I submitted through the account support page appears to have been auto-denied within the same review cycle, with no specific reason given.
For context: I'm a long-standing eBay member in good standing, requesting Browse API access for a personal, non-commercial project — a simple read-only search-monitoring tool that periodically checks public listings for a small number of specific collectible items I'm looking to buy, filtered by keyword and price. I'm not creating or managing listings, processing payments, or accessing any other user's account data. All purchases will continue to be completed manually through eBay.com.
Since this appears to be an automated risk-control flag rather than a reviewed decision, could someone from the team take a manual look and let me know what specifically triggered the rejection? Happy to provide any additional information needed.
Thanks for your help.
ccal1221
OP1 month agoThanks @soldierofhope for the added context and the dev-relations contact - appreciate you sharing what's worked for others.
Adding my specifics here in case it helps get this moving:
I'm an established eBay member of 28 years requesting Buy Browse API access for a personal, non-commercial, read-only tool. Not building a 3rd-party app, not accessing any other user's data, not automating purchases or bids.
Use case: monitoring Buy It Now listings for a small, fixed list of specific collectible items (trading cards) I'm trying to buy, with alerts sent to myself when a match appears.
API needed:
- Buy Browse API - read-only search/item lookup only (searchByCategory / getItem), no purchasing, no user data access
This tool only ever touches my own account/notifications - no listings, no other users involved.
developer-support@ebay.com - since this looks like an automated risk flag rather than a reviewed decision, could someone take a manual look and confirm specifically what triggered it? I've also sent a follow-up to dev-relations@ebay.com directly. Happy to provide anything else needed.
Thanks for your help.
soldierofhope
·1 month agoBump. I hope you get resolution soon! I will post the other thread where a bunch of us are experiencing the same issue as you @ccal1221 . For additional context:
Another near 20-year member w/ near flawless feedback and yet I, too, was auto-denied access to the program with a blanket response email. So I immediately appealed via the process outlined below yet 'crickets'. Located the supposed developer direct contact email (dev-relations@ebay.com) and have sent 6 emails in 2 weeks to no response. @developer-support@ebay.com @ebay.com we need a better process here. I have provided the following information in-line with what accounts that have been approved entry to the program have cited as their success:
I'm an established eBay buyer/seller of nearly 20 years requesting API access to manage my own listings. I'm not building a 3rd app and will not access other users' data. I'm a US-based seller and am a local small business owner trying to scale via the platform he loves. I'll need the following APIs for these use-cases:
- Sell Inventory API — to programmatically create eBay listings (createOrReplaceInventoryItem, createOffer, publishOffer) directly from my own seller account. This is for my own private internal inventory automation tool, not a third-party application. No other users' data is involved.
- Sell Fulfillment API — to monitor order status so sold items can be automatically delisted from other platforms to prevent double-selling.
- Sell Account API — to reference my existing business policies (payment, fulfillment, return) required by the Inventory API when publishing offers.
- Taxonomy API — to programmatically identify the correct eBay cat ID for each item being listed.
My username is soliderofhope, I am a US-based seller, my tool is private and internal-use only, and all listings are created and authenticated via my own account via OAuth.
@developer-support@ebay.com @ebay.com Since this appears to be an automated risk-control flag rather than a reviewed decision, could someone from the team take a manual look and let me know what specifically triggered the rejection? Happy to provide any additional information needed.
Please advise.
Thank you!
soldierofhope
Member since 2007