For Agents
Discover eBay deal items and time-bound events, and list the items eligible for each event for shopping and savings use cases.
Use for: List currently available deal items on eBay, Find all active eBay deal events this week, Retrieve the items in eBay event ID 12345, Get the metadata for a specific eBay deal event
Not supported: Does not handle order placement, deal creation, or seller-side promotion management — use for read-only discovery of eBay deal items and time-bound deal events only.
The eBay Deal API is a Limited Release member of the eBay Buy API family that exposes promotional deals and time-bound events along with the eligible items inside each. The four-endpoint surface lets approved partners list current deal items, retrieve event metadata, list active events, and fetch the items associated with a given event. It is used by deal aggregators, browser extensions, and AI shopping agents that need authoritative access to eBay's curated deal inventory rather than scraping the public site.
Install Jentic One Beta
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Deal API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | shStep 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
What an agent can do with Deal API.
List currently available deal items across the eBay marketplace
Retrieve metadata for a specific eBay deal event by event ID
List active deal events with their start, end, and theme details
Fetch the items eligible for a specific deal event with paging support
Filter deal items by category or marketplace ID for targeted shopper experiences
Patterns agents use Deal API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Deal aggregator content feed
Deal sites and browser extensions need a daily refresh of eBay's curated promotions. An agent calls /event to list active events, then /event_item to expand each into its eligible inventory, generating a structured feed without scraping the eBay website. Each call is paginated so the feed can be ingested incrementally.
List the first ten active eBay deal events and return their event IDs and start dates.
Personalised savings recommendations
A shopping agent that knows a user's category preferences can call /deal_item filtered by category to surface the best matching deals. The structured response means the agent can rank by discount or price and present a tailored list rather than redirecting the user to eBay's deals page.
Fetch the top deal items in the electronics category and return the three with the largest percentage discount.
Event-driven savings campaigns
Affiliate marketers running newsletter campaigns can pull all items eligible for a known event ID and embed selections in their send. /event_item returns the eligible inventory for a specific event so the campaign content stays in sync with eBay's promotional calendar.
Given event ID 'CYBER_MONDAY_2026', list the first 50 eligible items and return their item IDs and titles.
Agent-driven deal discovery
Through Jentic, a shopping assistant interprets natural-language requests like 'find eBay deals on cameras under 500 dollars' and resolves them into the right combination of /deal_item and /event calls. The agent does not need to manage OAuth tokens or parse the Limited Release access conditions — Jentic handles both.
Given a user request for camera deals, call /deal_item with the appropriate category filter and return the best three matches.
4 endpoints — the ebay deal api is a limited release member of the ebay buy api family that exposes promotional deals and time-bound events along with the eligible items inside each.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
/deal_item
List currently available deal items
/event
List active deal events
/event/{event_id}
Get metadata for a specific event
/event_item
List items eligible for a specific event
/deal_item
List currently available deal items
/event
List active deal events
/event/{event_id}
Get metadata for a specific event
/event_item
List items eligible for a specific event
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
eBay OAuth 2.0 client credentials are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem). Jentic exchanges them for application access tokens, caches the token, and injects it into the Authorization header. Raw client secrets never reach the agent.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic for intents like 'list ebay deals' and Jentic returns the matching Deal API operation with its input schema, so the agent does not need to navigate the eBay developer portal or the Buy API family hierarchy.
Time to first call
Direct eBay Deal API integration: 3-5 days including OAuth client setup, business-unit approval coordination, and per-endpoint payload handling. Through Jentic: under 1 hour once approval is in place — search, load schema, execute.
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
Specific to using Deal API through Jentic.
What authentication does the eBay Deal API use?
The Deal API uses OAuth 2.0 application access tokens via the eBay api_auth scheme. The Deal API is a Limited Release that requires business-unit approval before tokens will succeed. Through Jentic, the OAuth client credentials are stored encrypted in the vault and the token exchange is handled at execution time.
Can I list all current eBay deal events with the Deal API?
Yes. GET /event returns the list of active deal events, and GET /event/{event_id} returns the metadata for a specific event. Pair this with GET /event_item to expand any event into its eligible inventory.
What are the rate limits for the eBay Deal API?
The Deal API inherits the eBay Buy API rate-limit framework, which is plan-dependent and visible in the eBay developer dashboard once the Limited Release approval is in place. Standard application tokens see daily call caps — confirm your specific limits in the Application Growth Check section of your developer account.
How do I retrieve eligible deal items through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'list ebay deal items', load the schema for GET /deal_item, then execute. The flow is: pip install jentic, then await client.search, await client.load, await client.execute. Jentic injects the OAuth token from the cached credential exchange.
Is the eBay Deal API free to use?
Access to the Deal API itself is free for approved developers, but it is a Limited Release that requires eBay business-unit approval before production use. See the Buy APIs Requirements page on the eBay developer portal for the application criteria.
Can I create or modify deal events with the Deal API?
No. The Deal API is read-only — its four endpoints expose deal items, events, and event-item lists. Creating or scheduling promotional events is handled inside eBay's seller and merchandising tooling, not via this API.
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