Sellers can determine which categories contain the most matching items by issuing a GetSuggestedCategories call and then comparing the values returned in the PercentItemFound field. PercentItemFound indicates what percentage of the matching listings fall into each category.

When reviewing the percentages returned, be aware that:

  • They are rounded to the nearest whole number.
  • Leaf Categories with percentages that round to 0% are not returned.
  • Only the leaf categories with the highest quantity of matching listings are returned.
  • The maximum number of leaf categories returned is 10.
  • Listings that are in two leaf categories count towards both of those categories.

Note: Due to rounding errors, the sum of all percentages across the returned categories may be slightly less than or greater than 100%.

For complete information about the GetSuggestedCategories call, refer to the GetSuggestedCategories reference documentation.

Specify a query for suggested categories

The query, defined by the Query field, is a search string. The search string consists of one or more keywords to search for in the listing title. The words and and or are treated like any other word. You can use boolean AND and OR logic by using certain modifiers instead.

For more information about query syntax to use with GetSuggestedCategories, refer to the Searching by Keywords section of the eBay Finding API User Guide.