eBay Handle Inquiries

Purpose of this document is to outline the details of how to store eBay inquiries within Hemi.

At the moment we are storing only cancellation and return request from eBay as claims however there are another type called Inquiries. Simply the inquiries represent Item Not Received (INR) and can be created from the buyer as soon as the estimated delivery date window has passed. Since the product is not yet received we buyer is not able to make a return request and since the order is already shipped the buyer is not able to make a cancellation request thus the Inquiries take place. The flow is exactly the same as we do for the Cancellation and the Returns first we have to Search Inquiries based on filters then we can Issue Inquiry Refund (Accept) or Close Inquiry (Reject).

All validations,triggers etc are as per the Claims abstraction found here : Claims general management

Search Inquiry

In order to incorporate the new type of claim we will have to additional enumeration for Order Claim > Type called “Inquiry”. This way we can easily filter the Inquiries in have and be able to apply different default actions if required. Please note every inquiry is per product so if we have an order with more than one item and we have more than one Inquiry opened we will store them as two separate claims within Hemi.

API Call: GET /post-order/v2/inquiry/search API Docs: https://developer.ebay.com/devzone/post-order/post-order_v2_inquiry_search__get.html Parameters:

From the paraments we want to use: inquiry_creation_date_range_from ****and inquiry_creation_date_range_to and search for any inquiries for the last 90 days. limit set as 200 by default offset to be able to filter pages if more than 200 records returned

Sample Request:

URL GET [https://api.ebay.com/post-order/v2/inquiry/search?inquiry_creation_date_range_from=2024-01-10T03:52:39.000Z&inquiry_creation_date_range_to=2024-12-31T03:52:39.000Z&limit=200&offset=1](https://api.ebay.com/post-order/v2/inquiry/search?inquiry_creation_date_range_from=2024-01-10T03:52:39.000Z&inquiry_creation_date_range_to=2024-12-31T03:52:39.000Z&limit=200&offset=1)

Sample Response:

{
    "members": [
        {
            "itemId": 387056077543,
            "transactionId": 1582545139025,
            "inquiryId": 5349566917,
            "buyer": "fredle88",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 172.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2025-01-22T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-12-19T11:37:40.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-12-20T08:14:50.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387650920824,
            "transactionId": 1576036936025,
            "inquiryId": 5349000054,
            "buyer": "smal_arlen",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 299.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2025-01-14T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-12-11T18:22:49.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-12-13T08:29:10.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056075184,
            "transactionId": 1569892138025,
            "inquiryId": 5347112239,
            "buyer": "jonnyal78",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 99.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-12-10T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-11-11T13:21:15.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-12-11T07:11:56.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056076179,
            "transactionId": 1566356749025,
            "inquiryId": 5346188112,
            "buyer": "askewf",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 79.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-11-25T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-25T07:29:15.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-28T07:30:55.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056076179,
            "transactionId": 1563296558025,
            "inquiryId": 5345804906,
            "buyer": "gemch8587",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 79.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-11-18T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-18T11:17:08.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-11-19T07:57:09.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056076028,
            "transactionId": 1562539314025,
            "inquiryId": 5345562499,
            "buyer": "neeve.uk2014",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 68.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-11-12T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-14T13:50:52.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-15T09:32:51.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056076028,
            "transactionId": 1562533966025,
            "inquiryId": 5345502763,
            "buyer": "michha_395121",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 68.0,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-11-11T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-13T07:29:29.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-14T12:13:37.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056076179,
            "transactionId": 1554245546025,
            "inquiryId": 5343810054,
            "buyer": "barbour283",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 89.99,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-11T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-09-12T19:08:40.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-12T08:19:26.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056075893,
            "transactionId": 1551660469025,
            "inquiryId": 5343590207,
            "buyer": "willforfinn",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 119.99,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-10-08T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-09-09T12:29:06.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-09-12T12:22:46.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056074827,
            "transactionId": 1546812021025,
            "inquiryId": 5342438583,
            "buyer": "antig144",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 99.99,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-09-17T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-08-19T10:10:07.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-08-20T08:01:02.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056076179,
            "transactionId": 1544381275025,
            "inquiryId": 5341769197,
            "buyer": "thedustycircus",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 89.99,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-09-04T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-08-06T23:11:50.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-09-05T10:30:08.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056073900,
            "transactionId": 1533863073025,
            "inquiryId": 5339984800,
            "buyer": "jstelectronicsltd",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 99.99,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-08-05T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-07-05T15:48:24.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-07-10T12:30:51.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056074065,
            "transactionId": 1535233080025,
            "inquiryId": 5339903040,
            "buyer": "fireman77graham",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 169.15,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-08-01T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-07-04T05:15:06.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-07-04T08:43:20.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056073105,
            "transactionId": 1530274713025,
            "inquiryId": 5339140092,
            "buyer": "joelomred",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 110.49,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-07-19T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-06-20T08:01:00.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-06-24T12:32:05.000Z"
            }
        },
        {
            "itemId": 387056075036,
            "transactionId": 1529429215025,
            "inquiryId": 5338830884,
            "buyer": "hayw582",
            "seller": "hooverlimited",
            "inquiryStatusEnum": "CLOSED",
            "claimAmount": {
                "value": 139.99,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "respondByDate": {
                "value": "2024-07-15T07:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "creationDate": {
                "value": "2024-06-14T15:55:35.000Z"
            },
            "lastModifiedDate": {
                "value": "2024-06-19T06:34:45.000Z"
            }
        }
    ],
    "totalNumberOfInquiries": 15,
    "paginationOutput": {
        "offset": 1,
        "limit": 15,
        "totalPages": 1,
        "totalEntries": 15
    }
}

Response Mapping:

As Order Claim > Marketplace Reason we want to always have “Item Not Received” and Order Claim > Initiated By to be always set as “Buyer”.

Status Mapping:

The logic behind the statuses and action is when we receive already closed inquiries how to store them within Hemi and when to update the statuses within Hemi.

Inquiry Refund

Once we have stored the claim in Hemi with Open status we then can take the relevant action. If we want to accept an inquiry we simply have to make inquiry refund which will trigger the refund to the buyer. As per our claim abstraction the trigger for the Inquiry Refund is when we have Order Claim > Action = Accept and Order Claim >Status = Pending and Order Claim > Marketplace Status = OPEN if this is success we will receive from eBay a new inquiry status which is “WAITING_BUYER_RESPONSE”. Which means we do not control the final claim status and we cant process the inquiry to any to CLOSED so we will rely on updates from the marketplace

API Call: POST /post-order/v2/inquiry/{inquiryId}/issue_refund API Docs: https://developer.ebay.com/devzone/post-order/post-order_v2_inquiry-inquiryid_issue_refund__post.html

Sample Request:

POST https://api.ebay.com/post-order/v2/inquiry/5349566917/issue_refund

inquiryId - Obtained from the Order Claim > Marketplace ID

No Body Required

Sample Response 200:

{
  "refundResult": {
    "refundSource": "INSTANT_REFUND",
    "refundStatus": "SUCCESS"
  }
}

After we process the refund we just want to set Order Claim > Action = Accept and Order Claim >Status = Completed and with the next response from the marketplace we will update the Order Claim > Marketplace Status and Order Claim > Claim Status. Please note for all inquiries which we receive from eBay with Order Claim > Marketplace Status = CLOSED we want to add the order refund and process the relevant status updates on the products.

Close Inquiry TBC

Once we have stored the claim in Hemi with Open status we then can take the relevant action. If we want to reject an inquiry we simply have to make Close Inquiry. As per our claim abstraction the trigger for the Inquiry Refund is when we have Order Claim > Action = Accept and Order Claim >Status = Pending and Order Claim > Marketplace Status = OPEN if this is success we will receive from eBay a new inquiry status which is “WAITING_BUYER_RESPONSE”. Which means we do not control the final claim status and we cant process the inquiry to any to CLOSED so we will rely on updates from the marketplace

API Call: POST /post-order/v2/inquiry/{inquiryId}/close API Docs: https://developer.ebay.com/devzone/post-order/post-order_v2_inquiry-inquiryid_close__post.html

Sample Request: POST https://api.ebay.com/post-order/v2/inquiry/5349566917/close

No Body Required

Sample Response 200:

A successful call returns an HTTP code of 200; there is no payload for the response.