eBay Integration for Zen Cart Plugin

I've uploaded a plugin I wrote and use on our site that integrates our eBay store with eBay.

https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2357

One of the first things I did after creating our online Zen Cart store more than ten years ago was to write code to integrate it with our Ebay store. I looked at some commercial offerings but based on the initial cost and per-transaction or monthly fees, they didn't seem practical or suitable for a smaller store like ours. So, I wrote my own code for calling the eBay API from our Zen Cart store.

The code adds new listings to eBay when we add new products to our Zen Cart store. Then it keeps the eBay and Zen Cart inventories in sync as products are sold on either site and restocked in your Zen Cart store.

The original code was written quickly for Zen Cart 1.3.9a and served us well for many years. But when we finally upgraded to version 1.5.7a/b I decided to take a bit more time to make the code more maintainable and presentable. So, I rewrote it as a plug-in.

To make it easier for everyone I designed this plug-in to not overwrite or change any core or template Zen Cart files. It also doesn't modify any of the existing databases. It installs using the new Plugin Manager.

Making Zen Cart and eBay work together can be a challenge. This is mainly due to the number of options offered by eBay.

To reduce the challenge, the plug-in is mostly meant to satisfy our specific needs and not compete with the more complete solutions offered by others.

The plug-in currently only works with the US version of eBay and requires that you have an eBay store. Variations (size, color, etc.) are not handled. (It’s not really the right way to do things, but we create separate products for each variation in Zen Cart and eBay.)

Also, since the plug-in directly calls the eBay from your server, it requires you to get your own Developer Tokens for accessing eBay’s Application Program Interface (API). There is no charge for joining or using eBay's Developer Program.

Instructions for installing and using the plug-in are included in the archive that you download as well as online at https://jonrocket.com/ebayintegration/documentation-setup.html

The plug-in is free to use, but donations to support its development are appreciated.

This is my first publicly released plug-in for Zen Cart and is one of the first plug-ins to use the new Zen Cart Plugin Manager. So, there may be some hiccups at first. Please reach out if you have any issues installing or using it and I will try to help.

Thanks for sharing your work with the community. I have updated the plugin page to have a link to this support thread.

Thanks. I was going to ask about that. Also, I need to know the ID number to use in the manifest.

The id is just the id parameter from the link to the plugin. So for yours it would be 2357.

I uploaded a new version already. It's available at:

https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2357

I fixed a few minor bugs that were introduced as I cleaned up the code for release.

The main issue that this update fixes is that the "Commit" option of the Batch Update Tool wasn't working. That's fixed now.

To upgrade just extract the archived files and copy them into your store's folder so that they overwrite the existing files.

Apologies for another quick update ...

https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2357

I've uploaded version 1.0.0b of the plug-in. The main change is that it adds an observer so that the quantities of eBay items are updated immediately after a Zen Cart order is placed.

I also updated the setup instructions in install.txt to describe how to set up a handler for eBay Account Deletion Notifications which is somethign required by eBay for sites using their API.

If you have already installed the plug-in, extract and copy the files from the new zip file so that they overwrite the existing files in your store's folder. Then follow the instructions for handling eBay Account Deletion Notifications.

Note: The observer that is called after a Zen Cart order is processed might cause issues if your eBay configuration for the plug-in isn't working yet. If so, you can temporarily disable it by renaming auto.ebay_integration.php in the includes/classes/observers folder to disable.ebay_integration.php. Rename it to auto.ebay_integration.php once your eBay integration is working in Admin.

Thank you for writing and submitting this plugin. I have a client who wants to use this so I installed it on a 1.5.8a test store.

I'm getting this error when trying to install it. I can provide the full log, if you need the additional details.

--> PHP Fatal error: 1064:You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ''ebay_cache' (
'ebay_cache_id' int(20) NOT NULL,
'cache_key' varchar(256) NO' at line 1 :: CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS 'ebay_cache' (
'ebay_cache_id' int(20) NOT NULL,
'cache_key' varchar(256) NOT NULL,
'cache_value' mediumtext NOT NULL,
'cache_date' date NOT NULL DEFAULT '2000-01-01',
'keep' tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
PRIMARY KEY ('ebay_cache_id'),
UNIQUE KEY 'cache_key' ('cache_key'),
KEY 'keep' ('keep'),

Hello,

I tried to use the integration, but it won't install. I get this message when I try to install it on zc:

WARNING: An Error occurred, please let us know! If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you entered valid data.

I don't know if I did something wrong when I added the 3 files to my folders or if it's something else. Do you have directions for dummies or do you help non-tech people?

Thank you

WyrdGifts:

Hello,

I tried to use the integration, but it won't install. I get this message when I try to install it on zc:

WARNING: An Error occurred, please let us know! If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you entered valid data.

I don't know if I did something wrong when I added the 3 files to my folders or if it's something else. Do you have directions for dummies or do you help non-tech people?

Thank you

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/troubleshooting/error_occurred/

This should help you. The first place to look for such a WARNING is a myDEBUG-xxxxxx.log in your logs folder.

I'm running v1.5.8a and get the same exact "WARNING: An Error occurred, please let us know!" output. Applying the SQL patch also locked me out of my back end access (with a 500 HTML error result). The debug log demonstrates the same sort of PHP response, too:

--> PHP Fatal error: 1064:You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '(`ebay_cache_id`),
UNIQUE KEY `cache_key` (`cache_key`),
KEY `keep` (`keep`)' at line 7 :: CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `ebay_cache` (
`ebay_cache_id` int(20) NOT NULL,
`cache_key` varchar(256) NOT NULL,
`cache_value` mediumtext NOT NULL,
`cache_date` date NOT NULL DEFAULT '2000-01-01',
`keep` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
PRIMARY KEY (`ebay_cache_id`),
UNIQUE KEY `cache_key` (`cache_key`),
KEY `keep` (`keep`),
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8; ==> (as called by) /zc_plugins/ebayintegration/v1.0.0/Installer/ScriptedInstaller.php on line 30 <== in /includes/classes/db/mysql/query_factory.php on line 667.


Is there a fix to this?

I think that'll be corrected by removing the trailing comma (highlighted) from this portion of the SQL query

KEY `keep` (`keep`),
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

Has it been tested with zen cart 210? Or do you think it might work? Thanks.