Response and error messages

All API calls will return a response document, which indicates the status of the operation (either Success or Error) and optionally provides results and/or details related to the specified action.

Interpret the response

Some API calls return long XML documents. For example, the GetProducts call will return a very long XML document, listing each product. The syntax of these responses is explained in detail on the reference page for the method.

A number of methods return no data. In those cases, a response will also be returned, which is called Success Response. Depending on the Format parameter that was passed in, it can be in JSON or XML format. See the following examples.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SuccessResponse>
  <Head>
    <RequestId>13e55362-3cc4-446b-b3db-c1df0900ae9e</RequestId>
    <RequestAction>PriceFeed</RequestAction>
    <ResponseType></ResponseType>
    <Timestamp>2015-07-01T11:11:11+0000</Timestamp>
  </Head>
  <Body/>
</SuccessResponse>

{
  "SuccessResponse": {
    "Head": {
      "RequestId": "13e55362-3cc4-446b-b3db-c1df0900ae9e",
      "RequestAction": "PriceFeed",
      "ResponseType": "",
      "Timestamp": "2015-07-01T11:11:11+0000"
    },
    "Body": ""
  }
}

Similarly, there is an Error Response. It also has a section, which is often empty, but can be used to provide additional information about the error. Here is an example error message that has a Body:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ErrorResponse>
  <Head>
    <RequestAction>Price</RequestAction>
    <ErrorType>Sender</ErrorType>
    <ErrorCode>1000</ErrorCode>
    <ErrorMessage>Format Error Detected</ErrorMessage>
  </Head>
  <Body>
    <ErrorDetail>
      <Field>StandardPrice</Field>
      <Message>Field must contain a positive number with a dot as decimal
        separator and 2 decimals (e.g. 120.00)
      </Message>
      <Value>10.0x</Value>
      <SellerSku>Example Seller SKU</SellerSku>
    </ErrorDetail>
  </Body>
</ErrorResponse>

Response:
{
  "ErrorResponse": {
    "Head": {
      "RequestAction": "ProductUpdate",
      "ErrorType": "Platform",
      "ErrorCode": "1000",
      "ErrorMessage": "Could not save product: 0, A exact match of the document is being processed"
    },
    "Body": ""
  }
}

The meaning of the data in an Error Response is as follows.

Name	Type	Description
RequestAction	string	The API call that triggered the error.
ErrorType	string	The origin of the error (either Sender or Platform).
ErrorCode	integer	The internal error code.
ErrorMessage	string	Error message text.
ErrorDetail	subsection	The error response may contain these subsections in its body, one per error. It contains fields specific to the error. At most 50 ErrorDetails can be provided.

Common error messages

The error messages in the following table are common to all the Seller Center API endpoints. For error messages are specific to an API call, refer to the "Error messages" section of the API call. Error messages are numbered with related message text.

Error code	Message	Explanation
1	E1: Parameter %s is mandatory	One or more mandatory parameters are not provided in the request. Mandatory parameters for every API call include Action, Timestamp, UserID, and Version.
2	E2: Invalid Version	The provided value for the Version parameter is not correct. The current API version is "1.0".
3	E3: Timestamp has expired	The timestamp should be the correct time, not a time in the past or in the future.
4	E4: Invalid Timestamp format	The timestamp should be the current time in ISO8601 format (e.g., Timestamp=2016-04-01T10:00:00+02:00).
5	E5: Invalid Request Format	The input in the request body is not valid. Check the input and try the call again.
6	E6: Unexpected internal error	The error might be caused by invalid input or system error. Check the input and try the call again. If the error persists, submit a support ticket.
7	E7: Login failed. Signature mismatching	The signature is not updated after some changes to the parameters. Regenerate the signature and call the API again.
8	E8: Invalid Action	The API call name might be invalid. Check the spelling of the API call name.
9	E9: Access Denied	The UserID and the signature do not match. Check the correctness of the UserID and the corresponding API key.
1000	E1000: Internal Application Error	The API call failed because of invalid request or system error. Check the request body and try the call again. If the error persists, submit a support ticket.

What to do with an error message?

When you get an error, try to investigate and find a fix for the error with the error message and returned information. When your research cannot resolve the the error, you can get technical support by following the guide of Getting support.

To help the support team locate the specific instance of your request, provide the RequestID and Timestamp of the failed request.