Where to Find an Item Number for an eBay Listing

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To talk to eBay about any listing or transaction, you need to know the item number of the listing in question. Item numbers are automatically generated as soon as listings are submitted, and they become visible to buyers as soon as listings go live. Item numbers are used to identify items for sale, track packages, manage complaints, and otherwise handle the disposition of an item. Ebay also allows users to search the site using item numbers. So, buyers who have found a product and want to quickly find it again can just plug the item number into search and — voila!

Where is the item number?

There are two ways to find item numbers for eBay listings: on the listing itself, or by visiting My eBay if it is an item you are watching, have bid on, bought, sold, or currently are selling.

Item numbers are easy to find in item listings. In a web browser, visit the item listing in question and look toward the lower-right corner of the header area (the upper-right corner of the item's description). There you'll see a label that should look something like this:

eBay item number: 150796106903

The number after the colon is the item number for the listing in question.

To find an item number using My eBay, follow these steps:

1. Click on the My eBay tab at the top of any eBay page.

2. On the right-hand side of your My eBay page, click:

  • "Watch" if it's an item on your watch list
  • "Active" (under "Buy") if it's an item you've placed a bid on
  • "Purchase History" if it's an item you've already won or bought
  • "Active" (under "Sell") if it's an item you're currently selling
  • "Unsold" if it's an item that didn't sell
  • "Sold" if it's an item that has found a buyer

3. Item numbers appear just to the left of the listing title for each item in the displayed list.

Finding Item Numbers for Products You've Sold

You've sold an item and want to be sure you've received the correct payment for the correct item. You can do this in one of two ways: through eBay or through PayPal.

To do this on eBay:

  1. Sign into eBay.
  2. Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages.
  3. Click the Sold link in the Sell section on the left side of the page.
  4. Locate the item you want to check and click the item title.
  5. Click the View PayPal Transaction link at the top of the next page. You may need to sign into your PayPal account.

To do this through PayPal, you will need to check your Instant Payment Notification (IPN). Included in the information provided through the IPN is your item's eBay number.

Here is how to be sure you receive an IPN for each item you sell:

When a customer makes a payment to you or a payment is reversed or refunded, PayPal will post a notification to your server at the URL you specified. Included in this notification will be all of your customer’s payment information (e.g., customer name, payment amount) as well as a piece of encrypted code. When your server receives a notification, it will then post the information, including the encrypted code, back to a secure PayPal URL. PayPal will authenticate the transaction and send confirmation of its validity back to your server.

To activate IPN, you will need to enter the URL at which you would like to receive the notification posts from your profile.