StriveFormats
eBaycompliance

Invalid CategoryID

The CategoryID value is not a numeric eBay category identifier.

What is this issue?

The CategoryID value is not a numeric eBay category identifier.

Affected field:CategoryID

Why eBay rejects this

eBay CategoryIDs are always numeric. A non-numeric value will be rejected or ignored during upload.

eBay-specific note

eBay CategoryIDs are numeric codes from eBay's category taxonomy. Find the ID by browsing eBay to the correct category and looking at the number in the URL (e.g., /b/.../{id}), or by using the eBay Category Lookup API. Using the wrong category ID causes listings to be placed in the wrong section or rejected entirely.

Examples

Bad valueGood valueNote
invalid_option(see valid values above)Exact spelling required

Fix in StriveFormats

Upload your CSV to StriveFormats to detect this issue across all rows, with clear line-by-line reporting.

Open CSV FixerView templateeBay Fixer guideeBay ecommerce guide

Fix in Excel

  1. 1In Excel, click the column letter for the CategoryID column.
  2. 2Press Ctrl+H. In 'Find what', type the invalid value -- in 'Replace with', type the correct accepted value -- Replace All.
  3. 3The accepted values are: the allowed values listed above.
  4. 4To prevent future errors, add a dropdown: select the column, go to Data > Data Validation, choose 'List', and enter the valid options separated by commas.
  5. 5Save as CSV (Comma delimited).

Fix in Google Sheets

  1. 1In Google Sheets, select the CategoryID column.
  2. 2Press Ctrl+H. Find the invalid value -- Replace with the correct accepted value -- Replace All.
  3. 3Accepted values: the allowed values listed above.
  4. 4To add a validation dropdown: select the column, go to Data > Data Validation, choose 'Dropdown (from a list)', and enter the valid options.
  5. 5Go to File > Download > Comma Separated Values (.csv).

Prevent it next time

  • --Copy-paste allowed values directly from the official template to avoid typos.
  • --Use Excel Data Validation or Google Sheets Data Validation to restrict the column to a dropdown of allowed values.
  • --Check the platform's official documentation for the current list of allowed values -- they can change.

How StriveFormats detects this

StriveFormats checks the CategoryID column against the exact list of accepted values for eBay. The comparison is case-sensitive -- any casing variation or typo is flagged as an invalid value.

►Technical detail
eBay's importer validates this field against a fixed list of accepted values defined in its import specification. These values are often short codes that map to internal states -- for example, "active"/"draft" map to product visibility states. The match is case-sensitive and exact: an extra space, a different casing, or a synonym (like "enabled" instead of "active") will cause the value to be rejected. The allowed values can change between platform versions, so always refer to the most recent template.