diff --git a/ebay_api.py b/ebay_api.py
index 2fb04bd..5888e46 100644
--- a/ebay_api.py
+++ b/ebay_api.py
@@ -19,6 +19,23 @@ class FindingApi:
         # this will give equal weights to cats given call restraints
 
     # departments = ["3034","93427"] (womens and mens)
+    def get_data(self):
+        itemid_results_list = []
+        for category_id in cat_list:
+            for i in self.pageNumber:
+                params = {
+                    "OPERATION-NAME":self.service, # make sure this works as intended
+                    "SECURITY-APPNAME":"scottbea-xlister-PRD-6796e0ff6-14862949",
+                    "SERVICE-VERSION":"1.13.0",
+                    "RESPONSE-DATA-FORMAT":"JSON",
+                    "categoryId":category_id,
+                    "paginationInput.entriesPerPage":"100",
+                    "paginationInput.PageNumber":i # might need to change this
+                    }
+                response = requests.get("https://svcs.ebay.com/services/search/FindingService/v1",
+                        params=params)
+                data = response.json()
+            return data
 
     def get_ids_from_cats(self):
         '''
@@ -42,7 +59,8 @@ class FindingApi:
                 data = response.json()
                 for item in data['findItemsByCategoryResponse'][0]['searchResult'][0]['item']:
                     if item not in big_data.values:
-                        itemid_results_list.append(item['itemId'])
+                        itemid_results_list.append(item['itemId'][0]) # itemId
+                        # values are in lists for some reason
         item_id_results = [','.join(itemid_results_list[n:n+20]) for n in list(range(0,
             len(itemid_results_list), 20))]