Resource Center

Advanced Product Feed

Index:

1. Overview
2. File Formats/Delimiters
3. File Header
4. Field Definitions
5. Example Product Feed
6. System Upload
7. Rules
 

1. Overview

Product feeds are an important piece of your affiliate marketing lifecycle, giving publishers access to the most up-to-date information on your products and inventory. This document provides you with step-by-step instructions to uploading your advanced product feed into the platform. Please note that our platform accepts numerous feed formats and can convert a feed that you might currently have into our preferred format.

This document assists advertisers in uploading an advanced product feed to Ascend.

2. File Formats/Delimiters/Encoding

The tab delimiter is the preferred way to delimit fields within a product feed.  The supported file encoding type is ISO 8859-1/Latin-1.

Example:

field1\Tfield2\Tfield3\T...


\T represents the tab character
 

3. File Header

The feed header must contain a list of the available columns in the order submitted.

Example:

name\Tsku\Tbuy_url\Timage_url\Tdescription_short\Tdescription_long\Tprice_sale\Tprice\Tkeywords\Tmanufacturer\Tcategory_network

\T represents the tab character
 

4. Field Definitions

 

Name Requirement Description Example Data Type (Length)
age_range   Suggested age range 10-14 character(32)
artist   Media artist The Beatles character(128)
aspect_ratio   Screen aspect ratio 16:9 character(16)
author   Media author John Steinbeck character(128)
battery_life   Battery life 3 character(32)
binding   Book binding hardcover character(32)
buy_url Required Destination URL http://site.com/product character(2000)
category_network   Ascend specific category (sub categories optionally delimited by '') apparel pants character(256)
category_program Recommended Merchant specific category (sub categories optionally delimited by '') apparel pants character(256)
color   Color of item green character(32)
color_output   Whether output is color or not yes enum('yes','no')
condition Recommended Condition new character(64)
description_long Required Long description Computing device that makes direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena. The fundamental building block of this computer is the qubit. character(2000)
description_short   Short description Computing device that makes direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena. character(512)
director   Movie director Steven Spielberg character(128)
discontinued   Whether product is discontinued or not yes enum('yes','no')
display_type   Display type LCD character(32)
edition   Media edition collectors character(32)
expiration_date   Expiration date 2009-04-04 YYYY-MM-DD
features   Special features machine washable character(128)
focus_type   Focus type manual character(128)
format   Format DVD character(64)
functions   Functions photo capability character(64)
genre   Genre Rock and Roll character(64)
heel_height   Heel height 1.5 inches character(32)
height   Height 28 inches character(32)
image_thumb_url Recommended Thumbnail image URL http://site.com/thumb/image.jpg character(2000)
image_url Required Standard image URL http://site.com/image.jpg character(2000)
installation   Installation type free standing character(64)
in_stock   Whether product is in stock or not yes enum('yes','no')
isbn   Book ISBN 0123456789 character(64)
keywords Recommended Space separated list of keywords quantum qubit computing character(256)
length   Length 3 feet character(32)
load_type   Load type top character(32)
location   Shipping location Dallas, TX character(64)
made_in   Manufacturing country USA character(64)
manufacturer Recommended Manufacturer or brand Sony character(128)
material   Construction material graphite character(128)
megapixels   Megapixels 7.2 decimal(9,2)
memory_capacity   Memory capacity 8 gigabytes character(64)
memory_card_slot   Memory card slot type bluetooth character(32)
memory_type   Memory type flash character(64)
model_number   Model number 442244 character(128)
mpn   Manufacturer part number HMC4415AA character(128)
name Required Name or title cutlery set character(128)
occasion   Recommended usage occasion Thanksgiving character(128)
operating_system   Operating system Linux character(128)
optical_drive   Optical drive type CD-RW character(64)
pages   Number of pages 425 integer(11)
payment_accepted   Accepted payment methods cash/check character(128)
payment_notes   Additional payment notes POD character(256)
platform   Platform Nintendo Wii character(64)
price Required Selling price 15.00 decimal(9,2)
price_retail   Manufacturer suggested retail price 17.50 decimal(9,2)
price_sale   Discount price 12.50 decimal(9,2)
price_shipping   Shipping price 2.50 decimal(9,2)
processor   Processor type Intel character(64)
publisher   Publisher Pinnacle Publishing character(128)
quantity_in_stock   Number of items in stock 144 integer(11)
rating   Rating G character(32)
recommended_usage   Recommended usage home character(128)
resolution   Screen resolution 1080p character(64)
screen_size   Screen size 52 inches character(32)
shipping_method   Shipping methods ground character(64)
shoe_size   Shoe size 12 character(32)
shoe_width   Shoe Width wide character(32)
size   Size large character(32)
sku Recommended Stock keeping unit 45588977 character(128)
staring   Staring actors Big Bird character(128)
style   Style formal character(64)
tech_spec_url   Technical Specifications URL http://site.com/specs/product character(2000)
tracks   Total number of tracks 12 integer(11)
upc Recommended Universal product code 434724479304 character(128)
weight   Weight 10 pounds character(32)
width   Width 2 feet character(32)
wireless_interface   Wireless interface bluetooth character(32)
year   Year of manufacture - YYYY 2001 integer(4)
zoom   Maximum zoom 3x character(32)

 


 

5. System Upload

In order to upload a product feed to Ascend, the feed must be available via HTTP GET. The Ascend data-transfer system will constantly refresh product data by downloading from the advertiser-specified URL.
 

6. Rules

  • The buy_url field must be unique.
  • All data within the product feed must be plain text format. HTML tags, CSS, and Javascript are NOT permitted.
  • The file header must be present as the first line of the product feed.
  • The product feeds must reside on a web accessible location via HTTP GET.
  • No blank rows (records) are allowed.
  • Every column (field) of each product record must be present if it is specified in the header. If there is not any data available for a field, it must be left blank.

7. Example Product Feed

Check out an example product feed below as a resource for building your own feed.  Note:  The file below is in .xlsx format.  However, the must be converted into a .csv file before making it available for upload into Ascend.