Google Shopping in 16.01

[Dealec]

Just testing out the new 16.01 version of sellerdeck, and it generates a nice Google Shopping xml file.

Unfortunately there is no longer a way of producing the old style file (or not that i can see), which produces a few problems.

Firstly - Everything is categorised as Media > Books.... which really doesn't fit what we sell as we sell various electrical goods. Is there a way i can set the category for each product/section?

Secondly - The nice new MPN variable.... doesn't sound like a problem, but when we started using google shopping this didn't exist, so all our part numbers are in the ISBN variable which is then renamed before upload. Is there a way to bulk move the data from the ISBN variable to the MPN variable? or am i stuck with manually moving all 3000+ product part numbers?

It would have been nice to have some warning, and a transition period before removing option to generate the old style text file. I'm currently very glad I tested 16.01 before upgrading our live site.

[Andy@codepath]

Hi Andrew

We have a dual-purpose Catalog export / re-import plug-in that can

1) Generate a CSV format Google Feed for you so you can specify the category that will be exported at product / section level, and allow you to filter out certain sections if required.

and/or

2) Enable you to quickly and easily transfer all the ISBN data to the MPN variable.

More info here: http://www.codepath.co.uk/software/C...Re-Import.html

Contact me if you want any further clarification.

[Dealec]

Hi Andy,

I already have the export/import tool, i hadn't thought of using that to be honest, i'll give it a try.

Sadly it doesn't solve the category problem when using the built in tool.

[Andy@codepath]

I already have the export/import tool, i hadn't thought of using that to be honest, i'll give it a try.

Sorry, so you do. Let me know if you have any questions on how to use it for this purpose.

Sadly it doesn't solve the category problem when using the built in tool.

No that would be specific to the Sellerdeck XML feed facility but if the variation of category is crucial, you can use the tool to generate a CSV feed instead.

[Dealec]

It's all academic as i also need custom labels in our feed for adwords pricing, so looks like i'll be using the export app

I'm surprised there's no method (at least not one i've found) for properly categorising products, if you want to follow Google's rules you're supposed to put items in their relevant category.

[Andy@codepath]

It's all academic as i also need custom labels in our feed for adwords pricing, so looks like i'll be using the export app

I'm surprised there's no method (at least not one i've found) for properly categorising products, if you want to follow Google's rules you're supposed to put items in their relevant category.

The Media > Books is coming from a hard-coded line in the XML feed template which you can remove / change. According to the help, you can use Content Categories to define the category, or if that's not flexible enough, just create your own Google Category variable and add that to the XML feed template in place of "Media > Books"

[Dealec]

The Media > Books is coming from a hard-coded line in the XML feed template which you can remove / change. According to the help, you can use Content Categories to define the category, or if that's not flexible enough, just create your own Google Category variable and add that to the XML feed template in place of "Media > Books"

Where did you find the information? i can't find anything, even in the help.

[Andy@codepath]

Where did you find the information? i can't find anything, even in the help.

Search for "Exporting Store Data" in the help and on the top result page, scroll down to the "Modifying the Feed' subsection. That directs you to the layout that controls the feed where you'll see the hard-coded "Media > Books" element. Note that this is only exported if you have an ISBN number so if you are using an alternative source for the category, you'll need to remove the Block If that controls that

[Dealec]

Search for "Exporting Store Data" in the help and on the top result page, scroll down to the "Modifying the Feed' subsection. That directs you to the layout that controls the feed where you'll see the hard-coded "Media > Books" element. Note that this is only exported if you have an ISBN number so if you are using an alternative source for the category, you'll need to remove the Block If that controls that

You're a genius, I clearly should have done a more ambiguous search

That means i "should" be able to recreate everything i currently have using their xml export tool.

[rookers]

This new XML feed is not working properly.

<g:country>UK</g:country>
<g:service>Hermes Tracked</g:service>
<grice>0.00 GBP</grice>
</g:shipping>
<g:shipping_weight>2 kg</g:shipping_weight>


Price coming out as 0.00 for a 2kg parcel with Hermes - but our table clearly shows a Hermes item of 2kg should be £3.50 and that is what is charged online and offline.

[Air-Tech]

It would have been convenient if the old method had been left untouched with a data feed CSV as previously & a new data feed XML menu option.....

Having a previously working feature changed to something that apparently requires further configuration / alteration is just plain annoying. All our barcodes, categories, weights & "special" shipping lines were all set up to work in V14 & now it's all just a paint in the a***.

I believe that going down the xml route (which is presumably refreshed each publish) is undoubtedly the way forward & it's probably easy enough to configure, but searching through the Swiss cheese that is the in product help, AUG's, release notes & scratching around this forum can become somewhat tiresome at times.....

It's not all bad though - at least I've finally managed to get SD link configured & working the way I want

[rookers]

Sellerdeck have come back to me - completely missing the point as usual:

A bug has been raised for this issue an Ill chase up when this will be resolved later.
It was explained that the bug comes about that the code is meant to display the cheapest shipping cost available for a certain product however in your case it is using the wrong shipping name.
The best work around for now would be to open the following:
• Design > Library > Layouts > XML Feeds > Google Product Feed Layout
• Look for line 24
• You should see:

<g:service><actinic:variable name="ShippingService" /></g:service>
• Replace "ShippingService" with a "Free" delivery service name.
When I know more about when this will be resolved i will let you know.

To which I have replied:

Sorry, I am totally confused. Why would I want to edit the template to hard-code in that the item is “free”? Shipping for this item is not “free”, it should be £3.50 + VAT as specified in the tables, which is what I already told you.

They might be able to have it “free” if they are collecting it in-store, but the whole point of google shopping is to buy something mail order.

If their “fix” is supposed to choose the lowest cost method – in our case we offer a “collect in store” option, then this is never going to work.

Why on earth is Sellerdeck implementing these fundamental changes without consultation or proper testing ?

[Air-Tech]

The only occasion that we use a price value (for shipping) in our Google feed is where the standard Google weight calculated shipping costs aren't valid - in this instance the feed line "shipping" overrides Googles weight / shipping table calculation. We typically use this so that free shipping lines appear in shopping without a delivery fee by stating GB:::0.0 GBP in the "shipping" field.

This has caused issue in the past as SD seems unable to correctly include a "shipping" field in the data feed as the term "shipping" is used elsewhere in SD & things get messed up. To get round this our variable has a different name & this is (or was before V16) manually updated before submitting the feed CSV.

I'm guessing that for some reason SD is submitting 0.00 in the "shipping" field of the XML file & Google is overriding your weight value. A temporary workaround would be to edit the file before submission & remove the 0.00 values or remove the "shipping" field if you don't use it.

*Disclaimer - I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum of actually knowing what I'm talking about.

[Mike Hughes]

On the face of it, Sellerdeck's decision to include the lowest cost delivery option in the feed sounds very logical and sensible but I can see how this is causing you problems.

It sounds as if Sellerdeck needs to add an option in the delivery settings to 'exclude from Google Shopping feed' to prevent this happening.

[rookers]

Yes in Business setting, shipping etc there needs to be an option of not including some of the shipping options in the feed. So, I would exclude "Collect In Store" for example.

In reply to one of the other replies above, it is not easy to edit the file because of course you dont really get to see it - it uploads automatically. We would have to FTP to the site, retrieve it, edit, send it back - and do that every time we upload! What a pain !!