We have released a new version of our Product Mash plugin today that has updates to the google shopping feed that comply with the changes required by Google from September 22. There is no charge for current customers to upgrade to this version. This version also contains a new feed format which works with Become.eu (for listing on moneysupermarket.com and others).
This Mole End knowledge-base article gives details of the changes required to list on Google shopping from September 22.
http://moleend.helpserve.com/index.p...barticleid=204
You can download the new version from our downloads page, this version is also compatible with the V11 beta or you can click on the upgrade button in the about box to install it.
http://www.mole-end.biz/acatalog/downloads.html
A full list of new features is given below :
Features introduced in version 4.0.0.0
Supports Actinic version 11 Beta.
Warning messages have been added when incorrect shipping details have been specified
Macro !!MinPrice!! will use the lowest price rather than the product price. This will pick up prices from the quantity price breaks
Linked user defined variables can now be used
New Feed added for Moneysupermarket.com :
A new feed has been added to allow you to submit your products to the become.eu database. This enables them to be listed on several shopping portals, one of which is moneysupermarket.com. The directories use a pay per click payment model. If you sign up through moneysupermarket.com then you will receive a £50 bonus credit after depositing £100 and listing on the directory for 1 month.
General Options
Description
A new option has been added to the main options screen to allow you to append a products attributes and choices to the description.
Macros
A new advanced macro format is available to allow attribute values to be included in feeds. The format is !!#NAME#!! where NAME is the name of the attribute you want to include, for example to include size you would select text as the value type for the property and enter !!#size#!!
Four new Macros are available
!!AttributesShort!! All of the attributes for the current product, one a single line.
!!Attributes!! All of the attributes for the current product, with a carriage return between each set of options and choices.
!!InStockText!! 'in stock' if the product is in stock, 'out of stock' otherwise.
!!MinPrice!! will use the lowest price available rather than the product price. This will pick up prices from the quantity price breaks
Feedback during mashing
The feedback counter now increments in steps of 10, it used to increment in steps of 25.
Google Shopping Feed
Custom Properties
When you add a custom property you can now specify whether it should be included in the xml file as a custom tag or a global tag.
Image Link Property.
The image link property is now required.
New Properties
The properties below have been added to the property list, these will be required in September.
availability (required) - note this property replaces the 'in stock' property Defaults to 'in stock', can be 'in stock', 'available for order', 'out of stock' or 'preorder'.
Use the macro !!InStockText!! to set this to 'in stock' when Actinic indicates that a product is in stock and 'out of stock' otherwise.
additional_image_link
(Recommended) If you have additional images for this item, include them through the additional image link property
product category
(Required for products listing in certain categories recommended otherwise) The Google variable product_category should be chosen from a list available at http://www.google.com/support/mercha...?answer=160081. You can enter a global, site-wide value here but, if your store has products which fall into more than one product type, you will need to set up a custom variable, within Actinic, and enter each product?s value within there. You can then link this to the product_category property within the Product Mash.
Required for items in these categories :
'Clothing & Accessories > Clothing'
'Clothing & Accessories > Shoes'
'Clothing & Accessories'
'Media > Books'
'Media > DVDs & Films'
'Media > Music'
'Software > Video Game Software'
Properties for Variants
If you have products with different options you can now enter one line for each product option available. This is optional at the moment but will probably become required in the future.
To enter variants products via Actinic at the moment, you have to create a hidden product for each of the valid variations on the product in the same section as the product and choose to include hidden products in the feed, assign the appropriate price, image and attributes to each hidden product and include details of the parent product to the hidden product as item-group-id.
The variables below can be included for variant products, you should include only 1 value for each variable for each variant.
You variant products must have the correct price and an image that shows the product variation or google will reject them.
item group-id The id for the parent product for this variant
color the color of the item
size The size of the item
pattern The dominant pattern for the item
material The main material(s) for them, separate multiple entries with '/'
gender Male, Female or Unisex
age group Adult, Kids
Retired Variables
These variables have been retired, you can include them in your feed still but they will not be used in the google shopping results. We will remove these from the product mash shortly.
quantity,
feature,
manufacturer,
genre,
featured product,
year,
author,
edition
product review
product review count
You may still include these attributes in your feed, but the information will not be used in Google Product Search. In particular, please note that the 'quantity' attribute is no longer an acceptable method of indicating "out of stock" products - you must use the 'availability' attribute instead.
Bug Fixes
The error message displayed when gtin and brand have been specified but mpn has not has been improved.
If you include the 10 of a particular property type, the correct heading is now included in the google xml file.
This Mole End knowledge-base article gives details of the changes required to list on Google shopping from September 22.
http://moleend.helpserve.com/index.p...barticleid=204
You can download the new version from our downloads page, this version is also compatible with the V11 beta or you can click on the upgrade button in the about box to install it.
http://www.mole-end.biz/acatalog/downloads.html
A full list of new features is given below :
Features introduced in version 4.0.0.0
Supports Actinic version 11 Beta.
Warning messages have been added when incorrect shipping details have been specified
Macro !!MinPrice!! will use the lowest price rather than the product price. This will pick up prices from the quantity price breaks
Linked user defined variables can now be used
New Feed added for Moneysupermarket.com :
A new feed has been added to allow you to submit your products to the become.eu database. This enables them to be listed on several shopping portals, one of which is moneysupermarket.com. The directories use a pay per click payment model. If you sign up through moneysupermarket.com then you will receive a £50 bonus credit after depositing £100 and listing on the directory for 1 month.
General Options
Description
A new option has been added to the main options screen to allow you to append a products attributes and choices to the description.
Macros
A new advanced macro format is available to allow attribute values to be included in feeds. The format is !!#NAME#!! where NAME is the name of the attribute you want to include, for example to include size you would select text as the value type for the property and enter !!#size#!!
Four new Macros are available
!!AttributesShort!! All of the attributes for the current product, one a single line.
!!Attributes!! All of the attributes for the current product, with a carriage return between each set of options and choices.
!!InStockText!! 'in stock' if the product is in stock, 'out of stock' otherwise.
!!MinPrice!! will use the lowest price available rather than the product price. This will pick up prices from the quantity price breaks
Feedback during mashing
The feedback counter now increments in steps of 10, it used to increment in steps of 25.
Google Shopping Feed
Custom Properties
When you add a custom property you can now specify whether it should be included in the xml file as a custom tag or a global tag.
Image Link Property.
The image link property is now required.
New Properties
The properties below have been added to the property list, these will be required in September.
availability (required) - note this property replaces the 'in stock' property Defaults to 'in stock', can be 'in stock', 'available for order', 'out of stock' or 'preorder'.
Use the macro !!InStockText!! to set this to 'in stock' when Actinic indicates that a product is in stock and 'out of stock' otherwise.
additional_image_link
(Recommended) If you have additional images for this item, include them through the additional image link property
product category
(Required for products listing in certain categories recommended otherwise) The Google variable product_category should be chosen from a list available at http://www.google.com/support/mercha...?answer=160081. You can enter a global, site-wide value here but, if your store has products which fall into more than one product type, you will need to set up a custom variable, within Actinic, and enter each product?s value within there. You can then link this to the product_category property within the Product Mash.
Required for items in these categories :
'Clothing & Accessories > Clothing'
'Clothing & Accessories > Shoes'
'Clothing & Accessories'
'Media > Books'
'Media > DVDs & Films'
'Media > Music'
'Software > Video Game Software'
Properties for Variants
If you have products with different options you can now enter one line for each product option available. This is optional at the moment but will probably become required in the future.
To enter variants products via Actinic at the moment, you have to create a hidden product for each of the valid variations on the product in the same section as the product and choose to include hidden products in the feed, assign the appropriate price, image and attributes to each hidden product and include details of the parent product to the hidden product as item-group-id.
The variables below can be included for variant products, you should include only 1 value for each variable for each variant.
You variant products must have the correct price and an image that shows the product variation or google will reject them.
item group-id The id for the parent product for this variant
color the color of the item
size The size of the item
pattern The dominant pattern for the item
material The main material(s) for them, separate multiple entries with '/'
gender Male, Female or Unisex
age group Adult, Kids
Retired Variables
These variables have been retired, you can include them in your feed still but they will not be used in the google shopping results. We will remove these from the product mash shortly.
quantity,
feature,
manufacturer,
genre,
featured product,
year,
author,
edition
product review
product review count
You may still include these attributes in your feed, but the information will not be used in Google Product Search. In particular, please note that the 'quantity' attribute is no longer an acceptable method of indicating "out of stock" products - you must use the 'availability' attribute instead.
Bug Fixes
The error message displayed when gtin and brand have been specified but mpn has not has been improved.
If you include the 10 of a particular property type, the correct heading is now included in the google xml file.
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