Basic and Advanced Data Feeds

Introduction

We support two types of data feeds, Basic and Advanced. You select the type when you add a data feed. Basic feeds allow some customization, while Advanced feeds are fully customizable. Since Advanced feeds require extra maintenance and support, an additional fee is deducted from your credit balance on a daily basis.

If an Advanced feed has no activity (retrievals, submissions, or data feed file processing tasks) for over 30 days, then the fee will be suspended. This allows you to preserve your feed settings without being charged during times when you are not using the feed.

Most customers will find the Basic feeds more than capable for their needs. The Basic feeds require minimal configuration and technical knowledge. If you have special requirements or need advanced optimization of your feed, then you may need an Advanced feed. Read on for more technical information.

Feed Templates

When you add a new feed, not only do you select the type, but you also select a template optimized for a particular CSE. We have pre-defined templates for many comparison shopping engines (CSEs). You can also make a copy of one of your existing data feeds. The only limitation is that you can not create a Basic feed based on an Advanced feed.

Field Types

Each data feed is defined by one or more ‘fields’. You can think of a field as a column in a spreadsheet. The field definition includes the name of the column header, the type of data in the column, and any parameters required for generating the data.

There are three types of supported fields, public, template, and custom. Public fields are available to all feed types. Template fields can not be changed in Basic feeds, but can be modified in Advanced feeds. Custom fields are programmed and added upon request

Basic Feeds

Basic feeds have the following features and limitations:

• You can edit the parameters, but not names, of template fields.
• You can only add public fields.
• You can edit the names and parameters of public fields.
• You can not change the order of any field.
• You can only delete public fields.
• Custom fields are not available.

Advanced Feeds

Advanced feeds support full customization, as follows:

• You can edit the name and parameters of any field.
• You can change the order of any field.
• You can delete any field.
• You can have custom fields programmed and added for you.
• You can load a pre-defined template or user-defined feed.