What a product feed is and why you need one
A feed is an XML file listing your products in a specific format. The marketplace pulls it from your site every few hours, reads the product data, and shows it to buyers.
If the feed is broken, the marketplace either won't see your products at all or will reject them during review. Common reasons: missing required fields (price, name, category), malformed XML, or dead image links.
The feed lives at a URL like example.com/export/products.xml. The marketplace checks it on a schedule, so changes on your site don't appear in the catalog immediately - it takes a few hours. If a product sells out but the feed hasn't updated yet, customers will see it as in stock and arrive expecting to buy something you no longer have.
Required fields: skip one and your listing gets rejected
Marketplaces require a minimum set of data for each product. Miss even one field and the listing won't go live.
The name must describe the product without hype: "Apple iPhone 15 128GB Black" will pass, "Top smartphone! Buy now!" won't. Marketplaces filter out all-caps, emoji, and words like "deal," "sale," or "hot" in titles.
Price is given as a number without currency symbols. If your site shows 150 but the feed says 142, moderation will block the listing - discrepancies over 5% aren't allowed.
The image (picture) must be a direct link, under 10 MB, and accessible without login. Common mistake: the URL points to a CDN that returns 403 for external requests. Check the URL in incognito - if the image doesn't load, the marketplace won't see it either.
The category ties the product to the marketplace's category tree. If you sell phone cases but the category ID points to "Home Appliances," your product lands in the wrong section and no one will find it.
Optional fields that affect sales
Vendor (brand) and model are needed if you sell products from known brands. Marketplaces group offers from different sellers by these fields - buyers see one product with prices from all sellers underneath. Without vendor and model, your listing stands alone and won't get traffic.
Description ends up on the product page. Marketplaces only accept plain text - HTML tags get stripped. Don't write an essay: two or three paragraphs with specs and benefits are enough. No one reads long descriptions.
Parameters (param) are specs like "Screen: 6.1 inches," "Storage: 128 GB." They help buyers compare products and feed into catalog filters. The more parameters you fill in, the more likely someone will find your product through filtered search.
How marketplaces validate feeds and why listings get rejected
When the marketplace pulls your feed, it first checks the XML structure. If the file is broken (unclosed tag, bad encoding), the entire feed gets rejected. You can validate it with any online XML checker or in the marketplace dashboard - they'll show errors with line numbers.
Next comes moderation of each product. Common rejection reasons: no image, price on site doesn't match price in feed, title contains banned words. The marketplace sends a report with specific errors - it tells you which product failed and why.
If more than 20% of products are rejected, the marketplace may temporarily block your store until you fix the issues. Better to upload a test batch of 50-100 items first, check moderation, fix errors, then upload the full catalog.
Where feeds come from: CMS, plugins, and custom scripts
If your store runs on a popular CMS (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento), there's probably a ready-made plugin for marketplace feeds. It pulls data from your product database - name, price, image - and builds the XML according to the platform's rules.
Plugins often work poorly out of the box. They might miss categories, export products with zero stock, or fail to update prices when you change them on the site. After installing, check at least a dozen listings manually: open the feed, find a product in it, and compare the data to your site.
If your CMS is custom or the plugin doesn't fit, you'll need a script. The script connects to your store's database, selects active products, builds the XML, and serves the file on request. This costs more than a plugin but gives you control over every field - you can add logic like excluding products over a certain price or with zero stock.
How to check that your feed is working
Open the feed file in a browser and find 3-5 products from different categories. Check: price matches the site, image loads, title has no all-caps or exclamation marks. If even one product is wrong, the export logic is broken and the error repeats across similar items.
Go to the marketplace dashboard and check the feed load statistics. You'll see when the marketplace last pulled the file, how many products parsed successfully, how many were rejected, and what errors were found. If the feed hasn't updated in days, the problem is either server-side (file unreachable) or in the XML itself.
Compare the product count in the feed to the count in your store catalog. If your site has 500 items but the feed has 320, some products didn't make it into the export. Reasons: they're marked inactive, missing price or category, or the plugin's filter is excluding them.
Common mistakes that kill sales
The feed updates once a day but prices on the site change several times a day. Customers see the old price on the marketplace, click through, and discover the product costs more. This kills conversion. If your prices fluctuate, update the feed at least every 2-3 hours.
Out-of-stock products end up in the feed. The marketplace doesn't know the item is gone, shows it to buyers, and they arrive expecting to purchase. Add a stock check to your export logic: if inventory is zero, exclude the product from the feed.
Images are hosted on a slow server or a CDN with restrictions. The marketplace tries to download the image, times out, and marks the product as broken. Store images on fast hosting and verify they load without delay.
All products export into one category because the category tree isn't set up in your CMS or the plugin can't read it. Buyers search in a specific section, don't find the product there (because it's in the wrong category), and go to a competitor.
What it costs to set up a marketplace feed
If your store runs on a popular CMS and there's a working plugin, setup takes 2-3 hours. That covers installation, basic checks, and fixing small issues like incorrect category structure. Cost starts around $200.
If the plugin doesn't fit or doesn't exist, you'll need a custom export script. That's 3-5 working days: connecting to the database, configuring product selection rules, building the XML, testing. Starting at $700, depending on catalog complexity.
If you already have an online store and want to connect to a marketplace, we'll help set up the feed, check moderation, and fix errors before launch. Exact estimate comes after we look at your CMS and catalog structure. Reach out through the form on efimovdev.ru and we'll discuss your project.
A feed isn't just a file - it's the link between your store and the marketplace. If it's broken, you lose orders even with good products and prices. Check required fields, set up regular updates, and monitor moderation reports. It saves time and money.
Frequently asked
Can I upload products to a marketplace manually, without a feed?
No, marketplaces work through XML feeds. Manual import through the dashboard is only available for very small stores (under 50 products), and it's impractical - every price or stock change has to be entered by hand.
How often does the marketplace refresh data from the feed?
By default every 4-6 hours, but you can increase the frequency in the dashboard settings. If your prices or stock change quickly, set updates every 2 hours - it minimises discrepancies between your site and the catalog.
What do I do if half my products are rejected?
Download the error report from the marketplace dashboard. It lists which products failed and why. Fix the errors in your feed (usually prices, images, or titles), wait for the next load, and check the stats again.
Can I exclude products below or above a certain price from the feed?
Yes, if you're writing the export yourself or customising the plugin. Add a condition to the product selection logic - for example, don't include items under $7 or over $1,400. This is useful if the marketplace takes a large commission on expensive products.