updated October 20, 2021

Explore FMTC API Documentation for the Product Feed. Basic documentation for access to the Database of Products from FMTC. The Database is a collection of products across all the networks that FMTC works with.

Before you continue, please read this: FMTC updates DAILY from all integrated networks (see Update Time). What the merchant does (or doesn't do) related to updating their file(s) in the network(s) is on the merchant (merchants update daily, weekly, or monthly - more to come on this soon). As part of the process, FMTC reviews the files we receive from the networks ensuring that the products from every merchant in our feed are the most up-to-date based on the information made available to FMTC.

SUBSCRIBERS: Please refer any general questions regarding the Product Feed and/or this documentation first to your Account Manager or support@fmtc.co - please include in the subject line: Product Feed Inquiry

Table of Contents

Change Log

2021-10-19

CHANGES

Set the default of parameter “latest” to 1. Now the Product Feed will only return the latest products by default. FMTC defines “latest” products as products that have been verified by FMTC during the daily updates from the networks.
Updated the layout of the Product Feed documentation.

UPDATES

Added a new parameter to getProducts and getMerchantProducts of latest-time. Allowing the setting of how old is too old for your product requests.
Added a new Response Element of “ProcessedTime” to help users get the most up-to-date products.

Glossary

Here is the glossary of all terms that are used within this document.

Term	Abbreviation	Definition
Cross Merchant Identifier	CMID	How FMTC matches products across networks and merchants.
Global Trademark Identification Number	GTIN	An identifier for trade items, developed by GS1. Such identifiers are used to look up product information in a database (often by entering the number through a barcode scanner pointed at an actual product) which may belong to a retailer, manufacturer, collector, researcher, or other entity.
Universal Product Code	UPC	The Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology that is widely used worldwide for tracking trade items in stores. UPC consists of 12 numeric digits that are uniquely assigned to each trade item.
European Article Number	EAN	A standard describing a barcode symbology and numbering system used in global trade to identify a specific retail product type, in a specific packaging configuration, from a specific manufacturer.
International Standard Book Number	ISBN	The International Standard Book Number is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique.
Manufacturer Part Number	MPN	The product identifier used to differentiate a product among other (similar) products from the same brand/manufacturer
Stock Keeping Unit	SKU	It is a number (usually eight alphanumeric digits) that retailers assign to products to keep track of stock levels internally.

API Endpoints

getProducts:
- Description: Get products across all merchants. Can be used to get one product at a time, or multiple products.
getMerchants:
- Description: Get all selected merchants and their relative product stats.

getProducts

The getProducts call returns products grouped together across all merchants. The getProducts call can be used through different modes. The following modes:

getProduct - http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getProducts?key=APIKEY&mode=getProduct&cmid=gtin-000022892287284
- Returns one product from all merchants. One CMID product with multiple merchants, with different information depending on the merchant that has the product.
getProducts - http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getProducts?key=APIKEY&mode=getProducts
- Returns multiple products based on request parameters and selected merchants. Multiple product (getProduct) objects with the different merchant information.
getMerchantProducts - http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getProducts?key=APIKEY&mode=getMerchantProducts&merchant=25831
- Returns multiple products from one requested merchant, and based on request parameters. The merchant is required for this mode.

Request Parameters

Name	Value(s)	Description	Required	Default	Mode Available
key	APIKEY	Your FMTC API key found in your FMTC account.	Yes	N/A, must always be provided	getProduct getProducts getMerchantProducts
mode	getProduct	The mode to run the product feed in. If not provided but a CMID value is sent, this is the mode set by internal programming.	No	getProducts
cmid	String	The CMID of the product requested	Yes	N/A, must always be provided	getProduct
format	JSON or XML	The format the resulting product will be returned in.	No	JSON	getProduct getProducts getMerchantProducts
on-sale	0 or 1	0 - Return products that are not on sale and on sale. 1 - Return products that are on sale.	No	0	getProduct getProducts getMerchantProducts
primary-image	0 or 1	0 - Return products with or without a primary image. 1 - Return products with a primary image.	No	0	getProduct getProducts getMerchantProducts
fresh-reach	0, 1, or 2	For FreshReach™ users (You must be signed up with FreshReach™ through FMTC for this parameter to work correctly): Set the value to the following and you will get the following results: 0 - Return products with no FreshReach™ links attached. 1 - Returns all products and FreshReach™ links attached to products if applicable, determined by the merchant. 2 - Only products that are available through FreshReach™, determined by the merchant.	No	0	getProduct getProducts getMerchantProducts
limit	Integer	A limit to the number of products to be returned. The maximum allowed is 2,000.	No	getProducts - 500 getMerchantProducts - 10,000	getProducts getMerchantProducts
network	String or Array	The products will be limited to this network(s) only. It can either be a single network or an array of network names.	No	N/A - By Default, all networks will be considered.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
merchant	String or Array	The products will be limited to this merchant(s) only. It can be either a single merchant or an array of merchant names. You can also provide the merchant id(s) for a more precise limiting of merchants. You cannot use both ids and names. You must also select these merchants within your FMTC account.	getProducts - No getMerchantProducts - Yes	getProducts - N/A, By Default all merchants will be considered. getMerchantProducts - required.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
brand	String or Array	The products will be limited to this brand(s) only. It can be either a single brand or an array of brand names.	No	N/A, By Default, all brands will be considered.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
category	String or Array	The products will be limited to this category(s). It can be either a single category or an array of category names.	No	N/A, By Default, all categories will be considered.	getProducts getMerchantsProducts
currency	USD, CAD, GBP, etc.	The currency that the price of the product is in. Can be any initialism related to currency.	No	N/A, By Default, all currencies will be considered.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
selected-merchants-only	0,1	Sending in a value of 1 will limit the products to only merchants you have selected in your dashboard.	No	N/A, By Default, all merchants up to your limit will be considered.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
latest	0,1	Limits the resulting products to only those that have been processed within a set time frame. The Default is 1.	No	1	getProducts getMerchantProducts
latest-time	String, Integer	The latest time that a product needs to exceed in order to be returned. This can be either a time string (-2 days) or a Unix time of the oldest date you are looking for.	No	“-24 hours”	getProducts getMerchantProducts
exclude-merchants	0,1	Excludes products from the merchant(s) submited with the “merchant” parameter. These merchants do not need to be selected within your FMTC account.	No	0	getProducts getMerchantProducts
cursor	String	The cursor value provided by the API for pagination. Either provide the nextCursor for the next page or the backCursor for the previous page.	No	Empty. By Default, will start from the beginning.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
seed	brand, merchant, network, category, currency, 1	The filter that you want to seed your request with. See Advanced Parameters below for more information about the seed parameter.	No	N/A, By Default, this will not be used unless specified. See Advanced Parameters below for more information about the seed parameter.	getProducts getMerchantProducts
stagger	0,1	Tell the API that you would like the API to run your requests in smaller chunks and then sending back all the results. See Advanced Parameters below for more information.	No	N/A, By Default, this will not be used unless specified. See Advanced Parameters below for more information about the seed parameter.	getProducts getMerchantProducts

Implementation

How to use the getProducts endpoint.

One Product

Will use the getProduct mode.
Example Request
- This example will get one product, across all merchants, based on CMID
- http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getProducts?key=APIKEY&mode=getProduct&cmid=gtin-000022892287284

Response Elements

Name	Description	Always Returned?
product	The main element, stores of all the merchants selling the product	Yes
merchant	An individual merchant that sells the requested product. Holds the product data relative to the merchant	No

Merchant Elements

Name	Description
CMID	An identifier that can be used across merchants. It can be one of four different identifiers, notated by a prefix. gtin- The GTIN number. isbn- The ISBN number. mpn- The MPN character string. id- A custom character string generated based on the ID, FeedName, and MerchantId.
ID	An identifier that is unique to the merchant (This is the SKU whenever possible, however, sometimes the SKU is either not unique or not provided. When needed, attributes of the product are appended to the front of the SKU to differentiate products.)
Brand	The brand associated with the product. The brand names have been standardized to a set format. Please see the section below. If no Brand or Manufacture is given by the merchant, this is set to NO BRAND
PrimaryCategory	The main category associated with the product. It is one of our top-level categories from FTMC. If no category is given by the merchant, this is set to NO CATEGORY
Categories	All of the categories related to the product by the merchant. Separated by a ',' NOTE: Sometimes, the delineator is \| or ~~, this is due to network inconsistencies and is being worked on.
ProductName	The name of the product at this merchant
MerchantName	The name of the merchant selling this version of the product
MerchantID	The merchant's identification number.
FeedName	The name of the feed that this product is related to. Generally the name of the Network the feed is part of.
Available	Shows if the product is available at this merchant Possible values ● 1, the product is available ● 0, the product is not available
Price	The price of the product at this merchant
SalePrice	The discounted price from the merchant. This price will be equal to or less than the price.
Currency	The currency that this merchant is selling the product in
AffiliateUrl	The Affiliated URL of the product for this merchant. This URL will be either an affiliate URL with a place holder for an affiliate id or your affiliate id set within your FMTC account. The place holder is AFFILIATE_ID.
Shipping	The shipping available for this product. The possible fields of this element are: ● Country ● Service ● Currency ● Price If no shipping is given by the merchant, this field is empty
GroupID	The item_group_id from the google shopping fields if provided by the merchant. If the group id is not given by the merchant, this is set to NULL.
GTIN	The Global Trade Item Number (UPC, EAN, etc). It will always be 15 numbers long to indicate that it needs to be processed. If it is not provided, this field is set to NULL.
Description	The description of the product provided by the merchant
ProductImage	A link to the image of the product provided by the merchant
Other	A set of fields that are not standardized across products. This could include: color, size, dimensions, custom fields, etc.
FreshReach	The FreshReach™ URL for the merchant of the product. This will only be provided for users that provide their user key and if they are signed up for FreshReach™. Note: Not all FreshReach™ merchants support DeepLinking. This link may go to the product page or the merchant's homepage.
LastUpdate	The last time (as a Unix timestamp) the product was updated by the merchant that our system obtained.

Example Response - JSON

Here is an example of a JSON Response from the getProducts endpoint.

{
        "product": [
            [
                {
                    "CMID": "gtin-###############",
                    "ID": "123abcXYZ",
                    "MerchantId": "2902",
                    "FeedName": "Impact",
                    "Brand": "Brand",
                    "PrimaryCategory": "Clothing & Apparel",
                    "Categories": "Cat1, Cat2",
                    "ProductName": "Name",
                    "MerchantName": "Best-Buy-US",
                    "Available": "1",
                    "Price": "0.00",
                    "SalePrice": "0.00",
                    "Currency": "USD",
                    "AffiliateUrl": "https://example.com/client-affiliateid-test",
                    "Shipping": {
                        "Country": " US", 
                        "Service": "Ground", 
                        "Price": "0.00", 
                        "Currency": "USD"
                    },
                    "GroupID": "ABC123",
                    "GTIN": "###############",
                    "Description": "Short Description",
                    "ProductImage": "https://example.com/is/image/",
                    "Other": {},
                    "FreshReach": "https://freshreach.co/freshreach/merchants/",
                    "LastUpdate": "1634251088",
                    "ProcessedTime": "1634251088"
                }
            ]
        ]
    }
}

Example Response - XML

Here is an example of an XML response from the getProducts endpoint.

<product>
    <merchant>
        <CMID>gtin-###############</CMID>
        <ID>123abcXYZ</ID>
        <Brand>Brand</Brand>
        <PrimaryCategory>Clothing & Apparel</PrimaryCategory>
        <Categories>Cat1, Cat2</Categories>
        <ProductName>Name</ProductName>
        <MerchantName>Merchant 1</MerchantName>
        <MerchantId>2902</MerchantId>
        <Available>1</Available>
        <Price>0.00</Price>
        <SalePrice>0.00</SalePrice>
        <Currency>USD</Currency>
        <AffiliateUrl>
            https://example.com/client-affiliateid-test
        </AffiliateUrl>
        <FeedName>PepperJam</FeedName>
        <Shipping>
            <Country>US</Country>
            <Service>Ground</Service>
            <Price>0.00</Price>
            <Currency>USD</Currency>
        </Shipping>
        <GroupID>ABC123</GroupID>
        <GTIN>###############</GTIN>
        <Description> Short Description </Description>
        <ProductImage>
            https://example.com/is/image/
        </ProductImage>
        <Other> </Other>
        <FreshReach>
            https://freshreach.co/freshreach/merchants/
        </FreshReach>
        <LastUpdate>1111111111</LastUpdate>
        <ProcessedTime>1111111234</ProcessedTime>
    </merchant>
    ...
</product>

Multiple Products

Will use the getProducts mode.
Example Request
- This example will get multiple products, across all merchants, based on CMID
- http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getProducts?key=APIKEY&mode=getProduct&cmid=gtin-000022892287284

Response Elements

Name	Description	Always Returned?
results	The results of the query. Contains products and cursors	Yes
products	The products that match the query	Yes
product	A product that matches the query. Contains merchants that sell the product	No
merchant	The information about the product from the particular merchant. (see Merchant Elements above to learn about the elements contained in a merchant.)	No
cursor	Contains the info about the cursor needed to the previous page or next page.	Yes
hasBack	States if a previous page exists. (Either true or false)	Yes
backCursor	The cursor to use in the query to the previous page	No
hasNext	The cursor to use in the query to the next page. (Either true or false)	Yes
nextCursor	The cursor to use in the query to the next page.	No

Example Response JSON

{
    "results": {
        "cursor": {
            "hasBack": true,
            "backCursor": "asdfjkl123",
            "hasNext": true,
            "nextCursor": "qwertyuio123"
        },
        "products": [
            [
                {
                    "CMID": "gtin-###############",
                    "ID": "123abcXYZ",
                    "MerchantId": "2902",
                    "FeedName": "Impact",
                    "Brand": "Brand",
                    "PrimaryCategory": "Clothing & Apparel",
                    "Categories": "Cat1, Cat2",
                    "ProductName": "Name",
                    "MerchantName": "Best-Buy-US",
                    "Available": "1",
                    "Price": "0.00",
                    "SalePrice": "0.00",
                    "Currency": "USD",
                    "AffiliateUrl": "https://example.com/client-affiliateid-test",
                    "Shipping": {
                        "Country": " US", 
                        "Service": "Ground", 
                        "Price": "0.00", 
                        "Currency": "USD"
                    },
                    "GroupID": "ABC123",
                    "GTIN": "###############",
                    "Description": "Short Description",
                    "ProductImage": "https://example.com/is/image/",
                    "Other": {},
                    "FreshReach": "https://freshreach.co/freshreach/merchants/",
                    "LastUpdate": "1634251088",
                    "ProcessedTime": "1634251088"
                }
            ]
        ]
    }
}

Example Response XML

<results>
    <cursor>
        <hasBack>1</hasBack>
        <backCursor>
            asdfjkl123
        </backCursor>
        <hasNext>1</hasNext>
        <nextCursor>
            qwertyuio123
        </nextCursor>
    </cursor>
    <products>
        <product>
            <merchant>
                <CMID>gtin-###############</CMID>
                <ID>123abcXYZ</ID>
                <Brand>Brand</Brand>
                <PrimaryCategory>Clothing & Apparel</PrimaryCategory>
                <Categories>Cat1 , Cat2</Categories>
                <ProductName>Name</ProductName>
                <MerchantName>Merchant 1</MerchantName>
                <MerchantId>2902</MerchantId>
                <Available>1</Available>
                <Price>0.00</Price>
                <SalePrice>0.00</SalePrice>
                <Currency>USD</Currency>
                <AffiliateUrl>
                    https://example.com/client-affiliateid-test
                </AffiliateUrl>
                <FeedName>PepperJam</FeedName>
                <Shipping>
                    <Country>US</Country>
                    <Service>Ground</Service>
                    <Price>0.00</Price>
                    <Currency>USD</Currency>
                </Shipping>
                <GroupID>ABC123</GroupID>
                <GTIN>###############</GTIN>
                <Description>
                    Short Description
                </Description>
                <ProductImage> https://example.com/is/image/ </ProductImage>
                <Other> </Other>
                <FreshReach>
                    https://freshreach.co/freshreach/merchants/
                </FreshReach>
                <LastUpdate>1111111111</LastUpdate>
                <ProcessedTime>1111111234</ProcessedTime>
            </merchant>
                ...
        </product>
            ...
    </products>
</results>

Merchant Products

Will use the getMerchantProducts mode.
Example Request:
- Get a set of products from only one merchant. Allows you to pull more products than the default mode so that the merchants with smaller sets of products can be pulled faster.
- http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getProducts?key=APIKEY&mode=getMerchantProducts&merchant=25831

Response Elements

See Multiple Products Response Elements.

Example Response XML

<results>
    <cursor>
        <hasBack>1</hasBack>
        <backCursor>
            asdfjkl123
        </backCursor>
        <hasNext>1</hasNext>
        <nextCursor>
            qwertyuio123
        </nextCursor>
    </cursor>
    <products>
        <product>
            <merchant>
                <CMID>gtin-###############</CMID>
                <ID>123abcXYZ</ID>
                <Brand>Brand</Brand>
                <PrimaryCategory>Clothing & Apparel</PrimaryCategory>
                <Categories>Cat1 , Cat2</Categories>
                <ProductName>Name</ProductName>
                <MerchantName>Merchant 1</MerchantName>
                <MerchantId>2902</MerchantId>
                <Available>1</Available>
                <Price>0.00</Price>
                <SalePrice>0.00</SalePrice>
                <Currency>USD</Currency>
                <AffiliateUrl>
                    https://example.com/client-affiliateid-test
                </AffiliateUrl>
                <FeedName>PepperJam</FeedName>
                <Shipping>
                    <Country>US</Country>
                    <Service>Ground</Service>
                    <Price>0.00</Price>
                    <Currency>USD</Currency>
                </Shipping>
                <GroupID>ABC123</GroupID>
                <GTIN>###############</GTIN>
                <Description>
                    Short Description
                </Description>
                <ProductImage> https://example.com/is/image/ </ProductImage>
                <Other> </Other>
                <FreshReach>
                    https://freshreach.co/freshreach/merchants/
                </FreshReach>
                <LastUpdate>1111111111</LastUpdate>
                <ProcessedTime>1111111234</ProcessedTime>
            </merchant>
                ...
        </product>
            ...
    </products>
</results>

getMerchants

The getMerchants call returns all merchants that have been selected.

Example Request: http://services.fmtc.co/ProductFeed/Part3/getMerchants?key=APIKEY

Implementation

How to use the getMerchants API endpoint.

Request Parameters

Name	Value(s)	Description	Required
key	APIKEY	Your FMTC API key found in your FMTC account.	Yes
format	CSV, XML, JSON	The format the resulting product will be returned in. The default is JSON.	No

Response Elements

Name	Description	Always Returned?
cName	The name of the merchant.	Yes
nMerchantId	The FMTC Merchant Id.	Yes
cNetwork	The Network that this version of the merchant belongs to.	Yes
nProgramID	The Network’s Merchant Id.	Yes
nProducts	The total products that this merchant has in the Product Feed as of the last update of the merchant.	Yes
cLastUpdated	The date when the merchant was last updated by the Product Feed.	Yes
bRelationshipExists	If an affiliate relationship exists between the user and the merchant, as determined by our Merchant Sync.	Yes

Example Response JSON

[
    {
        "cName": "Name",
        "nMerchantId": "123",
        "cNetwork": "Netwrok",
        "nProgramID": "12345",
        "nProducts": "99999",
        "cLastUpdated": "yyyy-mm-dd",
        "bRelationshipExists": "0"
    }
]

Example Response XML

<merchants>
    <merchant>
        <cName>Name</cName>
        <nMerchantId>123</nMerchantId>
        <cNetwork>Network</cNetwork>
        <nProgramID>12345</nProgramID>
        <nProducts>9999</nProducts>
        <cLastUpdated>yyyy-mm-dd</cLastUpdated>
        <bRelationshipExists>0</bRelationshipExists>
    </merchant>
    ...
</merchants>

Update Time

The database takes 15 hours to update from all of our networks. During this time, our database will be inaccurate however, most of the data will be correct or present from the previous day. For the most accurate data do not query the database between 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC and 11 AM ET/3 PM UTC.

However, some networks take less time than others, below is the average time frame for these networks to fill our database. Feel free to query products for these networks outside of the given times

Network	Update Time
Awin	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 11AM ET/3 PM UTC
CJ Affiliate	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 11AM ET/3 PM UTC
Commission Factory	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 11 AM ET/3 PM UTC
Impact	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 11AM ET/3 PM UTC
LinkConnector	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 11AM ET/3 PM UTC
PepperJam	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 4AM ET/8 AM UTC
Rakuten Advertising	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 5AM ET/9 AM UTC
ShareASale	Start Time: 5 PM ET/9 PM UTC End Time: 7 PM ET/11 PM UTC

Advanced Parameters

The following parameters are meant for uses who are interested in using our product feed at a higher rate than the average users. Use them only if you are seeing long request times or require your requests to be completed at a faster rate due to timeout errors.

Using the Seed Parameter for Long Request Times

Certain combinations of merchants, brands, or other limitations can result in long request times during the first request.

If you experience a lengthy request time, it is best to use the seed parameter.

How does the seed parameter work?

By sending which part of your query is the most limiting to your request, our API can determine where in our database to start searching for your products. This allows us to speed up the query time.

Tip: It is best to use the value of what you are sending into our API as your seed value.

For example:

If you send in a value of “brand”, our API will use the brand you provided in your query as a reference point for creating the seed.

Note: After the first request, the cursor acts as your seed for the remaining request. You can still pass in the seed variable, but it is not needed and might result in slower requests.

If you don’t have a seed value:

If you send in a value of 1, our API will use your merchants as the reference point for creating the seed.
- If both the seed and the parameter selected-merchants-only are set to 1, then the seed will be only the merchants you selected.

Using the Stagger Parameter for Long Request Times

Some combination of merchants, brands, or other limitations can result in long request times beyond just the first request. This is generally seen when a large request has a jump in CMID values.

If you see this behavior in your requests, you can either:

lower your limit.
set stagger to 1.

Using the stagger parameter will break up your larger requests into smaller requests and send back your results to the total products you requested. This may still result in a longer than expected query time but it should fix timeout issues of over 1 hour. If you need your request to complete within a certain time, it is best to use a lower limit (option 1).

Note: This could also cause your requests to take longer if you do not have any of these CMID jumps. Make sure it is only used when you see larger changes in the CMID.

API Errors

Errors will be returned in the format sent. If the format is not set or is not supported, the default is JSON.

Message	Description
Invalid Access Key: #APIKEY	The API Key you provided was not matched to your FMTC account. Double-check that you have entered the correct id.
Invalid Sale Filter.	The value provided for “on-sale” was invalid. The value should be either be 1 or 0.
Invalid Primary Image Filter.	The value provided for “primary-image” was invalid. The value should be either be 1 or 0.
Invalid FreshReach™ Filter.	The value provided for “fresh-reach” was invalid. The value should be either 0, 1, or 2.
You requested FreshReach™ Products but you are not signed up for FreshReach™.	Your account does not have access to FreshReach™. Please double check your FMTC FreshReach™ status.
Invalid or Unsupported Format.	The value provided for “format” was invalid. The value should be either XML, JSON, or FILE.
Invalid CMID #CMID	The CMID you provided is either not in a supported format or too long for our API to process.
Invalid Limit Value.	The value provided for “limit” was invalid. The value should be a numeric value that is between 0 and 2,000
This functionality requires 1 merchant.	You have set the mode to getMerchantProducts but you have not provided a value for “merchant”. You need one merchant for this mode.
This functionality allows for only 1 merchant.	You have set the mode to getMerchantProducts but you have provided multiple values for “merchant”. You can only provide one merchant for this mode.
No matching networks found.	There are no products from the requested network in the API.
No matching merchants found. If you are using your user key, make sure you have added the merchant to your selections.	Either there are no products for the merchant you are requesting or you have not selected the merchant within your dashboard.
Invalid Stager Filter	The value set for stagger is invalid. Please confirm that is either 0 or 1.
Invalid or Unsupported Seed	The value set for seed is invalid. Please confirm it is set to brand, merchant, network, category, currency, or 1.
The parameter you set for your seed was not found.	If you have used another value than 1 for seed then you must also provide the corresponding parameter with the query.
Invalid Exclude Merchants Filter	The value you provided for exclude-merchant was invalid. It must be 0 or 1.
You cannot set your seed to merchants and set excluding to merchants.	You requested to excluding to merchants but are trying to use your merchant values as the seed. Try using a different seed such as brand.
Exclude merchants is not supported for this mode.	The mode “getMerchantProducts” does not support excluding merchants. Try using getProducts.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Network Names

The following is the list of network names that FMTC works within the Product Feed. When searching for a network name, or using a network name, the following list is how they should be used within the Product Feed:

Awin
Commission Factory
CJ Affiliate
Impact
LinkConnector
PepperJam
Rakuten Advertising
ShareASale

Brand Standards

The brand names from merchants can vary in a large number of ways so we have decided to standardize the way these names will appear in our product feed. For many of the brand names, they will follow this format.

The first letter is always capitalized.
All words within the brand name are capitalized except for
- 'a', 'and', 'any', 'at', 'by', 'each', 'for', 'from', 'in', 'is', 'item', 'items', 'on', 'of', 'or', 'the', 'to', 'with'
These words are completely capitalized.
- 'LG', 'LED', 'LEDs', 'GB', 'HD', 'LCD', 'USB', 'LTD', ‘LLC’
All non-alphanumeric characters are removed.
- An exception is that ‘&’ is not removed.
- An exception is that ‘-’ and ‘_’ are replaced with ‘ ‘.
Example:
- Original brand name: A. by BoOM
- The brand name returned by our Product Feed API: A by Boom

There are some brand names that have their own standard capitalization that we have decided to honor. Here is a link to the table of brand names and how they are formatted in our Product Feed API: Canonical Brands

Setting the merchant parameter

You can limit the number of products by merchants with one of two id values.

Option 1: Use the FMTC Merchant ID (recommended)
- Find the FMTC Merchant ID in our Merchant Directory or your FMTC Account (under “Manage Product Merchants”)
- Note: The FMTC Merchant ID is generated by FMTC to identify a merchant matched to a network.
Option 2: Use the Merchant Name along with the Network Name
- Note: The merchant name should come from FMTC and not the network. There may be slight variations between the two.

An explanation about cursors

The cursor is like a page number unique to your request parameters. Cursors will change based on the parameters you choose and the daily products that have been updated. Using a cursor from one day will not give you the same products as another day even if you use the same parameters. Make sure to always use the cursor provided by the API at the time of calling for the most accurate list of products.

SUBSCRIBERS: Please refer any general questions regarding the Product Feed and/or this documentation first to your Account Manager or support@fmtc.co - please include in the subject line: Product Feed Inquiry

FMTC Product Feed API Documentation - CONFIDENTIAL

updated October 20, 2021

Change Log

2021-10-19

CHANGES

UPDATES

Glossary

API Endpoints

getProducts

Request Parameters

Implementation

One Product

Response Elements

Merchant Elements

Example Response - JSON

Example Response - XML

Multiple Products

Response Elements

Example Response JSON

Example Response XML

Merchant Products

Response Elements

Example Response XML

getMerchants

Implementation

Request Parameters

Response Elements

Example Response JSON

Example Response XML

Update Time

Advanced Parameters

Using the Seed Parameter for Long Request Times

Using the Stagger Parameter for Long Request Times

API Errors

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Network Names

Brand Standards

Setting the merchant parameter

An explanation about cursors