First Feed Problems

I'm at a total loss. Last week, I started the process of setting up a Froogle account. I read and followed all the steps to send the first feed.

I created the file in Excel, saved it as a Tab-delimited file, using the txt file name assigned to me. I used the sample txt file provided by Froogle as my guideline. When I tried to send it through ftp, my user name and password would not work, so I used the transfer utility at the Merchant Center.

After waiting for several hours, I get a Failure message.

I've compared my txt file with the sample file and can't find any differences. I've tried Latin-1 and UTF-8. I've saved the file from Excel as a tab-delimited txt file, and then opened it in Notepad to examine it. I've opened the file in Word, done a "Save as" and have selected the options to save the file as a Unicoode (UTF-8) file.

Nothing will get my beyond the initial failure notice.

I've even tried to send the sample file Froogle posts in their help section, changing the name to my file name, and I still get a failure notification.

I'm almost ready to give up on this.

Considering that the ftp user name and password isn't functioning, could my problem be on Froogle's server and not due to anything that I'm doing wrong?

I'm desperately seeking input and guidance here. Any thoughts, suggestions or prayers will be greatly appreciated!

 

The problem has been resolved!

As it turns out the only problem was that I was trying to send the "first feed" before Froogle had approved the new account.

This afternoon, I received notification from Froogle that the account had been approved. I decided to see if this would have an effect on the "first feed".

So I re-submitted one of the txt files that I'd previously submitted. After a few hours, I checked on the files status and was delighted to see that it had been a success.

I hope that anyone in the future who is experiencing this problem will find this post and will learn that all they need to do is wait for the approval process.

 

Please can you tell me how long it took between your application and approval. I applied earlier today and wondered if it takes hours or days? Thanks.

 

I have now created three Froogle accounts. The results are interesting. The first two accounts show that they have been approved, but still do not show up when I attempt to "View Store on Froogle". The third account however was created yesterday and is totally functioning! I received an e-Mail from Froogle after the first two accounts had been approved. I have not received any notification on the third, even though it is a total success. All three accounts were created in the same manner, using the same template for the feed. The only difference between them is the first two are hosted at Blogspot.com as a part of my blogs--the third part of one of my websites. I have also submitted a Sitemap to Google for the third. I don't know if this has made a difference or not.

 

Now that my items are being displayed I've learned that the special characters for TM, (R) and ' are displayed as a ? when used in the title. I've edited all of the items descriptions to eliminate these characters. Having a title with several ? lacks professionalism. Thought others might be interested in avoiding this problem.

 

Hi SWC76801

I'm also having problems setting up a froogle account. I opened up an account last Friday and uploaded my first feed on Monday as my FTP account wasn't up and running until then. However every time i login to check if my feed was successful it says it is still waiting for it. I have re submitted it about 5 times doing all the changes you mentioned above to try and get it to register but to no avail. I have emailed froogle but they say it can take about a week for a reply so thought you might have a suggestion in the mean time! How long did it take for your approval email to come through on your accounts?

Can i also ask if Froogle has improved your sales?

Cheers.

 

BeckyD -- The approval e-Mail arrived within a few days. I've noticed that Froogle is not taking about 3 days to process a new feed.

Don't expect much from their e-Mail reply. I have waited over a month now and still haven't received a reply to my questions.

And I'm still waiting for my first two stores to be displayed. Like you, I've sent numerous feeds but the items still are not displayed. On the third store (the one not hosted by BlogSpot) updates are taking about 3 days. Even on this store, I'm only getting approximately 95% of the items to display. Last night it was up to 99% but this morning it's down to 92%. Items are included one time and dropped the next, only to re-appear again later. I can't determine a pattern with this. I plan to continue to send a new feed once a week and HOPE that things will settle down as time passes.

On a positive note, I have been getting hits from the listings--nothing major, but they are starting to come in.

I continue updates on the first two stores.

 

Thanks for your quick reply. I think patience and perseverance is the best way to deal with this. I now have 2 incorrect feeds waiting to be processed before my corrected one will be! My own fault as i just kept uploading as i didn't see any result. I will keep you posted with regards to the number of products shown once i get the feed processed!

Take Care.

 

The items in the two stores hosted on Blogspot.com finally have been displayed! I can find them by both an item search and by a store search. Both stores are showing the store name and not my Froogle ID. The third site hosted on my server has the store name displayed for the first time tonight. Previously it had been the Froogle ID. I still have a couple of items on all stores that are not displayed, but things are looking much better. I'm seeing a small amount of traffic from Froogle, but so far, no sales.

 

It does take a few days - I had my first feed rejected and then the second was accepted and I am pleased with the results. Don't give up, all it costs is time.

 

Hooray! I've managed to get my feed listed, all products are showing and so is the shop name. Haven't seen any leads as yet but will keep you posted.

 

It looks like it's taking about 3 days for a feed to be processed. It is taking much longer than Froogle estimates. Positive news! This morning I received my first order that can be traced directly to Froogle. What I find interesting with this however was that the lead didn't come from Froogle directly, but from a "Product" listing on a standard Google search. It appears that my items are the only ones listed in Froogle, so when anyone does a search in Google for one of my keywords, Google will list my item(s) in the "Product" search at the very top of the page.

I am anxious to see what will happen once Google has indexed my website and the items are then listed with the search terms. I hope this doesn't knock me out of the "Product" search. It's pretty cool being above the Top 10.

This first sale was a good one -- for multiple items. So I'm very pleased with the results thus far.