csv files & feeds

[jack240302]

Hi

I have been doing some reading up on csv files & feeds & i am a bit confused (still).

At the moment i am swithering between 2 suppliers - one offers a stock file (is this like a csv file?) & the other offers a feed which is updated regularly.  What is the difference between the 2, if any, & which is the better of the 2 to use & why?

I have read elsewhere that some people say that the info on the files should be changed to make your site more unique which i can understand, but does this not involve the same amount of work as if i were adding the products individually?

If using files/feeds how are the product images added? And do you need Easy Populate installed if you use either of them?

Sorry for all the questions & cheers for any replies

Julie

[seamus]

stock files will probably be csv files or txt files,
you'll need easy populate installed on your cart to use the csv stock update files, just upload the csv via your admin panel and it will adjust stock levels, prices etc but you'll need to upload a file every time you want your store updated, and you'll need to rely on your supplier having up to date csv files,

feeds are installed on your site, and configured to the way you want,
ie, percentage mark ups, how often the feed updates your site, (once a day usually) what info it changes, you can set it to leave product descriptions alone, so you can sort your own descriptions that the feed wont alter,

feeds are alot better, as they take care of themselves and update your site once a day, csv stock files mean re-doing your site once aweek, or when ever the supplier sends out a new up to date file

edit to add,

csv files, adding images, you'll need to upload all the images yourself, although the supplier should give you the image files, you just upload all the images in the one go to your site, the csv file should have the correct image file paths for the images, so once the csv is uploaded to your store and the images are uploaded to the correct folder, everything should work fine,

feeds copy all the images you need direct from the suppliers site and puts them on yours, no work needs doing, its all done for you
 

[jack240302]

Thanks very much that helps a lot

Julie

[jack240302]

Just an additional thing the supplier that provides the feed says images are not included in the feed but are available via an images website for download.  Is this normal & easy to do?

Thanks Julie

[seamus]

depends how the supplier sets up their own feed, some include the images, some dont,
if they dont include the images in the feed, its just a matter of uploading all the images to your site at the one go (supplier should give you the images or as said, give you somewhere to download them all from) easily done, but you'll need to check for new products when the feed updates and add the images for them if needed,

[jack240302]

Thanks Seamus

[Shoppingcartdevelopers]

csv files are delimited type files while feeds are in xml format. both are text based files and easily readable by programs. Mostly all programs support both the formats, but a few accept only one of them.... you can use tools to convert between the two. e.g. ShopZilla accepts only csv files....

images cannot be embedded in them but they can sent as a link in them.