[brentmitchell]

thanks for replying david, but i'm still not following you.

i disabled the search description and changed my shortcode to [pto search="categoryesktop Computers"] which i already have set up as a category with a number of alternatives.

I just checked the associated PT installation and I see that so far you don't have any Category or Brands imported, so this would imply that category and brand fields haven't been registered in Feed Registration Step 2 so the first thing I would do would be to re-register your feeds and make sure that category and brand fields are registered and imported.

do i have to import every category separately? there is only one line there, so if i have 50 categories, i'm guessing i have to import these categories 50 times on every single feed?

for starters, i entered the category desktop computers into step #2 on the feed for best buy, since i know that those products exist in that feed and imported that feed. then i went back and checked the page where i put the shortcode for desktop computers and again, i'm left with a huge list of things that don't relate to the category.

i'm nearing the end of my rope...this is not easy

[superCool]

does the datafeed have a reliable category field? if so, map Category to that and see what happens. what David means about cleaning up your categories with Category Mapping is that if you are using lots of different feeds, they will have lots of different category values (Laptop Computers / Laptops / Laptop / etc.). You might need to set up category mapping to consolidate similar categories into one. You might even find that the merchant categories are so poor that you can't logically map them.

[brentmitchell]

Originally Posted by superCool

does the datafeed have a reliable category field? if so, map Category to that and see what happens. what David means about cleaning up your categories with Category Mapping is that if you are using lots of different feeds, they will have lots of different category values (Laptop Computers / Laptops / Laptop / etc.). You might need to set up category mapping to consolidate similar categories into one. You might even find that the merchant categories are so poor that you can't logically map them.

they do have a category field...all this talk about creating my own category, i thought i was supposed to enter the category i created! david, a video tutorial would work wonders for idiots like me!

[dmorison]

Hi Brent,

Please follow up to my last email and I'll take you through it step-by-step, I see that you have now imported categories from your feed(s) which is the first step and now they can be tidied up and combined using Category Mapping into appropriate categories for your niche...

I can see where the mis-understanding has come from in that it might not be clear that creating a new Category Mapping doesn't automatically create that category on your site; and as with all feedback I'll take this as an opportunity to review and improve the documentation.

Point taken re: videos - that's in the pipeline!

Cheers,
David.

[brentmitchell]

i think i have it now david...i wasn't mapping the categories of the feed. i thought i had to manually create them and that's why nothing was showing up...the only thing i need to figure out now is how to deal with getting the feed url so i can auto import.

burger boy, you use cj...do you know how to get access to the feed url or do you do manual import to keep your feeds up to date. they are listed as .gz files which don't import automatically into pt...please let me know. thanks!

[dmorison]

Originally Posted by brentmitchell

i think i have it now david...i wasn't mapping the categories of the feed. i thought i had to manually create them and that's why nothing was showing up...the only thing i need to figure out now is how to deal with getting the feed url so i can auto import.

burger boy, you use cj...do you know how to get access to the feed url or do you do manual import to keep your feeds up to date. they are listed as .gz files which don't import automatically into pt...please let me know. thanks!

No worries Brent!

It looks like you've received my email about FTP access to CJ using datatransfer dot cj dot com rather than relying on their "push" service, and if your server supports GZIP (see Support Info on your Admin page) you'll be able to download, unzip and import automatically.

[brentmitchell]

Originally Posted by dmorison

No worries Brent!

It looks like you've received my email about FTP access to CJ using datatransfer dot cj dot com rather than relying on their "push" service, and if your server supports GZIP (see Support Info on your Admin page) you'll be able to download, unzip and import automatically.

yes, i'm trying to get connected to cj via my ftp, but cannot login as i don't know the ftp password...you can generate a new one, but you can't see what it is! hopefully, support will get back to me with how to do it!

[BurgerBoy]

Originally Posted by brentmitchell

i think i have it now david...i wasn't mapping the categories of the feed. i thought i had to manually create them and that's why nothing was showing up...the only thing i need to figure out now is how to deal with getting the feed url so i can auto import.

burger boy, you use cj...do you know how to get access to the feed url or do you do manual import to keep your feeds up to date. they are listed as .gz files which don't import automatically into pt...please let me know. thanks!

I bring them into my computer and check them over and then I send them to the server and let PT register them.

You need to unzip the files while you have them in your computer and then send them to your server.

You will need 7-zip to unzip .gz files.

You can get it free here: 7-Zip

[brentmitchell]

yes, i am aware of that, but i'm trying to use the automation tool in pt...in order to do that, you have to have the feed url...they won't automatically update without being decompressed. do you know how to retrieve the url of the feed from cj feeds?

[BurgerBoy]

No. I just know how to do it the way I do it.

[zaco]

Hey guys,

I came across this thread and I was looking at popshops but after reading the comments then I really would like to go with PT.. I have few questions if you don't mind..

1) I am looking to get Datafeeds for newegg and tigerdirect but I cannot find them anywhere so I am assuming they are offered by CJ or Linkshare?

2) The provided Datafeeds include all the products that the merchant offers? or only special deals and stuff?

3) Lets assume that I got the datafeeds from newegg.. does the datafeeds include the price and the rating ( how many stars)

I would appreciate if anybody could help.

Thanks

[bobby131313]

Hey, will PT pull used items from Amazon? I bought Comparipress and it won't so it's completely useless for the application I bought it for.

[zaco]

Originally Posted by bobby131313

Hey, will PT pull used items from Amazon? I bought Comparipress and it won't so it's completely useless for the application I bought it for.

I think it does, email the support.. their support is amazing! David stands behind his product and will help you, very nice guy.. I just emailed him yesterday and already got 2 replies!

[dmorison]

Thanks for the comments, zaco!

Bobby,

Price Tapestry "out of the box" is all about datafeeds, and as such there isn't an immediate Amazon solution included as Amazon don't have a generally available product feed.

However, there is an API module for Amazon which can be used to show Amazon results on search results and/or product pages.

Alternatively, taking it a step further, if you're building a very niche site and it would be practical for you to obtain Amazon ASIN numbers (Amazon's product codes) then the API module can be converted to query by ASIN and include the actual live Amazon price in the price comparison table alongside datafeed prices.

[bobby131313]

then the API module can be converted to query by ASIN and include the actual live Amazon price in the price comparison table alongside datafeed prices

That's what I need, but will it pull used items? I need to do coin collecting books and a lot of the good ones are out of print and are only available used.

[dmorison]

Hi Bobby,

It can also be done by ISBN. Bear in mind that you will require a datafeed source as the script isn't designed to work with APIs "standalone" but if you are working with merchants who provide an ISBN number in their feeds then you can easily add that as a new field to your site (so that you can register and import the ISBN field) and that can be used on product pages to query Amazon by ISBN which definitely includes Marketplace results.

[bobby131313]

But will it pull used items? Almost seems you are avoiding the question.

[dmorison]

Sorry Bobby I didn't clarify what I meant by Marketplace results - the answer is yes - an API lookup by ISBN does include used items.

[bobby131313]

Sorry if I sound skeptical, but Comparipress wasn't supposed to be an issue pulling them either but it doesn't, and the creator doesn't seem interested in fixing it. That was a $70 lesson learned, I have no interest in learning a $300+ lesson.

[superCool]

Hi Bobby, superCool has PT on a couple sites but does not use the amazon feature very much. you will need a product list to use as your queries into amazon. if you have that, then it is pretty easy to call the amazon api and get results. if you would like to pm a few search strings to superCool he will send them through the API and send you the results.

Updated to add - the amazon api doesn't look that complicated, so you might be able to figure it out yourself using examples from the internet. Or hire someone to do it for you. The PT script does a lot more and if you don't need the rest then it would be overkill.

[dflsports]

You will not find better support of a script than what David provides. If you spend the time working with PT, it's well worth the investment.

[Mitty]

Hey guys. I have a question...
How do you plan on fighting a duplicate content thats being pumped out by the script?
Also it will be extremely hard to SEO somethign like million pages unless they are all around a very narrow niche.
I wonder to hear how many of the million pages and for how long you can get to stick in G00gle without any backlinks and only White Hat ?