This article is also available in:

Catalog Import: General Principles

This article explains how to set up automated catalog ingestion into Pricer24, the supported data transfer protocols, and how the platform updates your product data.

Purpose of the Catalog Feed

A catalog feed is a structured file containing your current products, category taxonomy, prices, stock availability, and attributes.
Based on this feed, Pricer24 builds and continuously updates your catalog inside the platform (specifically in the "Products" module).

All analytical reports, competitor price matchings, and automated dynamic repricing rules rely on the data provided in this feed.

Data Transfer Protocols and Supported Formats

You provide a direct URL to your feed file, and the Pricer24 server regularly downloads it on an agreed schedule (e.g., several times a day or nightly).

Supported Protocols:

HTTPS / HTTP (recommended)
HTTPS + Basic Authentication (credentials in the request)
HTTPS with IP Whitelisting (restricting access to Pricer24 server IP addresses)
FTP / SFTP

Supported Formats:

JSON — Our primary and recommended format. For detailed requirements, see JSON Catalog Feed Specification
Hotline XML — Standard price-list format used by Hotline
YML (Prom.ua / Rozetka XML) — Standard eCommerce marketplace feeds
CSV / Excel — Suitable for smaller catalogs or legacy ERP systems

If you already have an existing product feed generated for your eCommerce store or an external marketplace, share its URL with your account manager or technical support. In most cases, we can adapt and connect your existing feed without requiring extra development on your side.

Data Synchronization Principles

Full Catalog Snapshot: Every feed file must contain a complete and up-to-date snapshot of your catalog at the time of generation.
Automated Diffing: When downloading a new feed, Pricer24 automatically compares it against your existing data and updates only modified parameters (prices, stock, newly added attributes).
Compression: For catalogs containing more than 10,000 products, we strongly recommend using gzip compression (serving the file as .json.gz or with the HTTP header Content-Encoding: gzip). There is no file size limit.
Freshness & Archiving: Only products present in the latest downloaded feed are considered active. Any items omitted from the feed will automatically be archived.

The Strict ID Immutability Rule

Every product, category, and price type must have a unique identifier: id. This is the master primary key used by Pricer24 to identify the entity.

The id must remain strictly unchanged throughout your entire engagement with Pricer24.

How Pricer24 Handles Different Cases:

Updating an Existing Product:

When an id already exists in Pricer24, the system updates its name, prices, stock, URLs, or custom attributes. All previous manual and automated matchings with competitor products remain fully preserved.
For example:
id = 100 | Purina Pro Adult turkey 85g → id = 100 | Purina Pro Adult Cat Turkey 85g pouch
(Product details update smoothly; competitor links remain intact).

Adding a New Product:

When a new id is detected, Pricer24 creates a new product record in the catalog, ready for matching.

Changing an Existing Product's ID:

If an existing product receives a new id (e.g., changing from id = 122 to id = 133 for the same iPhone), Pricer24 treats the old ID as discontinued and the new ID as a completely unrelated new product.

This results in:

Complete loss of all historical matchings with competitor offers.
Duplicate product entries in your account.
The need for manual rematching, leading to unnecessary delays and avoidable service costs.

Next Steps

Review the exact field schema and types in the JSON Catalog Feed Specification
If you also plan to export competitor intelligence back into your systems, read the Integration Overview

Updated on: 04/11/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!