Introduction

In this article, we'll go over the publishing tab options and configurations available under the inventory feed settings.

Include or exclude items based on tag

Each item you import into Onport counts for your thresholds, because even if you do not connect those items, our system will still look for updates on them with each automatic fetch. This setting allows you to define which items you want to import to or exclude from the inventory feed using tags that were previously set in the vendor's store. 

🔎 Read this article to understand how tagging works.

Convert tags to metafields

🔎 Take a look at this article which explains this particular setting. 

Default vendor name & override vendor name

It's used if the system detects any item in the feed without the brand/vendor name. You can override the vendor name of the items with the one you set up as the default vendor name:

Furthermore, you can also add the vendor name before the product title and URL handle using this setting:

Handles 

The handles are responsible for grouping variants of the same product.

Typically, the handle is the product name separated by dashes. For example, if the product name is "Extreme Blue Shirt", the handle will be extreme-blue-shirt.

🔎 See this article for more information on how products are created using the handles and related settings. 

Sync vendor name in metafields

Onport overrides the vendor name in the inventory feed with the name of the dropship provider. However, if you want to retain the vendor name in the inventory feed instead, you can sync this as metadata with your store. 

Automatically connect by SKU & Automatically connect by barcode

You can choose to enable this in case you have matching SKUs previously created in your store. By enabling "automatically connect by SKU" in the inventory feed, you don't need to publish such items as they will connect to the ones you have in your store or even in a different inventory feed. For this to take effect, you just need to fetch the feed. It's worth taking a look at the available options to ensure the setting does what you're expecting it to:

If you use barcodes, the same logic above applies.

SKU field

In some scenarios, vendors may not use the expected field for storing the SKU. This allows you to pull the SKU using regular information from the product name or description. Or, if the vendor stores the SKU in one of the option values. If no SKU is found using these advanced options, it will go back to the default value.

Prefix SKUs

At times, you may face situations where two or more of your vendors share the same SKUs. When this happens, if you want to distinguish them, you can prefix the SKUs. For example: VDR-SHIRT23456BLK

Automatically connect prefix

It’s used to make SKUs unique in the case of duplicate SKUs. It's complementary to the Prefix SKUs setting and it will ensure the system looks up the prefix before connecting. 

Automatically remove missing or deleted products

If a product can no longer be found from the last time the feed was fetched, Onport will automatically remove it and set the inventory to 0 in the store for that item. This will only happen if the item is not connected or has historical data associated with it.

Require barcode

By enabling this, you'll ensure you only import items if they have a barcode. Everything else will be left out and won't appear on the feed.

New products email notification

It will send an email notification to the account's default email to inform you that new items are available in the feed. Keep in mind that it won't specify which ones, but you can always filter by "most recent":

Sync weight

You can select the unit to ensure the weight is correctly synced with Onport and your store. If you are using our live carrier rates feature, you should ensure the vendor has added weight information:

Strip HTML tags

We support markdown and HTML code in the description of the products, so sometimes the description could contain HTML tags - this setting strips them out before publishing. The use case could be if the channel doesn’t support HTML code or markdown.

Transform images

When configuring an inventory feed, Onport makes it possible to set up an image transformation pipeline. This can be carried out by going to Inventory > Inventory Feeds > (choose feed) > Publishing:

The path can be pointed to an image transformation platform such as Cloudinary, according to the respective documentation.

The {encoded} variable will be replaced with the inventory feed variant's image.

For instance, the following URL will centrally scale the image with a 100px width:

https://res.cloudinary.com/cloud_account_name/image/fetch/c_scale,w_100/{encoded} 

Alternatively, the URL could point to a script or cloud function developed by the marketplace

https://www.domain.com/scripts/watermark_images/{encoded}

Import tags

By default, Onport will import your vendor's tags. However, when you enable this setting you have other tag-related options, for instance, you can dynamically add other tags to the items upon publishing:

Webhooks and pipelines

Parse Webhook (Variant Transformation)
Onport's Parse Webhook feature offers the flexibility to perform advanced transformations on product variants when they are published from an inventory feed to a sales channel. While basic transformations like adding or removing tags can be managed directly within the Onport app, more complex tasks such as content translation and detailed description formatting may be needed.

This feature allows Onport to send variant data to a remote endpoint for comprehensive processing, ensuring that product information is tailored precisely to the business needs before it reaches the sales channels. By leveraging this webhook, marketplaces can ensure their product data is consistent, accurate, and optimized for their specific marketplace requirements.

Review / Approve Webhook
The Review and Approve Webhooks in Onport offer a method for marketplaces to manage the quality and compliance of their variant catalog content.
When a marketplace reviews variant details such as titles and descriptions to ensure they meet the required standards, these webhooks can automate the approval or rejection notification process.

The Rejected Webhook allows you to set up a URL endpoint that receives a request whenever a variant is marked as "rejected." This ensures that vendors are promptly informed—whether via email or an external system—about any issues, allowing them to make necessary corrections swiftly.

Conversely, the Approved Webhook sends a request to a specified endpoint when a variant is approved, facilitating the subsequent publishing of the item to the marketplace.
By integrating these webhooks, marketplaces can maintain high-quality standards and ensure that vendors are kept in the loop in real time.

🔎If you want more information on how product publishing works within Onport, please read this article.