OnBuy: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Bournemouth-based marketplace OnBuy. Here you can find information on how to request an OnBuy account, how to configure this marketplace on ChannelEngine, what the specific requirements are, and more.

Table of contents

Commercial information

How to request an account

Associated costs

Marketplace features

Settings and configuration

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

• Setup
• Categorization
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Listed products

Additional information

FAQs

Commercial information

Founded	7 November 2016
Founder	Cas Paton
Headquarters	Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Area served (orders)	United Kingdom
Revenue	circa GBP 12 million (2021)
Website	OnBuy
Setup cost	none
Commission	depends on the product category
Other costs	GBP 19.00/month (standard), GBP 39.00/month (partner)
Payment	7 days after delivery
Product categories	auto/motorcycle parts, accessories, bags, books, cameras, cooking, cosmetics, DIY, electronics, fashion, films, food, furniture/interior design, games/toys, gardening, healthcare/beauty, household appliances, jewelry/watches, kids/babies, luggage, music/musical instruments, office supplies, pets, shoes, sports equipment, telecommunications equipment, video games
Input language	English
Input currency	GBP
Content creation	yes
Minimum number of SKUs	none
Advertisement options	yes
Profile on ChannelEngine	OnBuy

How to request an account

To start selling on OnBuy, register on their website.

The following requirements apply:

• A proven sales record to demonstrate your online sales experience.
• GTINs for your products, except for products which are not typically barcoded.
• A UK bank account, as well as a WorldFirst or Payoneer account.
• Business registration information.
• A UK VAT registration.
• A UK-based returns address.

Associated costs

OnBuy charges a monthly fee of GBP 19 (standard) or GBP 39 (partners), as well as a commission of 7-15%, depending on the product category.

Marketplace features

Supported	Not supported
Product offers	Returns (marketplace)
Product content	Marketplace fulfillment services
Orders	Multiple stock locations
Cancelations (marketplace)	Split orders
Cancelations (merchant)	Repricing
Shipments	Sales channels*
Returns (merchant)
Refurbished products
HTML formatting (basic)
Product variations**

* A marketplace that supports sales channels allows merchants to list and sell products across multiple markets (e.g.: countries, regions, and states), all from the same connection.

** OnBuy supports parent-child relationships. To create product variants (i.e.: size or color), provide values for the feature attributes marked with (f).

Settings and configuration

Setting up each marketplace on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, though not every marketplace includes the steps listed below.

1. Go through the Setup.
2. Create a Product selection.
3. Complete the Categorization.
4. Set up the Mappings: content, offers, and carriers.
5. Configure the Pricing: rules and currency conversion.
6. Finish the Activation.
7. Check the Listed products overview.

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

Setup

On ChannelEngine

OnBuy requires two credentials for the connection between it and ChannelEngine to be established: the Secret key and the Consumer key. You can copy these credentials from the OnBuy Support website.

1. Go to the Setup page of your OnBuy marketplace.
2. Enter your Secret key and Consumer key in the Connection section.
3. Click Save.

Categorization

The categorization on OnBuy is straightforward, and all categories are listed in English.

Mappings

Content

You can only update product content on OnBuy if you created the product. If not, you see one of the following errors "Product belongs to another seller" or "Another seller lists this product".

All products (required)

• Brand - the product's manufacturer or brand. Make sure to spell it exactly as the brand owner spells it. 
• Default image URL - the URL to the product's main image. The following requirements apply:
  • Shape - square.
  • Background - white.
  • Minimum resolution - 500x500 px.
  • Maximum resolution - 1,000x1,000 px.
  • File size - 10 MB at most.
  • No promotional text, watermarks, or placeholder images.
  • File format - JPEG, JPG, PNG, or GIF.
• Product name - the product's name. The maximum number of characters allowed is 150, and the recommended length is 70 characters.
• SKU - the product's stock keeping unit (SKU), which corresponds to the Merchant product number on ChannelEngine. The attribute cannot be changed, as it connects the product content with the product offer.

All products (optional)

• Description - the product's main description. Basic HTML is supported. The following requirements apply:
  • Maximum character length - 50,000.
  • Neutral and impartial tone.
  • No warranty or shipping information.
• Document 1-3 - the link to the product's documentation (e.g.: user manual, safety information, technical specifications, warranty). The accepted file formats are DOC, DOCX, HTML, PDF, TXT, XLS, XLSX, and CSV.
• EAN - the product's 12 or 13-digit unique identifier (e.g.: EAN or UPC).
• Image URL 1-10 - the URL to the product's additional image. The following requirements apply:
  • Minimum resolution - 500x500 px.
  • Maximum resolution - 1,000x1,000 px.
  • File size - 10 MB at most.
  • No promotional text, watermarks, or placeholder images.
  • File format - JPEG, JPG, PNG, or GIF.
• MPN - the product's manufacturer part number (MPN).
• Published - set this attribute to 0 to remove the product from the product listing.
• RRP - the product's recommended retail price in GBP.
• Summary point - the product's unique selling points, displayed as bullet points on the product's page. The following requirements apply:
  • Maximum character length - 500.
  • Neutral and impartial tone.
  • No warranty or shipping information.
  • Format - separated by a vertical bar. E.g.: '12 MP camera | 256 GB internal storage | Available in red and white'
• Video URL 1-3 - the URL to the product's video.

Category-specific attributes

There are attributes that only apply to certain categories on OnBuy – feature and technical attributes. Feature attributes (i.e.: color, size) are indicated by (f) and are used to create product variants. E.g.: a T-shirt available in three colors. Technical attributes (e.g.: height, length) are indicated by (t) and require a unit of measurement.

Offer

All products (required)

• Condition - the product's condition. If the product does not work as new, set the value to Used.
• Price - the desired price for the product in GBP. Provide only a numeric value, without currency symbols. The decimal separator should be a period.

All products (optional)

• Condition notes - additional information about the product's condition. The notes should be separated by a vertical bar (|). Only provide a value for this attribute if your product's Condition is average, good, or new.
• Delivery weight - the product's weight in kilograms. Provide only a numeric value, without the unit of measurement. E.g.: 25, instead of 25 kg.
• Free returns - set it to Yes to offer a free return for this product. Otherwise, set it to No.
• Handling time - the number of working days it takes to process and ship the order. The following requirements apply:
  • Maximum number of days - 10.
  • Should be a whole number.
  • Excludes weekends.
• Sale end date - the date until when the product's sale price is valid, if applicable. The date format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. E.g.: 2023-12-31 23:59:59.
• Sale price - the product's sale price, if applicable. This attribute must have a lower value than the Price attribute. 
• Sale start date - the date from when the product's sale price is valid, if applicable. The date format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. E.g.: 2023-12-31 23:59:59.
  NB: to submit sale prices to OnBuy, provide values for all three related attributes (i.e.: Sale end date, Sale price, Sale start date).
• Warranty - the product's warranty period in months.

Carrier

Carrier mapping is not required on OnBuy.

Pricing

OnBuy requires the prices to be submitted in GBP. If you do not have pricing attributes in GBP, you need to set a currency conversion.

Listed products

If you have problems with products not appearing on OnBuy (especially if you are trying to add products that do not exist yet), check the Listed products page for more information.

You can either filter on Channel status (Invalid for all products that ChannelEngine has not exported, such as products with an empty GTIN or products that currently do not exist on OnBuy) or use the Validation and feedback tab to see all known validation/feedback errors for specific products.

If your listings have been approved by OnBuy but fail to get published, please contact OnBuy's support to facilitate the publishing process.

Additional information

Order extra data items

When an order is imported to ChannelEngine, ChannelEngine also fetches extra data items related to the order itself – or to order lines. This extra data is specific to this marketplace. An explanation of each can be found below: 

Order extra data

Keys	Conditional*	Description
sales_fee_inc_VAT	No	The sales commission charged by OnBuy, including the sales tax (i.e.: VAT).
onbuy_internal_reference	No	The internal order reference on OnBuy.

Order line extra data

* Conditional fields only display if the channel provided a value. 

FAQs

How often does each task run on OnBuy?

OnBuy follows the schedule below:

Task	Frequency
Export product data to channel	every 60 minutes
Export product images to channel	every 60 minutes
Export product offers to channel	every 15 minutes
Import offers from channel	every 15 minutes
Import orders from channel	every 20 minutes
Export shipments to channel	every 60 minutes
Export returns to channel	every 60 minutes

How can I add a new product variant to the existing family on OnBuy?

If you have an existing product family on OnBuy, and would like to add a new product variant to it, this will cause an error on OnBuy. You can either ask OnBuy support to merge the new product with the existing family, or create a new standalone product on ChannelEngine with no connection to the product family.