BestSecret: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Aschheim-based marketplace BestSecret. Here you can find information on how to request a BestSecret account, how to configure this channel 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
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Listed products

FAQs

 

 

Commercial information

Founded	2007
Founder	Benno Borenstein, Herman Schustermann
Headquarters	Aschheim, Germany
Area served (orders)	Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
Revenue	circa EUR 1,051 million
Number of monthly visits	7.6M
Website	BestSecret
Setup cost	none
Commission	varies by contract
Other costs	none
Payment	monthly
Product categories	fashion, apparel, accessories
Input language	Dutch, English, French, German, Polish, Swedish
Input currency	EUR
Content creation	yes
Minimum number of SKUs	depends on the merchant
Advertisement options	no
Profile on ChannelEngine	BestSecret

 

How to request an account

To start selling on BestSecret, you must contact BestSecret's Business team to request an account and meet their requirements. When approved, BestSecret provides you with the technical and content requirements.

 

Associated costs

BestSecret does not charge set up or monthly costs, however, it does charge a commission fee that varies by agreement/contract.

 

Marketplace features

Supported	Not supported
Product content	Automatic relationships
Product offers	Refurbished products
Orders	Repricing
Shipments	Cancelations (marketplace)
Cancelations (merchant)	Returns (marketplace)
Returns (merchant)	Multiple stock locations
Carrier mapping	Marketplace fulfillment service
Product variations (size/color)	HTML formatting
Custom refund reasons
Bundles
Sales channels*

* 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.

 

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

BestSecret is a Mirakl-based marketplace, so you can connect it with ChannelEngine using a Mirakl Connect SSO account. For more information on this, check out the Mirakl-based channels: SSO authorization article.

 

Invoice uploads

To configure your invoice settings, click Advanced settings. You can then click the dropdown menu Enable invoice uploading, which contains the following options:

• ChannelEngine invoices - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it automatically generates an invoice and attaches it to the shipment before exporting it.
• Merchant invoices (optional) - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it exports it – even if there is no invoice attached to it.
• Merchant invoices (required) - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it only exports it if an invoice is attached to it. If not, you receive a notification.
• None - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it takes no action other than notifying you that no invoice is present.

If you select one of the Merchant invoices options, make sure to upload the invoice to ChannelEngine via the Merchant API or via the web interface. To learn more, check out the article ChannelEngine: merchant invoices.

Mappings

Content

Image requirements

Although images are marked as optional, you must provide at least two images of the front and back of the product, either ghost or worn by a model. However, how images are mapped can differ by category. For more information, see the BestSecret imagery guidelines.

The following image requirements also apply:  

• • Aspect ratio - 0.82. If your images have a different ratio, such as 0.7 or 1, BestSecret crops them. Make sure there is adequate space around the image edges to avoid cutting off the product.
  • Background - white (RGB color values: 255, 255, 255) or gray (RGB color values: 241, 241, 241). For gray, some variation is allowed. However, make sure that the RGB color values are in the range: 233, 233, 233 - 249, 249, 249. 
  • File format - JPG.
  • File name format - [SKU]_[detail]_[image number]. E.g.: 2000061035483_detail_1.jpg
  • File size - 15 MB at most.
  • Resolution - 970x1182 px.
  • No items in the background, such as plants, chairs, or other.

All products (required)

• Color - the product's main color. Map the color to one of the colors listed.
• Designer - the name of the product's designer. 
• Gender - the product's target gender.
• Model - the product's model name.
• Season - the product's season name.
• Shop categories - map the product's category to the appropriate BestSecret web shop category.
• Variant group ID - the code grouping product variants. 
• Vendor product number - the manufacturer's identifier for the product.

All products (optional)

• Additional image 1-2 - the product's additional images. For more information, see Image requirements.

• Cropped model image front/back - the cropped front or back image of the product worn by a model. This is the first image displayed on the product listing page (PLP) on Best Secret. For more information, see Image requirements.
• Customs tariff number (CH, EU) - the product's European customs tariff number Swiss customs tariff number, if applicable.
• Detail image -the image of a specific detail or feature of the product. For more information, see Image requirements.
• Full model image front/back - the full image of the front or back of the product worn by a model. This is the hover image on the product listing page on BestSecret. For more information, see Image requirements.
• Ghost image front/back - the image of the front or back of the product (hollow). For more information, see Image requirements.
• Manufacturer's description (Dutch, English, French, German, Polish, Swedish) - the product's description in English or one of the six supported languages. HTML formatting or bullet points are not supported. 
• Material composition 1-5 - the material or composition of the product selected from a list. You can map up to five materials for each part of the product, such as the filling, lining, other, and outer materials of the product. The attributes to map depend on the category of product. E.g.: Outer materials of the product is required for shoes.
• Material composition value 1-5 - the proportion of each material that you specified for each part of the product as a percentage. E.g.: if the product's lining consists of 80% cotton and 20% polyester:
  • Material 1 for the lining material composition of the product is cotton and Material value 1 for the lining material composition of the product is 80.
  • Material 2 for the lining material composition of the product is polyester, and Material value 2 for the lining material composition of the product is 20.
• Multipack - this attribute is not currently in use, so it can be ignored. 
• Net weight gram - the product's weight in grams.
• Outer materials of the product - this attribute is required for shoes.
• Region of origin - the country where the product was made.
• Secondary color - the product's secondary color.
• Sustainability - indicates if the product is sustainable or not.
• Vendor color - the product's color assigned by the manufacturer. 
• Vendor size - the product's size assigned by the manufacturer.
• Vendor size run - the product's size run assigned the manufacturer.

Offer

Required

• GTIN - the product's unique identifier or GTIN.
• Price - the product's selling price.

Optional

The following offer attributes are common to some Mirakl-based marketplaces:

• ECO #1-5 amount - the amount due for the eco-contribution related to the product. E.g.: 2.50.
• ECO #1-5 EPR category code - the extended producer responsibility (EPR) code that applies to the product. For a list of category codes, check out the article Providing data to comply with circular economy regulations in Mirakl's help center (note that you need to be logged in to Mirakl to access this page). E.g.: DE-WEEE, FR-DEA, etc. 
• ECO #1-5 producer ID - your producer ID, received upon registering with a packaging register, such as Germany's LUCID. The maximum number of characters is 255.

The following offer attributes are common to all Mirakl-based marketplaces:

• Discount 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 ZZ. E.g.: 2022-12-31 23:59:59 +00.
• Discount price - the product's sale price, if applicable. This attribute must have a lower value than the Price attribute.
• Discount quantity threshold - the minimum quantity required for the discount rate to be available.
• Discount 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 ZZ. E.g.: 2022-12-31 23:59:59 +00.
• Leadtime to shipment - the number of days before you ship the product. By default, this is set to two. You can create your own unique rules, if applicable. For more information on this, check out the article Lead time to ship in Mirakl's help center.
• Minimum quantity alert - map this attribute to receive a notification from Mirakl if your stock drops below the threshold defined.
• Offer state - the product's condition. Find your option from the dropdown menu by selecting the fixed value to apply to all.
• Product tax code - the taxation code applicable to the product.
• Logistic class - your optional shipping class. Make sure to map it using the marketplace’s codes, not the labels visible in the front-end. These codes vary per marketplace. If this marketplace makes use of logistic class codes, they can be found below.

Code	Label	Description
free_shipping	free shipping	none

Working with discounts

• To set up a discount, you must map the Discount price, Discount start date, and Discount end date attributes. If you want to set a permanent discount, map the Discount end date attribute with a date in the far future instead of leaving it unmapped. Otherwise, the offer is not exported, and errors are shown on the Validation and feedback tab.
• The discounted price is only exported if it is lower than the base price.
• If you do not want to set a bulk discount, leave the Discount quantity threshold attribute unmapped – otherwise, the export is broken.
• To set a bulk discount, the Discount quantity threshold must be set to a value higher than 1. E.g.: a value of 2 indicates that two or more of the product must be purchased at the same time for the buyer to benefit from the discount.

Carrier

Carrier mapping is not required on BestSecret, but is highly recommended. You can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by BestSecret. This allows for working tracking codes in the back-end, as well as for the buyer. 

Note that if you select Unknown as the carrier, you still need to provide a working tracking code. For more information, see ChannelEngine: carrier mappings.

Pricing

Listed products

If you have problems with products not appearing on Mirakl-based marketplaces – especially if you are trying to create products –, check the Listed products page for more information.

You can either use the Channel status filter (e.g.: products that ChannelEngine has failed to exported, such as those with an empty GTIN or that do not exist on the marketplace yet, are shown as Invalid) or the Validation and feedback tab to see all known errors for specific products.

Alternatively, you can access the marketplace's back-end and download the error report generated by Mirakl. To do so:

1. Log in to the Mirakl back-end and go to Catalog, Product imports.
2. Identify the latest report and click the See details button by it.
3. Download the CSV file Non-integrated products report.

 

FAQs

How often does each task run on Mirakl-based marketplaces?

By default, Mirakl-based marketplaces follow the schedule below:

Task	Frequency
Export product data to marketplace	every 60 minutes
Export product offers to marketplace	every 15 minutes
Import product offers from marketplace	every 15 minutes
Import orders from marketplace	every 15 minutes
Export order shipments to marketplace	every 15 minutes
Export returns to marketplace	every 30 minutes

Can I map attributes on ChannelEngine and in the Mirakl back-end?

No. Mapping attributes in the Mirakl marketplace back-end interferes with ChannelEngine's content export. Therefore, it is recommended to stick to categorizing and mapping content only on ChannelEngine.

Why am I not receiving feedback on my content and/or offer exports?

Chances are you are receiving the feedback. However, different types of error report can take a couple of hours or several days to be generated:

• Offer feedback
  • Error reports are mostly generated automatically, and are imported quickly.
• Content feedback
  • Transformation error report - this is automatically generated, and usually imported within a maximum of one day.
  • Conventional error report - this requires a manual review by the Mirakl-based marketplace, and not all do so. It can take several days for this report to be imported.

Note that the previous feedback report is not removed from ChannelEngine until both the latest transformation and conventional reports have been fully processed by ChannelEngine – or no new reports have been generated because there are no errors to report.