fonQ: marketplace guide
About this guide
This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Utrecht-based marketplace fonQ. Here you can find information on how to request a fonQ account, how to configure this marketplace on ChannelEngine, what the specific requirements are, and more.
Table of contents
Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions
Commercial information
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founders | Patrick Kerssemakers, Joost Wels |
| Headquarters | Utrecht, the Netherlands |
| Area served (orders) | Belgium, the Netherlands |
| Revenue | EUR 100+ million (2021) |
| Number of monthly visits | circa 3 million |
| Website | fonQ |
| Setup cost | none |
| Commission | 6-16% (depends on the category) |
| Other costs | none |
| Payment | twice a month |
| Product categories | living, cooking and dining, garden and balcony, household |
| Input language | Dutch |
| Input currency | EUR |
| Content creation | yes |
| Minimum number of SKUs | no |
| Advertisement options | yes |
| Profile on ChannelEngine | fonQ |
How to request an account
To start selling on fonQ, you must create an account directly on their Verkopen via fonQ (Sell via fonQ) page (in Dutch). Once your request is processed, a fonQ account manager contacts you to discuss the details.
The following requirements apply:
- You must be registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce.
- You must follow fonQ's partner conditions.
- Your product content must comply with fonQ's content policy.
Associated costs
fonQ does not charge a registration fee, but it does charge a commission of 6-16% on every sale – depending on the category.
Marketplace features
| Supported | Not supported |
| Product offers (EAN matching) |
Repricing |
| Product content | Marketplace fulfillment service |
| Orders | Automatic relationships |
| Shipments | Returns (marketplace) |
| Cancelations (merchant) | Sales channels* |
| Returns/refunds (merchant) | |
| Product variations (sizes/colors) | |
| Carrier mapping | |
| HTML formatting | |
| Multiple stock locations | |
| Bundles |
* 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.
- Go through the Setup.
- Create a Product selection.
- Complete the Categorization.
- Set up the Mappings: content, offers, and carriers.
- Configure the Pricing: rules and currency conversion.
- Finish the Activation.
- Check the Listed products overview.
Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions
Setup
On ChannelEngine
fonQ is a Mirakl-based channel, so you can connect it to ChannelEngine using a Mirakl Connect SSO account. For more information on this, check out the Mirakl-based channels: SSO authorization article.
You can leave the Mirakl shop ID field empty.
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.
Categorization
Categorization is mandatory if you want to create or update existing product information on fonQ. Both categorizations and mappings only result in updates if the content connection is enabled, and the relevant credentials have been entered (see the Setup section).
All categorization and mapping attributes are in Dutch.
Mappings
Content
- Bestelcode (Order code)- your internal variant identifier. Usually your Merchant product number on ChannelEngine. E.g.: ABC123-Yellow-Medium.
- Korte omschrijving (Short description) - a short description of the product. It cannot contain any HTML, and its maximum length is 250 characters.
- Merk (Brand) - the product's brand. If your brand is not listed, make sure to contact fonQ so they can add it.
- Productnaam (Product title) - the name of the product, with a maximum length of 70 characters. Its layout is: [Brand] [Type name] [Product type] [Size/composition/capacity].
- Vrijstaandbeeld (Freestanding image) - the main image of the product. Note that it must have at least 500x500 px (fonQ recommends at least 1,000x1,000 px, with a plain, white background.
fonQ does not have any required product type-specific attributes, however there are many optional fields related to highlights, additional images, size, and color.
Offer
- Price - your desired sales price.
- Delivery promise - the delivery time you stand by.
- EAN code - the 13-digit EAN/GTIN of the product. E.g.: 8717807200000.
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:
- 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 |
| Default logistic class | Default logistic class | Default logistic class - free shipping |
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 fonQ. However, you can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by fonQ. This allows for working track-and-trace links in the back-end, as well as for the buyer. If your default carrier is missing, please contact fonQ.
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:
- Log in to the Mirakl back-end and go to Catalog, Product imports.
- Identify the latest report and click the See details button by it.
- Download the CSV file Non-integrated products report.
FAQs
What does the error "EAN already exists" mean?
Chances are it means fonQ itself has blocked the related product on their side. This is often done to products which do not perform well on the platform.
I do not see any of my offers appear on fonQ. What happened?
Check if you have assigned a value to the Delivery promise attribute, under the Offer mappings. Without it, fonQ does not accept offers.
I do not have any content mappings for fonQ.be. Is this correct?
Yes, that is correct. It is only possible to create and update content via the fonQ.nl plugin, so this is the only one which has the necessary content mappings. On other fonQ channels, such as fonQ.be, offers can only be connected with existing content.
Why can I not map content for fonQ BE?
For fonQ, it is only possible to create content via the main fonQ.nl plugin. Other fonQ channels only allow an offer export connecting to existing content, so these channels will not display a tab for categorization or content mapping.
In short, it is necessary to create content on fonQ.nl and then create offers for that content on your other channels, such as fonQ.be.
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.
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