Zalando: why are my products not exported?

About this article

This article describes some of the most common issues preventing products from being exported to or accepted by Zalando, and how to solve them.

Table of contents

Introduction

Incorrect product relationships

Other common issues

• Internal Server Error: Internal Server Error.
• Field/description value is wrong. Expected: Object, Actual: Undefined.
• Validation failed. Please see product with ID [number].
• Product with the status 'None' on the 'Listed products' page
• According to Zalando, the structure of this product is wrong. Please see children's product messages.
• 'Invalid family structure' error. 'Retry content as standalone' setting

Introduction

Zalando has a long list of content-related requirements that must be met, before products are successfully created and listed on its marketplace. For more on this, check out the Zalando: checklist article.

If the product data does not meet the necessary requirements, it can be blocked by either ChannelEngine or by Zalando. If the product does not pass the ChannelEngine validation, it does not get pushed to Zalando – and it does not become visible on zDirect. If the product data is exported, but rejected by Zalando, Zalando's validation feedback should be visible on both zDirect and on ChannelEngine.

On ChannelEngine, all validation feedback can be found on the Listed products page, on the Validation and feedback tab.

Incorrect product relationships

When it comes to relationships between products, Zalando requires a simples (child) - config (parent) - model (grandparent) structure.

E.g.:

A structure like the one above also applies to products that would normally be considered standalone, such as one-size items like handbags and earrings.

On ChannelEngine

If this structure is not available within ChannelEngine, products are either not exported to Zalando or rejected by it. Therefore, it is mandatory that all products you want to sell on Zalando have a child-parent-grandparent structure on ChannelEngine.

E.g.:

More information on how to set up these parent-child relationships on ChannelEngine can be found in the article ChannelEngine: parent-child relationships.

If the product has no proper child-parent-grandparent structure, the Status visible on the Validation and feedback tab remains stuck on None, and the action under the Export from ChannelEngine column remains on Create.

Other common issues

The feedback provided by Zalando can be difficult to interpret at times. Below you can find more information on common issues:

Internal Server Error: Internal Server Error.

The Zalando server that ChannelEngine exported data to has returned a server error, which prevents ChannelEngine from creating or updating the product. Contact Zalando's support to check why this error was returned.

Field/description value is wrong. Expected: Object, Actual: Undefined.

The product has no description. This can be resolved by adding a description to the product, be it via your product information system or product feed, or by setting an override in the content mappings on ChannelEngine.

Validation failed. Please see product with ID [number].

This type of feedback refers to a different product, normally the affected product's parent or grandparent. To find the product that fails validation, follow these steps:

1. Go to Products, Products and select a product to open its product page.
   
2. Copy the product ID and replace the number (i.e.: the ID) at the end of the product URL on ChannelEngine and press Enter. In the example below, the value you need to replace with the ID copied from the feedback is 3.
   
3. Copy the Merchant product number/SKU of this product.
4. Search for the Merchant product number on the Validation and feedback tab. It should show one or more columns with validation errors in it for this product.

Product with the status 'None' on the 'Listed products' page

If the product cannot be exported to Zalando, and has the status None on the Listed products page, a common reason is another product in the family is failing validation. The logic behind is as follows:

1. The product failing validation receives an error message. E.g.: EAN value missing.
2. The parent and grandparent of the failing product receive the following message: Validation failed. Please see product with ID <number>.
3. The whole product family fails to be exported – all parents and children that are not related to the failing product get the status None, but no validation message.

To solve the issue with the status None of the product, follow these steps:

1. Check the product's grandparent for validation errors. The validation error should contain the ID of the product causing the issue.
2. To locate the product causing the issue, follow the steps in the Validation failed. Please see product with ID [NUMBER] section of this article 
3. Once the issue is solved, the whole product family should be exported properly.

According to Zalando, the structure of this product is wrong. Please see children's product messages.

This error is displayed on the grandparent level of the affected product.

To troubleshoot it, carefully verify if the product data you provided follows Zalando's specifications and if all required attributes are mapped. If everything is correct, contact Zalando. They can inform you of how to restructure the products on the ChannelEngine side to match the products Zalando already has in their database.

'Invalid family structure' error. 'Retry content as standalone' setting

This error shows that there is a mismatch between the family structure being exported to Zalando and the existing family structure on Zalando. To fix this error, you need to correct the family structure on ChannelEngine. E.g.: the child was mistakenly created as blue, and you later corrected it to red.

If you fail to correct the family structure yourself, you can enable the Retry content as standalone setting in the Advanced settings of the Setup page. However, be aware that once it is enabled, ChannelEngine creates a new product family for every parent product as follows:

1. ChannelEngine fetches product families to be exported to Zalando and validates them by checking if the mappings are correct. If one or more products in the family have invalid or incorrectly mapped values, ChannelEngine removes the entire product family from the export.
2. ChannelEngine exports valid product families to Zalando.
   • If there is an Invalid family structure error, ChannelEngine re-exports the product family as standalone.
   • If there is any other error, ChannelEngine adds validation messages and does not re-export the product family.

Let's have a look at the following example. You have a product family with a grandparent product 'T-shirt' and two parent products 'green T-shirt' and 'blue T-shirt'. Both parent products have children that specify the size, such as 'green T-shirt size M', etc. The export of your product family fails with the Invalid family structure error, and you enable the Retry content as standalone setting. In that case, ChannelEngine creates two new product families – both with the grandparent 'T-shirt', but different parent products (i.e.: 'green T-shirt' and 'blue T-shirt') and their respective children. These two families are then re-exported to Zalando.