Secret Sales: marketplace guide
About this guide
This is a ChannelEngine guide on the London, UK-based marketplace Secret Sales. Here you can find information on how to request a Secret Sales account, how to configure this marketplace on ChannelEngine, and what the specific requirements are.
Table of contents
Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions
Commercial information
| Founded | 9 March 2020 |
| Founders | Chris Griffin, Matt Purt |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Area served (orders) | Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom (except for Northern Ireland and Channel Islands) |
| Number of monthly visits | circa 2 million (2021) |
| Website | Secret Sales, Dress for Less, Dreivip |
| Setup cost | none |
| Commission | to be discussed with Secret Sales' sales representative |
| Other costs | none |
| Payment | monthly |
| Product categories | fashion, cooking, furniture/interior design, healthcare, cosmetics, shoes/bags/luggage, sports equipment, vintage clothing |
| Input language | English |
| Input currency | EUR, GBP |
| Content creation | yes |
| Minimum number of SKUs | 48, unless agreed otherwise |
| Advertisement options | yes |
| Profile on ChannelEngine | Secret Sales, Dress for Less, Dreivip |
How to request an account
Secret Sales is not an open marketplace; therefore, it is only possible to receive an account following the conclusion of the contracting process.
The contractual terms, including broad commercial terms around discount and product volumes, must be agreed upon before the integration process can begin.
Associated costs
Secret Sales does not charge setup or monthly fees, but it does charge a commission fee, which must be negotiated with its sales representative.
Marketplace features
| Supported | Not supported |
|---|---|
| Product offers | Marketplace fulfillment service |
| Product content | Pick-up point delivery |
| Cancelations (merchant) | Repricing |
| Cancelations (marketplace) | HTML formatting |
| Shipments | Sales channels |
| Carrier mapping | |
| Multiple stock locations | |
| Bundles | |
| Invoice uploads | |
| Settlements |
Settings and configuration
Setting up each channel on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, though not every channel 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.
- Fill in the Stock settings.
- Finish the Activation.
- Check the Listed products overview.
Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions
Setup
On Mirakl
Secret Sales is a Mirakl-based marketplace, 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.
On ChannelEngine
Invoice uploads
To configure your invoice settings, go to Advanced settings. Then, select one option from the dropdown menu in the Enable invoice uploading field, which contains the following options:
- ChannelEngine invoices - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, ChannelEngine automatically generates an invoice and attaches it to the shipment before exporting the shipment.
- Merchant invoices (optional) - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, ChannelEngine exports the shipment – even if there is no invoice attached to it.
- Merchant invoices (required) - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, ChannelEngine only exports the shipment if an invoice is attached to it. If not, you receive a notification.
- None - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, ChannelEngine 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: upload merchant invoices.
Country-specific plugins
ChannelEngine offers four plugins to support the Secret Sales group of marketplaces:
- Secret Sales BE - used to manage sales on the German marketplace Dress for Less.
- Secret Sales ES - used to manage sales on the Spanish marketplace Dreivip.
- Secret Sales NL - used for the Secret Sales Netherlands marketplace.
- Secret Sales UK - used for the Secret Sales UK marketplace.
Dress for Less (DE)
Dress for Less is the German marketplace of Secret Sales. Set up the Secret Sales Belgium (BE) plugin on ChannelEngine to export content and offers to Dress for Less (DE). All product content and offers in the Secret Sales BE plugin will be listed on the Dress for Less (DE) website.
Dreivip (ES)
Dreivip is the Spanish marketplace of Secret Sales. Set up the Secret Sales Spain (ES) plugin on ChannelEngine to export content and offers to Dreivip (ES). All product content and offers in the Secret Sales ES plugin will be listed on the Dreivip (ES) website.
Categorization
Categorization is mandatory if you want to create or update existing product information on Secret Sales. 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).
Mappings
Content
All products (required)
- Brand - the product's brand or manufacturer. Must be selected from Secret Sales' list of available brands. If your brand does not appear on the list or if its design and/or spelling are incorrect, please contact Secret Sales.
-
Introduction/Detailed description - en_GB - the product's main description field, written in English and containing as much information about the product as possible.
- There is no support for HTML formatting.
- The maximum number of characters is 2,000.
- Main image - the product's main image. The RFC 3986 standard applies to the URL itself, i.e.: URLs must start with either http:// or https://. The image formats supported are GIF, PNG, JPG, and JPEG.
- Product name - en_GB - the product's title, it can be unique or generic. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: Black Leather Backpack. Note that the size of the product cannot be a part of the product name.
- Shop SKU - the product's unique internal ID, usually the Merchant product number. The maximum number of characters is 60. E.g.: ABC123
- Variant group code - also referred to as the Parent SKU, which groups together sizes of a color style. Within Secret Sales, a product style's colors are listed on the product listing page (PLP) – not as options within a product description page (PDP). Therefore, the color is the parent SKU. The unique identifier of the group (aka parent) is based on the primary color. It should be the GroupNo/parent SKU, but not the grandparent SKU. If the product is a standalone, use the Merchant product number via an advanced rule.
The following required attribute is common to all Mirakl-based marketplaces:
-
Export strategy - choose a strategy for exporting product data. You can select from the following export strategies:
- Yes - export all product content to the marketplace, including the EAN (GTIN), category, and other mapped attributes. This option is ideal if you manage both product content and offers through ChannelEngine for the marketplace. Before you set this option, ensure that you map all required attributes.
-
No - do not export product content to the marketplace. Choose this option to keep the product content excluded from exports and only export the offers. This option is ideal if you do not want to export the product content yet, or you want to export only the product offers because the product content already exists on the marketplace.
NB: the default export strategy is Yes, even if the Export strategy attribute is left unmapped.
All products (optional)
- EAN - the product's 13-digit EAN or another GTIN, validated by both ChannelEngine and Secret Sales. If you have a 12-digit EAN, add a zero to it.
- Condition - the state of the product. The options are vintage (i.e.: used) and new.
- Event - the product's season, selected from Secret Sales' list. Common values such as spring and summer are available, as well as back to school, Christmas, etc.
-
Image 2-6 - the product's additional images. The RFC 3986 standard applies to the URL itself, i.e.: URLs must start with either http:// or https://. The minimum number recommended per product is four, and the following also apply:
- Only JPG (but not JPEG) and PNG files are supported.
- Special characters are not supported (except for underscores).
- Uppercase characters are supported for the main filename, but not for the extension. E.g.: FILENAME.jpg is okay, but FILENAME.JPG is not.
- A combination of numbers and text is supported.
- Images provided cannot be hosted with Dropbox, as they have an invisible login wall that prevents Secret Sales from scraping the URLs.
- In terms of the order of the images, the preference is for a model shot to always be the product' Main image.
- Measurements - en_GB - a free text field where you can input information relating to the measurements of the product. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: 100 cm x 120 cm x 20 cm.
Category-specific
- Composition (fabric-en_GB) - a free text field where you can input information relating to the fabric composition of a product. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: 100% cotton; 60% viscose, 40% polyester.
- Color (color) - the product's color, selected from a predefined list of values. Secret Sales' palette cannot be extended beyond these colors, therefore you either need to map your colors to theirs or use their palette.
-
Size (size) - mandatory even if a product only has a single standard size, such as a handbag.
- For clothing and footwear, correct sizes should be chosen.
- For all other products where there is only a single standard size, the value 'One size' should be chosen.
Offer
Required
The only mandatory offer mapping is Price. This is your desired sale price, after (re)price rules are applied.
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.
If pricing v2 is activated in your environment, you will see the following offer attributes, which are common to all Mirakl-based marketplaces:
- Allow promotion below min price - set it to ‘true’ to allow the promotion price to drop below your product's minimum price. To learn more, check out the article ChannelEngine: promotions.
- Strike price - the regular selling price. Use it in combination with the Price attribute to set up a discount/strikethrough pricing. To learn more, check out the 'Working with discounts' section of this article.
- Additionally, the Fee groups attribute appears in Mappings, Fee group mappings, if pricing v2 is activated. Map the marketplace fee group ID of the product there.
The following offer attributes are also common to all Mirakl-based marketplaces:
- Discount start date - the date from which the product's sale price is valid, if applicable. Input the date as a fixed value. The date format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ZZ. All dates follow American month-day formatting, and all times follow 24-hour formatting in the UTC timezone. E.g.: 2026-10-25 15:30:00 +01 will start your discount on 25 October 2026 at 3:30 PM, one hour ahead of UTC time.
- Discount end date - the date until which the product's sale price is valid, if applicable. Input the date as a fixed value. The date format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ZZ. All dates follow American month-day formatting, and all times follow 24-hour formatting in the UTC timezone. E.g.: 2026-10-30 23:59:59 +01 will end your discount on 30 October 2026 at 11:59 PM and 59 seconds, one hour ahead of UTC time.
- Discount price - the product's sale price, if applicable. This attribute must have a lower value than the Price attribute. This attribute only applies if you use pricing v1.
- Discount quantity threshold - the minimum quantity required for the discount rate to be available.
- 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 the shipping class using the marketplace’s codes and not with the labels that are visible in the partner portal's user interface. These codes vary per marketplace. If this marketplace makes use of logistic class codes, they can be found below.
Logistic class codes
| Code | Label | Description |
std_item |
Standard items | Max weight 15Kg, max girth 1.2m (length + width + height) |
lrg_item |
Large items | Over 15kg-30kg, max girth over 1.2m (length + width + height) |
post |
Small items | By post (letter or very small parcels that fit inside a standard letterbox) |
Carrier
Carrier mapping is not required on Secret Sales. However, you can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by Secret Sales. 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 Secret Sales.
Pricing
Secret Sales requires the prices to be submitted in GBP. If you do not have pricing attributes in GBP, you need to set a currency conversion.
Working with discounts
Pricing v1
- To set up a discount, 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.
- To set a bulk discount, the Discount quantity threshold must be set to a value higher than 1. For example, a value of 2 indicates that the buyer must purchase two or more products at the same time to benefit from the discount.
Pricing v2
- To set up a discount, in the Offer mappings step, map the Strike price attribute to your regular price. Then, map the Discount start date and Discount end date attributes to indicate the start and end dates of your discount.
- If you do not want to set a bulk discount, leave the Discount quantity threshold attribute unmapped. To learn how to set up a bulk discount, check out Bulk discounts.
- In the Pricing step, go to Price rules. Map the Price attribute to the discounted price. Both Min. price and Base price fields must be mapped. Note that ChannelEngine exports the higher of the two values – typically the Base price. To learn more, check out ChannelEngine: price rules v2.
- The Price and Strike price attributes cannot be mapped with the same value. ChannelEngine only sets a discount if the value in Price (Base price) is lower than the value in Strike price.
- If set up correctly, your product displays a discount label and a strikethrough price on the channel.
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. Use the Channel status filter or the Validation and feedback tab to view all known errors for specific products.
If you see either of the below statuses, refer to the article ChannelEngine: why is my product listed as 'Product not found' in the inventory report?:
- Product not found in inventory report
- Product not in offer file
Products that ChannelEngine has failed to export are shown as Invalid, e.g.: products with an empty GTIN or that do not yet exist on the marketplace.
Alternatively, download the error report generated by Mirakl. To do so:
- Log onto the Mirakl platform and go to Catalog, Product imports.
- Identify the latest report and click the See details button.
- 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 on the Mirakl platform?
No. Mapping attributes on the Mirakl marketplace platform interferes with ChannelEngine's content export. Therefore, it is recommended to categorize and map content only on ChannelEngine.
Why am I not receiving feedback on my content and/or offer exports?
Chances are that you are receiving the feedback. However, different types of error reports 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 the conventional reports have been fully processed by ChannelEngine. If there are no errors to report, no new reports are generated.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.