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Scheduled Maintenance Thursday, January 20th 2011

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Hi Publishers,

In order to improve our image serving abilities, we will be undergoing enterprise maintenance between the hours of 6am GMT - 11am GMT, Thursday January 20th.

Though we will make every effort to minimise any impact to our publishers, we do expect the below:

* Reporting: Thursday, January 20th traffic reporting will be delayed
* Images: Images will be compromised between the hours of 6am GMT - 11am GMT
* FTP Data Feeds: Feed delivery will be delayed due to process interruptions between the hours of 6am GMT and 11am GMT

Three cheers for images!
The Shopzilla Publisher Team

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Posted in Publisher Program Updates | No Comments »

Fancy New Offer Filters for Shopzilla’s API Solution

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Catalogue API: New Fancy Offer Filters

In our ongoing mission to provide you with the same features we ourselves enjoy integrating within our Shopzilla, Inc. properties, we have expanded the filtration options within the Catalogue API Product Service.

* Filter by Price Markdown
Description: Filter offer results based on minimum price markdown.
Example: Display only offers marked down at least 99% from original price. FREE? No.
ON SALE? Yes!
Filter: minMarkdown

* Filter by Free Shipping
Description: Filter offer results based on availability of free shipping.
Example: Display only offers with free shipping. FREE!
Filter: freeShipping

* Filter by Offer Age
Description: Filter offer results based on the notion of “new”.
Example: Display this week’s freshest offers!
Filter: maxAge

* Filter by Image Availability
Description: Filter offer results based on availability of an image.
Example: Hate offers without images on your slick ad unit? Get rid of the pesky things!
Filter: imageOnly

If you are accepted for the API, you will be able to see example result sets returned with these new filters through our Catalogue API Interactive Documentation.  In order to access this documentation, you will need to log in to your Publisher account and click on the “API and Data Feeds” tab. You will then need to log in with your Catalogue API Key & Publisher ID.  Once in there, view the Product Service Resource section.  At the very bottom of this section, you will see a link “[ + ] show test form”.  This will allow you to test out queries, viewing sample XML.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.

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Posted in Info on Publisher Program, Publisher Program Updates | 1 Comment »

Release of Offer Markdown Information for the Catalogue API

Friday, October 1st, 2010

A great extra service has recently been added for our Publishers. We have now added the ability to display offer markdown information within the Catalogue API Product Service.

bizrate-markdown-information

Previously, we offered actual price information tagged as <price> within the <Offer> element. Now we additionally provide the original price and related markdown percentage to allow for display of markdown information for each offer. In the event an offer is not on sale, the response will return a markdown percentage of “0.00″.

Sample XML:

<price integral=”29999“>£299.99</price>

<originalPrice integral=”39999“>£399.99</originalPrice>

<markdownPercent integral=”25.00“</markdownPercent>


The release of these new fields should not impact you unless you have developed a means of auto-generating your XML handling code based on the XML schema document for the Product Service.  If you have done this, you will need to update your schema.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for snappy release notifications!  You will now be able to see an example result set returned with this new value through our Catalogue API Interactive Documentation.  In order to access this documentation, you will need to log in with your Catalogue API Key & Publisher ID.  Once you are in there, view the Product Service Resource section.  At the very bottom of this section, you will see a link “[ + ] show test form”.  This will allow you to test out queries, viewing sample XML.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.

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Posted in Banner Ideas, Info on Publisher Program, Publisher International, Publisher Program Updates | 1 Comment »

Shopzilla’s European Catalogue API Solution Now Available!

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Celebrate the launch of Shopzilla's Catalogue API for the EU Publisher Programs

Celebrate the launch of Shopzilla's Catalogue API for the EU Publisher Programs

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for…the Catalogue API solution for Shopzilla’s UK Publisher Program has now been released! After great success over the last few years in the US,  the API is now available this side of the pond for our UK publishers.

In addition to our FTP Data Feeds, we are now proud to offer the Catalogue API as part of some great affiliate products, all designed to help our Publishers maximise revenues from their websites. If you’re unsure as to what the API means, read on…

What’s great about the API?

  • It enables affiliates to dynamically retrieve product results from the Bizrate catalogue which means no manual updating.
  • You can request shopping content data related to catalogued products and merchant offers, categories, brands and merchants.
  • It’s a query based web service which allows Publishers to filter based on their site’s shopping content needs.

Why choose an API solution?

  • Added user value - your visitors get a great experience by being able to browse and compare a variety of products and offers supplied by a variety of merchants.
  • You have access to Bizrate’s entire shopping inventory - millions of products within reach, accumulating to provide fantastic shopping content.
  • The CPC based model - get paid for every click sent through to our merchants. As well as increasing content and adding depth to your site, you’ll get paid for it!
  • It is a free to use service, no obligation involved.

Want to benefit from this great product and add fantastic shopping content to your site? For more information or to see whether your are eligible, contact the Publisher team.

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Posted in Publisher Program Updates | 1 Comment »

How Many Offers Does it Take? 64-bits Worth!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Hey Publishers,

As our offer inventory continues to grow, so do the unique identifiers we assign to each product and offer.

Users of our Catalogue API and FTP Data Feed should be sure that their processes will be able to handle a 64-bit signed integer datatype as we approach unique identifier 2147483648. This will apply to both our productID (”PID”) and offerID (”OID”) integers.

Why 2147483648?  The number 2,147,483,647 is the maximum value for a 32-bit signed integer. For more on the wonderful world of prime numbers, see what Wikipedia has to say!

Posted in Publisher Program Updates | No Comments »

Shopzilla Unveils New Logo

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

You may have recently noticed that Shopzilla has undergone a brand transformation complete with new look and logo.

sz_publisher_uk_330x110

Some more information about it an be found here in Shopzilla’s press release:

LONDON- Shopzilla, Inc today unveiled its new company logo that represents the new visual identity for the company, in line with its mission of changing retail for the better across its growing portfolio of products and services for retailers, advertisers, content publishers, and consumers.

The new logo draws from the company’s heritage as a  trusted authority in online shopping. The streamlined typography and bold colour palette reinforce the company’s distinguished image, combined with a modern spin on its iconic and beloved flaming shopping cart, representing Shopzilla’s upbeat and innovative company culture.

“Our new logo truly represents the next phase in the evolution of Shopzilla, Inc. We are passionate about changing retail for the better and believe that our new brand identity reflects our position as a key influencer in helping shoppers shop and sellers sell. We created this new logo as a reminder to our partners and customers of our commitment to this mission. Our collective passion for this work leads us to innovate and find solutions that continue to evolve our growing portfolio of products.” said Bill Glass, President of Shopzilla, Inc.

The new logo represents Shopzilla, Inc’s continued evolution in products and services for shoppers, retailers, content publishers, and advertisers. Its websites of the same moniker, Shopzilla.com, Shopzilla.co.uk, Shopzilla.fr and Shopzilla.de, will also be rebranded with the new mark.

About Shopzilla, Inc.
Shopzilla, Inc. manages a premier portfolio of online shopping brands in the US and Europe, consisting of Bizrate, Beso, Shopzilla, PrixMoinsCher, and SparDeinGeld. Shopzilla connects shoppers with over 100 million products from tens of thousands of retailers with its unique portfolio of engaging and informative websites. Reaching a global audience of over 40 million shoppers each month through both its destination websites and affiliate network, Shopzilla is a leading source of sales and consumer feedback for online merchants and retail advertisers. With offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, and London, the company operates sites and business services in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Shopzilla, Inc. is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI).

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Posted in Publisher Program Updates, Publisher in Media | 1 Comment »

Earning Reports: new updates

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Are you familiar with our estimated earnings, payments and balance reporting data?

We appreciate that being able to view your reports is extremely important, so lately we have made many improvements in order for you to get even more from this tab.

With this great update you will once again be able to view your daily estimated earnings both within the Publisher Portal ‘Home’ page reporting snapshot pod, and the more comprehensive ‘View Reports’ tool.

Thanks to improvements, the reporting tool is now even better!

Thanks to improvements, the reporting tool is now even better!

Notable Improvements:

  • ‘View Reports’ will allow you to view historic earnings data within a 24-month date range
  • Publishers previously unable to view estimated earnings data due to usage of Placement IDs above 99 will be able to view an aggregate total of their estimated earnings, currently labeled as ‘<not-yet-defined>’ (#)
  • The reports are also available for download in csv, xls and xml formats if you prefer to look at them off-line.
  • Not new but worth mentioning, check your payment history

Check out our other blog posts for information on how to measure the success of your traffic, understanding your payment and earnings reporting.

Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Shopzilla UK team who will be happy to assist.

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Posted in Payments & Reporting, Publisher Program Updates | 1 Comment »

Dynamic assets: Build your very own banner!

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Shopzilla Europe are pleased to announce the launch of dynamic assets. Now you can build your own, individual ads.

Within the portal of our affiliate program you are now able to build dynamic assets based on top keyword or category search results, as well as build comparison shopping assets for specific products.  These dynamic assets refresh their content each time your website page is loaded, offering your users a fresh shopping experience each time they visit your website.

dynamic-banners-create-your-own

Build your very own banner with Shopzilla's dynamic assets

Here a few highlights of what this feature include:

1) Publishers are now able to create dynamic assets based solely on category.  This will allow the creation of more generic dynamic assets.  An example of a good use of this sort of dynamic asset would be a placement on a fashion website.  Rather than displaying products defined by a keyword, you will now be able to create a dynamic asset displaying results according to product popularity in a chosen category. This means you will always have the hottest items in your banner.

2) Why not be more specific and create a ‘Product Pod‘ with the dynamic asset within certain categories? This feature allows you to add a comparison shopping experience to your site. However please note that the function of a ‘Product Pod’ asset is to allow for a comparison shopping experience, so you may find instances of a category not retrieving any results if we can’t offer any price comparison for the particular product you have chosen.  This is because there aren’t any available products with multiple offers aligned to them that would support a comparison shopping experience.  (For instance, we don’t have any products in the category “Candles & Home Scent” that have multiple offers aligned to them …I know, seems crazy…so, sadly, you won’t be able to build a ‘Product Pods’ asset for your favourite  vanilla scented candles, as the same candle isn’t necessarily sold by more than one merchant, although we have a great choice of vanilla scented candles.  But you will be able to build one for your favourite mp3 player or laptop.) Best thing to do is to check on BizRate first, whether the product you want to promote has a  “Go compare” site.

3) Another nice element of the dynamic content is that you are in control over the appearance of the ad you want to place on your website. This means you are pretty much the designer of you own banner. Choose the colours that best match your site.
To create a dynamic asset, log into the UK Shopzilla Publisher Portal and choose the ‘Get Content’ tab. From here you will find a “Dynamic Assets” link. If you need any help creating these assets, please Contact us.

Enjoy!

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Posted in Info on Publisher Program, Publisher Program Updates, shopping banners | No Comments »

XML-based FTP Data Feeds now available

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

We are pleased to announce that we are now offering our shopping content in the form of our XML-based FTP Data Feeds, too. This allows Publishers to add their own price comparison section onto their site or add more choice to their existing inventory.

Shopzilla now offering XML product feed

XML data feeds - Get your own price comparison started on your site

With Shopzilla’s affiliate program FTP Data Feeds, Publishers are able to easily download BizRate’s entire inventory of merchant product offers from one FTP location.  As a Publisher we give you the flexibility to download only the product offers found in categories that are of use to you.

If you are an experienced affiliate marketer and e-commerce is your bread and butter, then think about utilizing our XML FTP Data Feed product!  If you are interested in our feed product, you will find more information what is necessary by  applying for the feed product on our blog or contact Shopzilla Publisher Team for any further questions!

Enjoy!

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Posted in Publisher Program Updates | No Comments »

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