Contract Mobiles Feed Format Recommendations

[Powerup]

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Not sure if anyone else working with mobile phone feeds gets fed up with the crap data that you have to clean up.

I have a whole bunch of functions and regular expressions for several feeds to prepare the data ready to import in to a database and be able to compare and search on. Then the merchant brings out a new feed with a completely new format which is no better and you have to start all over again.

I have just had to remove a merchant from my site because their new feed fails to include number of texts.

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread with recommendations for formatting a feed ready to be imported in to a database. Hopefully the merchants will take note and start providing better data.

Here are my personal recommendations:

Network (varchar)
i.e. Vodafone

Tariff (varchar)
i.e. My Plan 30
Keep it short – don't add a long descriptive sentences like My Plan 30 with 300 minutes and 3000 texts for 30 pounds per month.

Minutes (int)
i.e. 500
Use 99999 for unlimited

Texts (int)
i.e. 500
Use 99999 for unlimited

Data (int)
i.e 3000
in MB – can convert to GB. Use 999999 if unlimited

Contract Length (int)
i.e. 12, 18, 24

Brand (varchar)
aka Make, Manufacturer – i.e. Nokia, HTC, Apple

Model (varchar)
i.e. N8, Desire HD, iPhone 4 32GB
Keep it short, don't add keywords or tariff information (i.e. Nokia N8 Mobile Phone with 300 mins and 3000 texts = bad)

Colour (varchar)
This can be handy as often a phone comes out in black and then someone brings out a pink or a silver or a white version, etc...

Handset Cost (double)
i.e. 129.99
Don't include a currency symbol. For free use 0 not text.

Line Rental (double)
i.e. 30.00
Don't include a currency symbol. For free use 0 not text.

Cashback (double)
i.e. 150.00
Don't include a currency symbol.

Free Gift (varchar)
i.e. Free Nintendo Wii

URL (varchar)
Deeplink to product page and or a link to add to cart.

I think these are the core fields that should be included in every feed. Aditional fields that I don't use but I am sure others might are:

Image (varchar)

Description (varchar/text)

Specification (varchar/text)

Would be good if other affiliates could chip in and support this and maybe we can come up with a standardised feed format for merchants to use.

[jiminycricket]

Hi Powerup,

This is exactly the reason I chose to use the mobiles4everyone feed instead of compiling my own direct from the merchants. Obv commission rate takes a hit though. Would be great if all the merchants could get together to agree on a format. A conversion rate (deal popularity) field for each deal would be useful. Also a phone 'family' field that denotes with 'family' of phones it belongs to e.g. Desire