Product Feed Optimization Guide for TradeTracker Product Feed
Learn the required fields, format specifications, and optimization strategies for TradeTracker Product Feed feeds.
What is TradeTracker Product Feed?
TradeTracker is a NL-headquartered EU affiliate marketing network founded in 2004, with particularly strong positioning in the Netherlands and Belgium and broader presence across additional EU markets. Unlike a price comparison platform that surfaces products directly to consumers, TradeTracker connects advertisers (you, the merchant) with a network of affiliates (content publishers, comparison sites, voucher portals, cashback sites, influencers) who promote your products on their own surfaces in exchange for commission on resulting orders. For merchants, an affiliate program is a CPA-only acquisition channel: you pay only when an affiliate's referral converts to a sale.
TradeTracker uses a product feed to distribute your catalog to participating affiliates, who then build comparison pages, blog posts, deal listings, and integrations on top of it. The feed is XML or tab-delimited CSV (UTF-8 encoded). The only field TradeTracker mandates as strictly required is the product ID; everything else listed below as required is treated as required for practical affiliate pickup - affiliates running comparison engines and content templates expect the broader set, so a feed missing them is rarely picked up even if the platform technically accepts it. The deeplink is critical - it must be a publisher-trackable URL that TradeTracker can wrap with affiliate tracking parameters at click time.
TradeTracker's commercial model is CPA: you set commission rates per category in the program dashboard, and pay only when an affiliate's referral converts to a sale (and after the return window expires). Standard commission rates run 4-12 percent of order value depending on category, with bonus tiers for top-performing affiliates. The feed quality directly affects how widely affiliates promote your products - affiliates select products from feeds based on data completeness, image quality, and EAN coverage. A clean TradeTracker feed gets distributed across hundreds of publisher sites; a sparse feed gets ignored.
At a Glance
TradeTracker Product Feed Field Requirements
Required and optional fields for your product feed
How TradeTracker Product Feed Feeds Are Structured
Key structural rules and formatting requirements for this feed type
- 1
Use TradeTracker's native XML schema
TradeTracker accepts XML (recommended) or tab-delimited CSV. The XML schema is documented in the TradeTracker advertiser dashboard. UTF-8 encoding is required. The feed should be hosted on an HTTPS URL accessible without authentication - TradeTracker polls daily by default with optional twice-daily polling for higher-velocity catalogs.
<products><product><id>SKU-001</id><title>...</title>...</product></products> - 2
Submit prices in the program's configured currency
TradeTracker programs are configured per locale, with one currency per program (EUR for NL/BE/DE programs, GBP for UK, etc.). VAT-inclusive prices are required. Period decimal separator (149.95). No currency symbol. Multi-locale merchants run separate programs (and feeds) per locale.
<price>149.95</price> - 3
deeplink must be the unwrapped product URL
deeplink is the product landing page URL on your storefront. TradeTracker automatically wraps it with affiliate tracking parameters (TT_id, click_id, affiliate_id) at click time. Submit the clean unwrapped URL - if you submit a pre-wrapped URL with your own tracking parameters, TradeTracker's wrapping conflicts and tracking breaks. Use canonical product URLs without query strings.
Goed: https://www.example.nl/producten/airmax90-zwartSlecht: https://www.example.nl/producten/airmax90-zwart?utm_source=tt&affiliate_id=12345 - 4
EAN strongly preferred for affiliate selection
Many TradeTracker affiliates run automated comparison engines that use EAN to deduplicate products across competing merchants. Listings without EAN are rarely picked up by these affiliates because they cannot match against the broader market. Aim for 90+ percent EAN coverage on branded SKUs to maximize affiliate distribution.
<ean>0194501234567</ean> - 5
Use parseable delivery_time per locale
Delivery time is one of the most-cited inputs in affiliate comparison and content. Use locale-appropriate parseable formats: NL/BE 1-2 werkdagen; DE 1-2 Werktage; FR 1-2 jours ouvrés; UK 1-2 business days. Free-form text reduces affiliate pickup because affiliate engines cannot extract a delivery window for filtering.
<delivery_time>1-2 werkdagen</delivery_time> - 6
Express stock as integer, 0 = excluded from distribution
Stock is a unit count - 0 excludes the SKU from the feed distributed to affiliates, 1+ includes it. Affiliates value accurate stock data because their own user experience suffers when they promote out-of-stock items. Sustained accuracy issues result in affiliates dropping your program from their automated comparison engines.
<stock>12</stock>
TradeTracker Product Feed Optimization Tips
Proven strategies to improve your feed performance and product visibility
- 1
Set commission rates competitively against category benchmarks
TradeTracker's advertiser dashboard exposes category benchmark commission rates. Setting your rate at or above the benchmark dramatically increases affiliate pickup; setting below leaves you under-distributed. Standard rates: fashion 6-12 percent, electronics 3-6 percent, home & garden 5-10 percent, beauty 8-15 percent. Consider tiered commissions (higher rates for top-performing affiliates) to incentivize the affiliates who drive the most volume.
Fashion benchmark: 8% - set yours at 9-10% for above-average pickup - 2
Maintain a 7-day-or-better cookie attribution window
TradeTracker's cookie window determines how long after a user's click an affiliate gets credit for the conversion. The default is 30 days; some merchants tighten to 7 or 14 days to reduce spend on long-window attribution. Extreme tightening (under 7 days) reduces affiliate pickup because affiliates' expected ROI drops. 14-30 days is the standard sweet spot for most categories.
Cookie window: 30 days (default), 14 days (aggressive), 7 days (very aggressive) - 3
Approve top-performing affiliates manually for higher rates
TradeTracker's tiered commission feature lets you approve specific affiliates for elevated commission rates. Identify the top 10-20 affiliates by volume after 60-90 days and approve them for 2-4 percentage points above your standard rate. This creates a virtuous cycle - the elevated rate increases their preference for your program, which compounds volume.
Standard rate: 8%Top tier (top 10-20 affiliates): 11% - 4
Refresh feed daily, twice during peak windows
TradeTracker polls daily by default. During Q4 and major promo periods, schedule twice-daily fetches at 06:00 and 14:00 CET to keep affiliate-facing data fresh. Affiliates who detect repeated price/stock drift in your feed will demote your program in their automated selection algorithms.
Off-peak: daily 03:00 CETPeak: twice daily 06:00 + 14:00 - 5
Configure exclusive promotions for top affiliate tier
TradeTracker supports affiliate-specific promotion codes (codes that work only when used through a specific affiliate's tracked link). Use this to give top affiliates exclusive discount codes or higher percentages, which they can market as exclusive offers. This dramatically lifts their CTR and conversion rate compared to standard public promotions.
Public code: LENTE10 (10% off)Top-affiliate exclusive: TOPAFF15 (15% off, valid only via affiliate link) - 6
Provide content assets (banners, deeplinks, articles) in addition to the feed
Beyond the feed, TradeTracker's advertiser dashboard accepts banner creative, content templates, and pre-written product highlights. Affiliates use these to populate their content quickly. Programs with rich content libraries see 30-50 percent higher affiliate pickup than feed-only programs because the marginal effort for an affiliate to feature your products is lower.
Banner sizes: 300x250, 728x90, 160x600, 320x50 (mobile)Content templates: blog post, deal of the week, category roundup
Common TradeTracker Product Feed Feed Errors
Frequent feed issues and how to resolve them
- Error
Pre-wrapped deeplink with merchant tracking parameters
SolutionSubmit the clean product URL without your own tracking. TradeTracker wraps the URL automatically at click time. Pre-wrapping conflicts with TradeTracker tracking and breaks attribution.
- Error
Commission rate below category benchmark
SolutionAffiliates select programs partly by expected ROI. Setting commission below benchmark dramatically reduces pickup. Check the dashboard's benchmark and set at or above it.
- Error
Stale stock data causing affiliate complaints
SolutionAffiliates whose users land on out-of-stock pages drop the offending merchant from their selection. Connect the feed to real-time warehouse data or refresh twice daily for high-velocity SKUs.
- Error
EAN missing reduces affiliate pickup
SolutionMany affiliates run automated comparison engines that require EAN for cross-merchant matching. 90+ percent EAN coverage maximizes pickup; below 70 percent significantly reduces it.
- Error
Encoding error on local-language characters
SolutionTradeTracker requires UTF-8 (preferably with BOM). Non-UTF-8 corrupts é, ë, à, ö, ß. Use programmatic export with explicit UTF-8+BOM encoding.
- Error
Delivery_time not parseable in target locale
SolutionUse locale-appropriate parseable formats. Free-form text reduces affiliate pickup because automated comparison engines cannot extract delivery windows.
Feed Performance Metrics to Track
Key metrics that indicate how well your product feed is performing
Active Affiliate Count
Number of distinct affiliates actively promoting your program in the trailing 30 days. Healthy: 50-200+ for established programs in mainstream categories. Below 20 indicates either a low commission rate vs benchmark or a sparse feed that affiliates don't want to integrate.
Affiliate-Driven Revenue Share
Percentage of total online revenue attributed to TradeTracker affiliates. Established affiliate programs typically drive 5-15 percent of total revenue; mature programs in affiliate-heavy categories (fashion, voucher-driven retail) can reach 20-25 percent.
Effective CPA (eCPA)
Total affiliate commission spend divided by attributed orders. Driven by category, commission rate, and affiliate mix. Healthy: 8-15 percent of average order value (mirroring the commission rate). Above 20 percent indicates either over-generous commission or a low-AOV mix dragging down per-order economics.
Cookie Window Utilization
Distribution of click-to-conversion times for attributed sales. If 90+ percent of conversions happen within 7 days, the 30-day default cookie window is paying for long-tail attribution that doesn't exist - tightening to 14 or 7 days saves spend without reducing volume.
Top-10 Affiliate Concentration
Percentage of total commission spend going to the top 10 affiliates. Healthy: 50-70 percent (concentrated but not dependent on one or two). Above 90 percent indicates over-concentration risk - lose one top affiliate and the program collapses; below 30 percent indicates the program isn't cultivating strong affiliate relationships.
How to Set Up Your TradeTracker Product Feed Feed
Step-by-step guide to creating and optimizing your product feed
Apply for a TradeTracker advertiser program
Sign up at advertiser.tradetracker.com. You will need a verified domain, a registered business entity, a published return policy, and an established storefront with at least 3-6 months of order history. Approval typically takes 5-10 business days. Discuss commission rates and program structure with the TradeTracker account team during onboarding.
Build your XML or CSV product feed
Generate a UTF-8 (BOM) feed with all 11 required fields plus EAN where available. Aim for 90+ percent EAN coverage. Use clean unwrapped deeplinks - TradeTracker wraps URLs with affiliate tracking automatically. Validate against TradeTracker's online validator before submission.
Configure commission rates and cookie window
In the advertiser dashboard, set per-category commission rates at or above benchmark. Configure cookie window (default 30 days; 14-30 is typical). Set up the validation period matching your return policy (typically 30 days). Approve creative assets (banners, content templates) for affiliate use.
TradeTracker Affiliate Program Optimization Checklist
Download the complete TradeTracker playbook covering the XML feed template, the per-category commission benchmarking framework, the tiered-commission affiliate cultivation playbook, and the cookie window optimization based on actual click-to-conversion data.
- Ready-to-use TradeTracker XML feed template with all required fields and clean unwrapped deeplinks - the most common feed-side mistake
- Per-category commission benchmarking framework with current TradeTracker benchmark rates and the rate-vs-pickup elasticity curve
- Tiered-commission affiliate cultivation playbook covering the 60-90 day evaluation window and the elevated-rate offer that locks in top-performer relationships
- Cookie window optimization framework using click-to-conversion time distribution to tighten the window without losing volume
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about TradeTracker Product Feed product feeds
Google Product Category Lookup
Full taxonomy list, IDs, and how to map your products correctly.
Explore More Feed Guides
- Inventory all product sources
- Define your attribute schema
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The product feed optimization checklist
Ten hard steps that bring your rejection rate down and your CTR up — from title templates to source-side structured data.
- Record your current rejection rate first as a baseline
- Per-channel title templates (no copy-paste)
- Pipe errors into Slack/email for same-day triage
One email, no follow-up spam. Print it and get to work.
Generate every feed automatically from one catalog
The WISEPIM Feed Hub turns your central product data into ready-to-publish feeds for every channel in this guide — and dozens more. Map fields once, schedule refreshes, monitor errors per channel, and push fixes back to the source. No manual exports, no format-juggling, no chasing rejections one channel at a time.
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