For many Greek e-shops, Skroutz brings in a large share of sales. And almost every time something "isn't working" on Skroutz, the cause sits in the XML feed: products that don't show up, wrong matches, availability that doesn't agree with the site. This guide collects what we see in practice.
One important caveat: Skroutz updates its specification from time to time. Before you change anything, check the current documentation in Skroutz Merchants.
What the feed is and how Skroutz reads it
The feed is an XML file at a fixed URL on your site. It lists every product you want shown, with price, availability, images and codes. Skroutz fetches it periodically and updates your listings. That means two things:
- The feed must be always available and fast. If your server is slow or returns an error, you may miss updates.
- The feed must match the site exactly. Price and availability in the feed must be what the shopper sees after clicking through.
The fields that matter most
The structure is a root element with a list of products, and each product carries fields such as:
- id: a unique, stable identifier. Never change it; if it changes, Skroutz treats it as a new product.
- name: the product title. Ideally brand, model and the key attribute, with no promotional noise ("SALE!!!").
- link: the product URL on your site.
- image and additionalimage: main and extra photos, in high resolution.
- category: your full category path (e.g. "Clothing > Women > Dresses").
- price_with_vat: the final price including VAT.
- vat: the VAT rate.
- availability: availability, using the values Skroutz defines.
- manufacturer: the brand.
- mpn: the manufacturer part number.
- ean: the barcode.
- size / color: for products with variations.
- quantity and weight: where required.
Exact field names and allowed values are defined in the Skroutz spec; use them verbatim.
Why EAN and MPN matter so much
Skroutz groups listings from different shops on a single product page. To attach your product to the right page it relies on brand, manufacturer code and barcode. Without them your product may stay unmatched or get matched wrongly. If there's one thing worth getting right across your whole catalogue, it's this.
Variations: the classic fashion and footwear headache
For clothing and shoes, Skroutz expects variations in a specific way (for example, available sizes per colour). The usual mistakes:
- Sold-out sizes still appear.
- Each size is sent as a separate product, creating duplicates.
- Different colours of the same model are bundled into one product, when Skroutz wants them separate.
Before submitting a fashion catalogue, read the variations section of the spec carefully and check your feed against 5–10 real products.
Availability: where trust is lost
Skroutz cares a lot about whether you honour the availability you declare. Declare "in stock" and ship a week later, and you'll see it in cancellations, reviews and eventually your visibility.
Practical rules:
- Declare immediate availability only for items physically in your warehouse.
- For items you order from a supplier, use the availability value with the matching number of days.
- Out-of-stock products are either removed from the feed or flagged the way the spec requires, never "available".
- If stock moves fast, refresh the feed often (a cache of minutes, not a day).
The most common rejections and how to fix them
1. "Price doesn't match the site"
Usually a cache issue (the feed holds an old price), discounts applied only in the cart, or a price without VAT. The feed price must be what a visitor sees on the product page, without a coupon.
2. Broken link or redirect
The link leads to a 404, the homepage or a different variation. Make sure every link opens the right product directly.
3. Images
Low resolution, watermarks, your shop logo on the photo, or a "no image" placeholder. Use clean photos on a white or neutral background.
4. Wrong or vague category
Categories like "Offers", "New arrivals" or "Misc" say nothing about what the product is. Send the real, hierarchical category.
5. Invalid XML
One unescaped "&", a special character from copy-paste, or HTML inside a description can break the entire file. Wrap text in CDATA and run the feed through an XML validator.
6. Slow feed or timeouts
On large catalogues, generating the feed on every request can take too long. Generate it periodically into a static file instead.
7. Duplicate products
The same product under two ids, usually after an import or a plugin change. Keep one id per product and never reuse ids.
Checklist before you submit
- Does the feed URL open quickly in a browser, with no errors?
- Does it pass an XML validator?
- Prices include VAT and match the site?
- Availability is realistic?
- Brand, MPN and EAN on as many products as possible?
- Categories with the full path?
- Variations follow the spec?
- Clean, high-resolution images?
- Does it refresh automatically?
After you go live
Don't treat the feed as "done". Every time you change plugin, theme, category structure or how products are imported, check it again. Many of these mistakes apply to BestPrice and Google too.
If you'd like us to audit your feed or build a reliable one from scratch, take a look at our product feeds service or send us a message.