merchant-faq

BuyWhere Merchant Integration FAQ

By Quill · April 2026

Common questions from merchants integrating their catalog with BuyWhere.

Getting Started

Q: How do I get started with BuyWhere? A: Start by submitting your interest through our merchant inquiry form. Our team will reach out within 24 hours to discuss which integration path suits your catalog and business goals.

Q: What integration options are available? A: BuyWhere offers three integration paths:

Affiliate — Add tracking links to your products and earn commission on referred sales
Direct Feed — Upload your product catalog in batch (CSV, NDJSON, or JSON format)
API Integration (coming soon) — Real-time data sync via OAuth and API endpoints

Most merchants start with either Affiliate or Direct Feed depending on their technical resources.

Affiliate Integration

Q: How does the affiliate program work? A: Once approved, you'll receive a unique tracking code. Add these tracked links to your product listings on BuyWhere. When a shopper clicks through and makes a purchase, you earn a commission on the sale.

Q: How quickly can I go live with affiliate? A: Affiliate integration is the fastest path to visibility — typically live within minutes of receiving your tracking code. No technical setup required beyond adding the provided links to your content.

Q: What commission rates can I expect? A: Commission rates vary by category and are negotiated during onboarding. We offer pre-approved standard tiers for faster onboarding, with custom rates available for high-volume partners.

Q: How do I track my earnings? A: Your merchant dashboard provides real-time earnings reports, including clicks, conversions, and commission by period.

Direct Feed Integration

Q: What file formats do you support? A: We accept:

NDJSON — One JSON object per line (recommended for large catalogs)
JSON — Array of product objects
CSV — Headers in first row

Q: What fields are required in my feed? A: Required fields:

sku — Unique product identifier
title — Product name
price — Numeric price
currency — ISO 4217 code (e.g., SGD)
url — Product page URL
merchant_id — Your merchant identifier

Recommended fields:

description, image_url, brand, category, category_path, original_price, is_available, in_stock

Q: How do I deliver my feed? A: We support:

Method	Complexity	Best For
HTTPS POST (NDJSON)	Low	Most merchants
FTP/SFTP drop	Medium	Large catalogs
BuyWhere Scraper	Low	Marketplaces

Q: How often should I update my feed? A: Most merchants update daily or every few hours. We flag products older than 48 hours as stale. The more frequently you update, the more accurately you appear in searches.

Q: How long does direct feed integration take? A: Most merchants go from sign-up to live listings within 24-48 hours after their first successful feed upload.

Data Quality

Q: What happens if my feed has errors? A: Our validation system checks your feed before processing. Common issues include:

Duplicate SKUs
Invalid price values
Inaccessible image URLs
Missing required fields

You'll receive detailed error reports with specific rejection reasons so you can fix and resubmit.

Q: How do you handle out-of-stock items? A: We require real-time stock status via the is_available field. When an item goes out of stock on your store, update your feed or we'll flag it within 6-24 hours depending on your refresh frequency.

Q: How do you ensure price accuracy? A: We verify price data against your feed at every refresh cycle. Displayed prices are timestamped so users know how fresh the data is.

Technical Requirements

Q: Do I need a developer to integrate? A: Not necessarily. The Affiliate path requires no developer involvement. Direct Feed only requires the ability to export a CSV from your store or platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Lazada, etc.).

Q: What if my catalog is very large? A: We handle catalogs of any size. Large catalogs typically use NDJSON format delivered via SFTP for reliability. Our support team helps map your category taxonomy to ours.

Q: Do you support inventory that changes in real time? A: Direct Feed batches refresh periodically (hourly/daily). For real-time inventory sync, our API Integration path (coming soon) will support webhook-based updates.

Pricing & Fees

Q: Is there a fee to list on BuyWhere? A: Affiliate: no upfront cost — we earn a commission on attributed sales only. Direct Feed: flat listing fee, negotiated during onboarding based on catalog size.

Q: Do you charge per product or per month? A: Direct Feed pricing is typically a flat monthly fee based on catalog size. Affiliate is purely commission-based with no listing fees.

Q: Are there volume discounts? A: Yes. Larger catalogs and higher traffic volumes qualify for negotiated rates. During onboarding, our team will provide pricing tiers based on your expected catalog size.

Timeline Expectations

Q: How long does the full onboarding process take? A: Typical timelines by path:

Path	Complexity	Time to Live
Affiliate	Low	Minutes
Direct Feed	Medium	24-48 hours
API Integration	High	Days (TBD)

Q: What slows down onboarding? A: Common delays:

Slow response to outreach emails (we follow up within 24h)
Data quality issues requiring feed corrections
Extended pricing negotiations (mitigated by pre-approved tiers)

Support

Q: Who do I contact during integration? A: Each merchant is assigned an onboarding owner who follows up at each stage. You can also reach us at merchants@buywhere.ai.

Q: What support do you provide during integration? A: We offer:

Technical documentation and feed templates
Data mapping assistance
Category taxonomy mapping
Validation feedback before going live
Dashboard training

Q: What happens after I'm live? A: You'll have access to your merchant dashboard for monitoring feed health, tracking product visibility in searches, and viewing performance analytics.

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