Monsoon API and Data Exchange Guide

Introduction

The Monsoon API allows developers to build solutions capable of communicating with Monsoon software. Prior knowledge of Microsoft technology stack (Windows, SQL, .NET) and e-Commerce domain objects (such as SKU, ISBN, UPC, Online Marketplace, etc) is highly recommended.

This documentation assumes that you have already used Monsoon, and are familiar with the concepts of multi-marketplace selling and pricing.

Areas such as inventory pricing, listing strategies and import templates will not be covered here as they are fully explained in the end-user documentation.

The Monsoon Network

The Primary

The primary installation is a single machine hosting —

• The Database (Microsoft SQL 2005, 2007 or 2008)

• The Master Service (Win32, .NET)

• The Worker Service(Win32, .NET)

• The Desktop (.NET, Windows Forms)

There can be only one primary workstation in the organization (store). In the typical small store the primary is the only Monsoon installation.

The Secondary

In a big organization, more than one workstation may be needed. So we allow the desktop application to run on any number of machines, named “secondaries”. Each secondary requires a seat license.

All secondaries connect to the primary, thus forming the Monsoon network. It is important to remember that only the Monsoon Desktop runs on the secondaries –the Monsoon database together with all the Monsoon services are always located on the Primary workstation.

The Monsoon Modes

Monsoon is a complex tool. To facilitate development and testing, Monsoon is designed to run in several different modes.

Production Mode

In Production Mode you are live on all configured markets. While running Production Mode all elements of the Monsoon architecture (master, worker, database, etc) are fully functional.

Training Mode

Training Mode offers maximum isolation by using a separate database (“MonsoonTraining”), from which no inventory ever gets listed.

Training Mode allows you to get hands-on experience with its many functions before you go live. We recommend that you use Monsoon in Training Mode until you feel fully confident with all that it has to offer. Nothing you do in Training Mode will ever affect your daily business. So feel free to experiment, and don’t worry… you won’t break anything.

Training Mode License

Production Mode offers different sets of features based on the license type you purchased. However, when you are inTraining Mode, you may choose your license type, giving you the opportunity to experience the features included with different license types.

To change your “training license” type —

1) Go to File > Training Mode license in the upper left hand corner of Monsoon

2) Select your product form the dropdown menu.

3) Monsoon will close itself down and re-launch in your chosen training mode.

The above routine has one useful side effect — it completely resets your training database, allowing you to start fresh every time you chose a new license type.

API Structure

The API can be split into two major areas – Data Exchange and Reporting.

• Data Exchange allows developers to communicate with the worker service via tab-separated text files.

• Reporting allows developers to communicate with the database using TSQL

Data Exchange

From a very high level perspective, Monsoon resembles a POS system. Inventory comes in and gets sold (orders are placed), resulting in dynamic inventory quantities. For each new order —

QuantityOnHand = QuantityOnHand - OrderedQuantity

Additionally, inventory may get re-priced or otherwise changed through the UI. To help developers write code for processing all these changes, Monsoon offers a set of Publish-Subscribe interfaces (or channels) which together form the so called Data Exchange Market.

There can be multiple Data Exchanges in the system. Each data exchange —

• Publishes 1 inventory export interface (channel)

• Publishes 1 order export interface (channel)

• Subscribes to 1 inventory import interface (channel)

• Subscribes to 1 order import interface (channel)

Data Exchanges are configured using the Monsoon Desktop.

When you click on the Add Data Exchange button, you are presented with the following dialog —

Field Name	Field Description
Name	Describes the system with which you wish Monsoon to exchange data. Example: “My Test System”
Export Inventory Directory	This is the location where the Monsoon Worker will publish inventory files. Note that Initial export will include all active inventories. Subsequent exports will contain only items that have been modified within Monsoon Database since the last export.
Export Orders Directory	This is the location where the Monsoon Worker will publish order files. The channel can be configured to export all orders, or to only export orders for inventory that came from this data exchange source.
Import Inventory Directory	This is the location where the Monsoon Worker will look for inventory files (subscribe). The file format contains operations (such as Add, Modify, Update and Delete) together with the data on which the operation is to be performed.
Import Orders Directory	This is the location where the Monsoon Worker will look for order files (subscribe). Like inventory, the file contains operations and the data.

Monsoon cannot connect to Mapped Network Drives

Monsoon is only able to access Shared Folders on your network.

One of the most basic types of integration is where your code subscribes for Monsoon inventory and order changes. To do this, you will need to —

• Manually set up a Data Exchange. For each new Exchange, a full inventory dump is immediately initiated by the Monsoon Worker.

• Write code that subscribes to the data. This is done by periodically checking the export directories and processing new files as they arrive.

Below is a diagram of what the Monsoon Worker does in production. It will periodically pool the import directories and publish to the export directories.

Inventory Export

Once you open one of the inventory files with a text editor, you will find that it is a TAB-separated ASCII file, with the first row containing column names.

Such inventory export file contains a wide variety of data, and columns may be added and/or removed in the future. Also it is worth mentioning that the data you will see in an export file depends on the type of product being sold. For example — in a book store, one may expect to find ISBNs for most of the items, whereas this is not true for a DVD and Electronics shop.

For complete Inventory Data Definitions, see Appendix A: Inventory Data Definitions

Order Export

When Monsoon receives order from an online market, it will look up its available inventory and allocate some of it to fulfill the order. It will then export the combined information (order & inventory properties) as a single record in the order export file.

For example, if an order came for SKU=1, in the order export file you will see the order properties (e.g., order date, ordered quantity, order number, etc) as well as the inventory properties (e.g., remaining quantity, condition, etc) for SKU=1.

For complete Order Data Definitions, see Appendix B: Order Data Definitions

Export Data Handling

To ensure no partial or corrupt data is exported, Monsoon creates its export files with read-exclusive access. This prevents other applications (including yours) from accessing the file while Monsoon is still writing it (which may take several seconds or more). Below is a code snippet (C#) demonstrating fail-safe ways for opening an export file —

//Monsoon Example: C#

using System.IO;

using System.Threading;

public FileStream Open(FileInfo file)

{

int count = 0;

const int MAX_TRY = 100;

while (count++ < MAX_TRY)

{

try

{

return new FileStream(file.FullName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None);

}

catch (IOException)

{

Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));

}

throw new IOException();

}

Note that Monsoon allows certain time before giving up on the file with an IO exception. Also bear in mind that it is the responsibility of your code to delete old files you no longer need.

As mentioned before export files are TAB-separated ASCII with a column header on top. Whereas there are many libraries for parsing such files, two techniques may come in handy. To read the file into an ADO.NET DataTable, you may use the Microsoft OLEDB Provider in the following way —

//Monsoon Example: C#

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

using System.Data;

using System.Data.OleDb;

public DataTable Open(FileInfo file)

{

using (StringWriter connectionString = new StringWriter())

{

connectionString.Write("Provider={0};", "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0");

connectionString.Write("Data Source={0};", file.Directory.FullName);

connectionString.Write("Extended Properties=\"text;FMT=TabDelimited;HDR=YES;\";");

using (OleDbConnection connection = new OleDbConnection(connectionString.ToString()))

{

OleDbCommand command = new OleDbCommand(string.Format("SELECT * FROM [{0}]", file.Name));

command.Connection = connection;

OleDbDataAdapter adapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(command);

adapter.UpdateCommand = null;

DataSet dataset = new DataSet();

connection.Open();

adapter.Fill(dataset);

return dataset.Tables[0];

}

The resulting DataTable can be further bulk-loaded into SQL 2005 or 2007 with a statement such as this —

//Monsoon Example: C#

using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

public void BulkCopy(string connectionString, DataTable data)

{

using (SqlBulkCopy copy = new SqlBulkCopy(connectionString))

{

copy.BatchSize = 500;

copy.DestinationTableName = "MyData";

copy.WriteToServer(this.Data);

}

Inventory Import

Importing inventory is a bit more complex than reading exported data, but the idea is the same. This time, however, it is your code that publishes the data and the Monsoon Worker subscribing to it. Also, the inventory import format is different (although similar) than the inventory export format.

Attempting to import a file using the export format will fail.

For more information, see Appendix A: Inventory Data Definitions.

Inventory Identity

When importing inventory, four requirements must be met.

• Local identity. Monsoon must have something unique for tracking the inventory in the local database. If you omit the SKU column, this requirement will be automatically met as Monsoon will assign a unique SKU number to each new inventory item.

• Global identity. Monsoon must know something that uniquely identifies the inventory in the universe. This may be an UPC, ISBN, ASIN or an EAN code. Without a product identifier many of Monsoon’s features (such automatic pricing and categorization) will be unusable.

• Categorization. Monsoon must be able to categorize the inventory. For this to work there must either be a category specified in the import file, or the item’s global identity should be discoverable at one of the main markets (e.g., Amazon, eBay).

• Pricing. Monsoon must be able to price the item. For this to work there must either be a price specified in the import file, or the item’s global identity should be discoverable at one of the main markets (e.g., Amazon, eBay).

Inventory meeting all of the above requirements is called “Standard”

Standard vs. Non-Standard Adds

Adding standard inventory to Monsoon is called a Standard Add. This is the default means of adding inventory. However, it is possible to force non-standard inventory in by flagging it as Non-Standard.

For more information, see Monsoon-Specific Inventory Data.

Non-standard inventory cannot be automatically priced & categorized as it owns no Global Identity, so values for “Price” and “Category” must be provided by you.

Inventory Listing

Once your inventory imports successfully into Monsoon, it will be fed to the Listing Engine which determines two things —

• Where to sell? To find out, the listing engine looks at various inventory fields like category, condition, price, etc. The final outcome for each market will depend on the actual listing rules specified by the customer. For example you may have just imported a used book, and there may be several enabled markets in Monsoon, however only one may be configured to sell books (say Amazon), and it may not be allowed to accept used items - so your item goes nowhere …

• For how much? To answer this question the listing engine will try to match inventory items to pricing strategies based on customer’s configuration. For example you may have one pricing strategy for books, another for DVD’s, etc …

Whereas you cannot directly control where the inventory will be sold via data exchange, you can specify the pricing strategies on a per market basis. For more information see Appendix A: Inventory Data Definitions.

Updating existing items

When updating existing items (MonsoonOP=”m” or “d” if the item already exists, or “u” if you are not sure) you don’t have to supply a full inventory identity – just the SKU would be enough.

For example to delete SKU=123, the following text file will suffice —

MonsoonOP SKU

d 123

Likewise to modify the condition of this item:

MonsoonOP SKU Condition

m 123 New

For more information, see Appendix A: Inventory Data Definitions.

For Data Samples, see Appendix D: Data Samples and Templates

Using Your Own SKU

You may specify the SKU of any item being added to Monsoon in your import file.

Monsoon will then use this SKU to match any subsequent update, add or modify specified for that SKU. Alternatively, your SKU may be added as a locator code, but there are both pros and cons to this option.

If no SKU is provided in the import file, Monsoon will automatically create incremental SKUs for items added via import. Any line-item in an “Add” line which does not have a SKU specified will automatically be assigned a SKU by Monsoon.

Order Import

Importing orders into Monsoon is similar to importing inventory. While doing it, the following rules apply —

• New orders should be imported with an ‘a’ in the MonsoonOP column to indicate that they are new and to be added to the database.

• Existing orders being imported for the purpose of updating or modifying existing entries must include an ‘m’ in the MonsoonOP column.

• Any orders that already exist in the database and which are marked as an Add in an import file will be rejected by Monsoon.

For more information, see Appendix B: Order Data Definitions.

Import Data Handling

Here again similar considerations apply as with the export, except that the roles are reversed — it is now your code creating the file and Monsoon worker reading it. To prevent Monsoon from accessing partial or incomplete data, make sure you maintain an exclusive read lock on the file while writing to it. Depending on your actual import scenario certain data validations may be performed by the Monsoon Worker (“standard” vs “non-standard” add).

If errors are found, they will be logged in the “Errors” subdirectory located immediately under the import directory. Also valuable information can be found at the worker’s log file.

You may have overridden defaults with a config ("LogsPath"), but by default, logs are saved in:

Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008	C:\ProgramData\Monsoon\Logs
Windows XP, Server 2003	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Monsoon\Logs

Also, your inventory and order import files should be named in such a way as to ensure uniqueness. A good inventory import name looks like this:

InventoryImport20060919-081601-390.txt

Using a time stamp as part of the file name ensures that every file generated has a unique name, and thus will not overwrite a previously generated file (or cause it to be ignored).

Creating files with identical names can cause significant problems resulting in data loss.

Reporting

Monsoon provides a set of database views which can be used to generate reports. Depending on the reporting needs, report developers will have to frame SQL queries to generate the reports. As the views are bound to Monsoon database, they can be consumed by any of the reporting tools such as Crystal Reports or SQL Server Reporting Services.

The initial scope of the reporting views is to match the data elements provided by inventory and order export. Following best practices are recommended when working with the reporting API —

• Be safe! Create a separate read-only login for the Monsoon database (like “monadapter”) and use it to run reporting queries.

• Be stateless! Sometimes we may drop & recreate our database, so naturally any tables you may have added will be lost.

• Be compatible! Monsoon uses an industry standard ORM (object relational mapper) which makes our tables highly dynamic and prone to changes. To stay compatible with future Monsoon releases, do not query our tables directly – use he views instead.

• Be efficient! Monsoon depends on a fast and responsive database. We cache all our tables in memory and, should the database becomes slow (due to extensive queries), it may break other features such as receiving and pricing.

There are 6 views provided for generating reports on inventory and orders. The following table provides a quick overview of what each view is used for:

View	Description
ItemTraitsView	SKU based traits view. Contains inventory item and product traits per SKU
InventoryItemClassificationView	Provides a list of classifications associated to a SKU
InventoryItemLocationView	Provides Item condition, notes and location information for a SKU
InventoryItemMarketView	Provides market view of the SKU. For instance, using this view, we can find out at what markets this SKU has been listed
OrderDetailsView	Contain order and customer information. Order details are repeated per order item
OrderItemAllocationView	Provides information about the item location and the location quantity for a sold item.

ItemTraitsView

Various properties of an inventory item are referred as “Traits”. This view shows all inventory in the system, together with its traits.

InventoryItemClassificationView

This view provides a list of classifications associated with a SKU. A SKU can have zero or many classifications. Hence querying for a specific SKU against this view may result in 0 to many rows. The number of rows returned by this view per SKU is directly proportional to the number of classifications associated to the SKU. The following table describes the columns exposed by the view —

InventoryItemClassificationView

Column	Description
InventoryItemId	Unique Key associated to an InventoryItem
SKU	SKU number associated to an inventory item
Classification	The name of the classification associated to a SKU
ClassificationNotes	Classification Note

InventoryItemLocationView

In the Monsoon data model, single SKUs may be kept at various locations (think warehouses). This view allows access to the physical allocation of the inventory.

InventoryItemMarketView

This view gives you an idea of which inventory is listed on which market(s).

OrderDetailsView

This view provides information about orders. The information includes, order details and shipping details. If the order has more than one order item, then the order details are repeated per order item. The following table describes the columns exposed by the view.

OrderDetailsView Data Definitions

Column	Description
OrderNumber	Monsoon Order Number
Status	Order Status. Can be one of 'Unprocessed' ,'New' , 'Shipped' , 'Cancelled' and 'Pending'. Note that Printed is not a status and that information is provided in a separate column
MarketName	Name of the Marketplace from which the order has been generated. Market Names can be any one of 'Ebay', 'AmazonMarketplaceUS', 'AmazonMerchantsAt', 'Alibris', 'Abebooks', 'HalfDotCom', 'AmazonMarketplaceUK', 'AmazonMarketplaceCA', 'EbayMainSite' and market name given for a custom market
MarketOrderId	Order Id provided by the marketplace
MarketTransactionId	Market transaction id provided by the market
OrderDate
ShipDate
MarketShipMethod	Name of the shipmethod provided by the market
ShipMethod	Monsoon shipmethod. Can be any one of 'Standard', 'Expedited' , 'Standard International'
ShipTrackingNumber	Shipment Tracking Number used to ship the order
PackageWeight	Package weight. Includes the weight of all items which are shipped as part of the package. Monsoon Currently only support shipping a single package per order
ActualPostage	Actual postage for the shipment
OrderNote	Order Note provided by the marketplace
AtleastPrintedOnce	Can be 0 or 1. 1 indicates it has been printed once
CancellationEmailSent	Can be 0 or 1. 1 Indicates whether cancellation email has been sent
ConfirmationEmailSent	Can be 0 or 1. 1 Indicates whether confirmation email has been sent
UserFeedbackSent	Can be 0 or 1. 1 Indicates whether user feedback has been sent. Only applicable for markets supporting this feature
FeedType	Only applicable for sellercentral. Can be any one of OrderAcknowledgement or OrderFulfillment
FeedStatus	Only applicable for sellercentral. Can be any one of 'Will be Listed', 'Listing', 'Upload Error', 'Listed'
FeedId	Only applicable for sellercentral. Feed identifier
LastStatusModified	Status Modified time
ShipmentCarrier	Can be one of USPS, UPS and FedEx. Default carrier is USPS
ShipToName
BuyerName
Address1
Address2
City
State
PostalCode
Country
Email
BuyerPhoneNumber	Phone number of the buyer ( if available)
ShippingNote	Shipping instructions( if available)
OrderItemId	Unique Identifier associated to an order item
MarketOrderItemId	Market assigned identifier associated to an order item
InventoryItemId	Unique Identifier of the sold inventory item. Used as a key to link to other Inventory Item Views
OrderedQuantity	Number of pieces/ skus ordered. At the order item level. Can be one or more. For example, if two copies of the harrypotter book is ordered, then ordered quantity would be 2
ShippedQuantity	Number of pieces/skus shipped or can be shipped. At the order item level. For example, the ordered quantity can be 2 and shipped quantity can be 1 because the seller was out of that inventory item or could not find one.
Price	Price of the order item in seller currency. Unit price ( price for 1 quantity) can be obtained by dividing the Price with OrderedQuantity
NativePrice	Same as Price but in native currency
ShippingFee	Shipping fee for the order item in seller currency. Unit shipping fee ( shipping fee for 1 quantity) can be obtained by dividing the shipping fee with !OrderedQuantity. Shipping fee is in seller currency
NativeShippingFee	Same as shipping fee but in the native currency of the market. For example, if the seller is in us, and the order is from amazon uk then shipping fee is in $ and native shipping fee is in pounds
RefundAmount	Actual Refunded amount for the entire order item. It is in seller currency
NativeRefundAmount	Refunded amount for the entire order item in native currency of the market
Tax	Tax for the entire order item in seller currency . Applicable only for seller central only
ShippingTax	Shipping Tax for the entire order item in seller currency. Applicable only for seller central.
UserData1… UserData30	User defined data associated to orderitem

OrderItemAllocationView

This view contains high level details of the order item allocations.

Reporting Samples

Below are some real-life samples using Monsoon’s advanced reporting API.

Get total quantity by SKU

SELECT SUM(LocatorQuantity) AS Quantity

FROM dbo.InventoryItemLocationView

WHERE SKU=’YOUR_SKU_HERE’

Get available inventory where SKU starts with a prefix

SELECT

itv.SKU AS SKU

,itv.ISBN AS ISBN

,itv.ProductCategoryName AS Category

,ilv.Locator AS LocatorCode

,itv.Title AS Title

,itv.Author AS Author

,ilv.Collectible AS Collectible

,itv.FirstEdition AS FirstEdition

,itv.Signed AS Signed

,ilv.LocatorQuantity AS Quantity

,ilv.ItemCondition AS Condition

,itv.JacketCondition AS JacketCondition

,itv.Binding AS Binding

,itv.Publisher AS Publisher

,itv.PublicationDate AS PublicationDate

FROM [InventoryItemLocationView] ilv

LEFT OUTER JOIN [ItemTraitsView] itv ON itv.InventoryItemId=ilv.InventoryItemId

WHERE ilv.LocatorQuantity > 0

AND ilv.SKU LIKE 'myprefix%'

Get all available classifications

SELECT DISTINCT(i.Classification)

FROM OrderDetailsView AS o (NOLOCK)

INNER JOIN InventoryItemClassificationView AS i

ON o.InventoryItemId=i.InventoryItemId

WHERE i.Classification IS NOT NULL

ORDER BY i.Classification ASC

Processed Files Are Not Archived

When Monsoon imports files, only an error file is created (as needed). The original file is destroyed.

There is no archiving of processed files.

Data File Naming Conventions

Inventory Naming Conventions

Orders Naming Conventions

Inventory Naming Conventions

Import

Manual

For manual inventory imports, file naming is irrelevant.

You will manually specify the file to be processed.

Data Exchange

Monsoon will process any file that it finds in your designated inventory ‘get’ location. File naming will not matter so far as your import functionality is concerned.

However, file name uniqueness is extremely important from a business operations point of view. Making certain that every file produced for Monsoon has a unique name will help to avoid data loss and facilitate troubleshooting (especially if your naming convention is human readable).

Using an easily generated string for your file names -— such as a standard system time stamp -— is a simple way to ensure unique file names.

E.g., This the time-stamp format YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-FFF you might get

inventory20070606-121007-324.txt

Processing Files

Monsoon imports all files present in the specified import directory when the import job runs. Files are then queued for processing based on the time that they were placed in the directory, oldest to newest.

If there is a timestamp included in the filename this will have no effect on processing; it only makes the files human readable.

Export

Manual

Monsoon will prompt you to name your file and specify a ‘put’ location when you manually generate an inventory export file.

However, it is always good to make your file names unique & human readable. Time-stamps are extremely handy when trying to determine how recently any given export file may have been created.

Data Exchange

Inventory Export files generated by a Monsoon Data Exchange will be given a standard name “Inventory” + YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-FFF where FFF equals the fraction of the second.

E.g., Following the time-stamp format YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-FFF you might get

Inventory20070606-121007-324.txt

Orders Naming Conventions

Import

Manual

It is not possible to manually select an Orders file for import.

Data Exchange

Monsoon will process any file that it finds in your designated Orders ‘get’ location. File naming will not matter so far as your import functionality is concerned.

Using an easily generated string for your file names -— such as a standard system time stamp -— is a simple way to ensure unique file names.

E.g., Following the time-stamp format YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-FFF you might get

Orders20070606-121007-324.txt

Processing Files

If there is a timestamp included in the filename this will have no effect on processing; it only makes the files human-readable.

Export

Manual

Monsoon will prompt you to name your file and specify a ‘put’ location when you manually generate an Order Export file.

However, it is always good to make your file names unique & human readable. Time-stamps are extremely handy when trying to determine how recently any given export file may have been created.

Data Exchange

Order Export files generated by a Monsoon Data Exchange will be given a standard name “Orders” + YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-FFF where FFF equals the fraction of the second.

E.g., Following the time-stamp format YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-FFF you might get

Orders20070606-121007-324.txt

Resources

Additional examples and documentation available at our development portal:

Go to http://portal.appdev.Monsoonworks.com:8082/gf/

Complete Monsoon Product User Documentation is also available

Appendix A: Inventory Data Definitions

The data described in this table is specific to and necessary for the proper function of Monsoon in tracking and managing your inventory.

All of these data elements relate to Monsoon’s identification and tracking of items, and should be used for all product categories.

Monsoon-Specific Inventory Data

Header	Definition	Legal Values
MonsoonOP	Denotes the action to be taken by Monsoon per data row - add inventory	a
	- modify inventory	m
	- delete inventory	d
NonStandard	This column must be included for Non-Standard imports to “force” the item to be imported. The “Y” value must appear on each line item that is to be “forced” — a null value will be read as “N” For Standard import files, it is best simply to omit this column.	Y or N or null
SKU	Stock Keeping Unit: This field is used as your internal tracking number. You can either use your own, external SKU or if left blank this will default to a new Monsoon SKU.
Quantity	The number of like items under this SKU. Maximum value cannot exceed 32000
Category	The inventory Category for this item (see below for more Category-related fields)
Condition	The condition of this item is brand new.	new
	The condition of this item is Used, but appears to be New.	like new
	The overall condition of this item is Used.	very good
	The condition of this item is Used.	good
	The condition of this item is Used.	acceptable
	The condition of this item is Used.	refurbished
Collectible	Is the item to be listed on Amazon Marketplaces as “collectible”	Y or N
Price	The price you wish to assign to this specific item
Notes	Item notes to be listed online
Title	Name of the item
Weight	Physical weight of Inventory Item in pounds
Height	Physical height of Inventory Item in inches
Length	Physical length of Inventory Item in inches
CostOfGoods	The cost to stock this item
Profit	The fixed amount -— $ or % -— of profit to be made from the sale of this item
PriceStrategy	Name of the Pricing Strategy you wish to assign to this specific item
LocatorCode	The designated location of an item
WarehouseLocator	The designated warehouse location of an item
Classification	• The Classification you want to assign to your item • In Edge, Pro & Warehouse you may assign more than one classification to a single item. List all classifications to be assigned in the same cell, separated by a colon • e.g., Rare:Heavy:Vendor123
LastReceived	The most recent time at which a given SKU’s quantity was increased.
PriceOneBay	The current price the item is listed on eBay
PriceOnHalf	The current price the item is listed on Half.com
PriceOnAlibris	The current price the item is listed on Alibris.com
PriceOnAmazon	The current price the item is listed on Amazon.com
PriceOnAmazonSellerCentral	The current price the item is listed on Amazon Seller Central
PriceOnAbebooks	The current price the item is listed on AbeBooks.com
PriceOnAmazonUK	The current price the item is listed on Amazon.co.uk
AmazonLowestPrice	The lowest price currently being offered for this item on Amazon. Export Only — This data is only exported; is not supported for import.

For more information, see Supported Item Identifiers.

Supported Standard Identifiers

The following industry standards are recognized by Monsoon.

• These are the values which define the Monsoon Standard Import functions.

• At least one of these values is required for Dynamic Pricing.²

Supported Item Identifiers

Header	Definition	Legal Values
ISBN	International Standard Book Numbering This is the standard identification number for books published after 1966 10 or 13 characters in length
UPC	Universal Product Code Required for some categories. See category specific traits for more information 12 or 13 characters in length.
ASIN	Amazon Standard Identification Number Amazon.com's identification number that has been created for every item that is bought or sold on Amazon Maximum of 10 characters
EAN	European Article Number - Items with only an EAN and no other Identifier will only be listed on Seller Central. 12 or 13 characters in length.

For more information, see Common Inventory Data Elements.

Data Elements Common to All Categories

Every Category supported by Monsoon have the following data elements available.

Common Inventory Data Elements

Header	Definition	Legal Values
AmazonSalesRank	Amazon’s sales ranking for this item This data is only exported; is not supported for import.	Export Only
AmazonTotalOffers	# of competitor offers for this item This data is only exported; is not supported for import.	Export Only
Height	Height of the item in inches Up to 19 digits with 4 decimals
Length	Length of the item in inches Up to 19 digits with 4 decimals
Weight	Weight of item in pounds. Up to 19 digits with 4 decimals
Width	Width of item in inches Up to 19 digits with 4 decimals
Keywords	Set of search terms that refer to this item
ImageUrl1	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl2	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl3	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl4	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl5	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl6	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl7	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl8	Location of image file to be uploaded
ImageUrl9	Location of image file to be uploaded
UserData1 UserData2 UserData3 UserData... UserData25	Any alphanumeric data required by non-Monsoon systems for integration and Data Exchange
NumericUserData1 NumericUserData2 NumericUserData3 NumericUserData... NumericUserData25	Any numeric data required by non-Monsoon systems for integration and Data Exchange
ListPrice	Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of the inventory item in local currency. Maximum of 32 characters in length.
MarketPrice	Base Price — listed in local currency. Maximum of 32 characters in length. For more information, see Base Price.
PriceOneBay	The most current listed price of this item on the eBay market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOneBay is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOneBayUK	The most current listed price of this item on the eBay.co.uk market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOneBayUK is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAmazon	The most current listed price of this item on the Amazon.com marketplace. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAmazon is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAmazonSellerCentral	The most current listed price of this item on the Amazon Seller Central market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAmazonSellerCentral is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAmazonUK	The most current listed price of this item on the Amazon.co.uk market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAmazonUK is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAmazonCA	The most current listed price of this item on the Amazon.ca market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAmazonCA is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAmazonFR	The most current listed price of this item on the Amazon.fr market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAmazonFR is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAmazonDE	The most current listed price of this item on the Amazon.de market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAmazonDE is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAlibris	The most current listed price of this item on the Alibris market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAlibris is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnAbebooks	The most current listed price of this item on the AbeBooks market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnAbebooks is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnHalf.com	The most current listed price of this item on the Half.com market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnHalf.com is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnPlay.com	The most current listed price of this item on the Play.com market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnPlay.com is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceOnBuy.com	The most current listed price of this item on the Buy.com market. Price data will only be imported when the corresponding market price strategy PriceStrategyOnBuy.com is specified as Fixed Price in the same import file. Your price data will be ignored if you do not specify Fixed Price.
PriceStrategyOneBay		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOneBayUK		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAmazon		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAmazonSellerCentral		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAmazonUK		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAmazonCA		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAmazonFR		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAmazonDE		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAlibris		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnAbebooks		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnHalf.com		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnPlay.com		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
PriceStrategyOnBuy.com		default Lowest Price Fixed Price Avg Lowest 3 Avg Lowest 5 NOTE: You may also import Custom Pricing Strategies — use the name of the strategy exactly as it appears in the Custom Pricing Strategies screen.
eBayStoreCategory	The first of two custom category labels allowed on eBay Stores.	You must supply the eBay Category ID in your import file. For more information, see Importing eBay Store and eBay UK Shop Categories.
eBayStoreCategory2	The second of two custom category labels allowed on eBay Stores.	You must supply the eBay Category ID in your import file. For more information, see Importing eBay Store and eBay UK Shop Categories.
eBayUKStoreCategory	The first of two custom category labels allowed on eBay.co.uk Shops.	You must supply the eBay Category ID in your import file. For more information, see Importing eBay Store and eBay UK Shop Categories.
eBayUKStoreCategory2	The second of two custom category labels allowed on eBay.co.uk Shops.	You must supply the eBay Category ID in your import file. For more information, see Importing eBay Store and eBay UK Shop Categories.

For more information, see Common Consumer Goods Data Elements.

Data Elements Common to All Consumer Goods Categories

Common Consumer Goods Data Elements

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Description	Product description maximum 2000 characters
Feature1	Description of special feature maximum 2000 characters
Feature2	Description of special feature maximum 2000 characters
Feature3	Description of special feature maximum 2000 characters
Feature4	Description of special feature maximum 2000 characters
Feature5	Description of special feature maximum 2000 characters
Manufacturer	Maximum of 50 characters in length. Required for some categories. See category-specific traits below for more information.
ManufacturerPartNumber	Maximum of 50 characters in length. Required for some categories. See category-specific traits below for more information.
MAP	Manufacturer’s Advertised Price Maximum of 50 characters in length. Required for some categories. See category-specific traits below for more information.	Export Only

Click on a category listed below to see a list of the data elements that are specific to that category.

Video Game Accessories

Auto Parts And Accessories

Health and Personal Care

Pet Supplies

Sports and Fitness

Beauty

Category-Specific Data Elements

Every product Category has unique characteristics and requirements.

This information should be used in addition to the Data Elements Common to All Categories and Data Elements Common to All Consumer Goods Categories described above.

Books

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		Books
Author	Author of the Book Maximum of 255 characters in length
Binding	Binding Condition of the Book Maximum of 32 characters in length
ISBN	International Standard Book Numbering: This is the standard identification number for books published after 1966 Maximum of 13 characters in length
NumberOfPages	Number of Pages in Book Maximum of 32 characters in length
PublicationDate	Date of publication Maximum of 32 characters in length
Publisher	Publisher of the Book Maximum of 32 characters in length
Signed	Is this Book Signed?	Y or N
FirstEdition	Is this Book a First Edition	Y or N
DustJacket	Does the Book have a DustJacket?	Y or N
JacketCondition	Condition of the book’s Jacket Same as “Condition” above Maximum of 32 characters in length	New Like New Very Good Good Acceptable

Music

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		Music
Artist	Performing Artist Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Binding	Condition of the Binding of the Music Item. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Creator	Creator of the Music Item Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Format	What type of Music Item is it (i.e. LP, CD, Tape, Beta, etc…) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Label	Which Label the Music Item has been produced by (i.e. Virgin, Capitol Records, etc…). Maximum of 255 characters in length.
NumberOfDiscs	How Many Discs/Records/Tapes are included with this Music Item. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Releasedate	The Release Date of the Music Item. Maximum of 255 characters in length.

DVD

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		Dvds
Actor	Main Actors/Actresses in the Movie. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
AudienceRating	Rating of the Movie (i.e. G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, UR). Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Director	Director of the Movie Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Format	Type of DVD Movie (i.e. UMD, DVD) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Languages	Supported Languages in the Movie. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
RegionCode	Region Code of the DVD (i.e. North American DVD's are encoded as Region 1) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
ReleaseDate	Date of Release for the DVD. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
RunningTime	The Running Time of the Movie. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Studio	What Studio produced the Movie (i.e. Warner Bros., Dreamworks, etc…) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
TheatricalReleaseDate	Date the Movie was released in the theaters. Maximum of 255 characters in length.

VHS Videos

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		VhsVideos
Actor	Main Actors/Actresses in the Movie. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
AudienceRating	Rating of the Movie (i.e. G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, UR). Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Director	Director of the Movie Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Format	Type of DVD Movie (i.e. UMD, DVD) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Languages	Supported Languages in the Movie. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
RegionCode	Region Code of the DVD (i.e. North American DVD's are encoded as Region 1) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
ReleaseDate	Date of Release for the DVD. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
RunningTime	The Running Time of the Movie. Maximum of 255 characters in length.
Studio	What Studio produced the Movie (i.e. Warner Bros., Dreamworks, etc…) Maximum of 255 characters in length.
TheatricalReleaseDate	Date the Movie was released in the theaters. Maximum of 255 characters in length.

Computers

Header

Definition

Legal Values

Category

Computers

UPC

Required for all Consumer Goods categories.

Maximum of 12 characters.

Platform

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

Linux

Max

Windows

Unix

HardDriveSize

Units in Gigabytes.

Max 19 digits including 4 decimal places.

HardDriveInterface

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

IDE

SCSI

Serial ATA

CPUType

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

AMD Athlon

AMD Duron

AMD Opteron

AMD Sempron

Intel Celeron

Intel Pentium

Intel Pentium M

Intel Xeon

PowerPC G3

PowerPC G4

PowerPC G5

RAM

Units in Megabytes

Maximum 19 digits with 4 decimal points

CPU

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

AMD

IBM

Intel

Motorola

Transmeta

VIA

ProcessorCount

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

CPUSpeed

Units in Megahertz

Max 19 digits including 4 decimal places.

DOS

Linux

OSX

None

98SE

2000

2003Server

XPHome

XPPro

MediaCenter

Manufacturer

Maximum of 50 characters in length.

ManufacturerPartNumber

Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Consumer Electronics

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		ConsumerElectronics
UPC	Required for all Consumer Goods categories. Maximum of 12 characters.
Manufacturer	Maximum of 50 characters in length.
ManufacturerPartNumber	Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Tools

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		Tools
UPC	Required for all Consumer Goods categories. Maximum of 12 characters.
Manufacturer	Maximum of 50 characters in length.
ManufacturerPartNumber	Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Cameras

Header

Definition

Legal Values

Category

Cameras

UPC

Required for all Consumer Goods categories.

Maximum of 12 characters.

OpticalZoom

Maximum of 50 characters in length.

Megapixels

Unit of measure is megapixels.

Required for Digital Cameras

Manufacturer

Maximum of 50 characters in length.

ManufacturerPartNumber

Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Photo Accessories

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		PhotoAccessories
UPC	Required for all Consumer Goods categories. Maximum of 12 characters.
Manufacturer	Maximum of 50 characters in length.
ManufacturerPartNumber	Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Software

Header

Definition

Legal Values

Category

Software

UPC

Required for all Consumer Goods categories.

Maximum of 12 characters.

ReleaseDate

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

Platform

Linux

Mac

Windows

Unix

DOS

Linux

OSX

None

98SE

2000

2003Server

XPHome

XPPro

MediaCenter

Format

DVD

Manufacturer

Maximum of 50 characters in length.

ManufacturerPartNumber

Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Video Games

Header

Definition

Legal Values

Category

VideoGames

UPC

Required for all Consumer Goods categories if selling on Amazon Seller Central.

Maximum of 12 characters.

ReleaseDate

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

Genre

Action

Adventure

Arcade

Board

Driving

Online

Puzzle

Role Play

Shooter

Sports

Strategy

Trivia

ESRB

E10

Pending

Platform

Maximum of 32 characters in length.

Manufacturer

Maximum of 50 characters in length.

ManufacturerPartNumber

Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Video Game Accessories

Header	Definition	Legal Values
Category		VideoGameAccessories
UPC	Required for all Consumer Goods categories when selling on Amazon Seller Central. Maximum of 12 characters.
Platform	Maximum of 32 characters in length.
Manufacturer	Maximum of 50 characters in length.
ManufacturerPartNumber	Maximum of 40 characters in length.

Auto Parts And Accessories

Header

Definition

Legal Values

Category

AutoPartsAndAccessories

Manufacturer

Maximum of 50 characters in length.

ManufacturerPartNumber

Maximum of 40 characters in length.

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