Import listings from an XML or JSON feed

Import listings from any XML or JSON feed: give its address or upload the file.
You choose which feed field goes into the title, price, category, photos and your own custom fields.
Import the same feed again later to update those listings instead of adding them twice. Listings the feed marks as sold or inactive are taken down.
There’s no automatic re-import yet: you run each import yourself.

Many businesses already have their listings in a feed: a car dealer’s stock file, a job board’s XML, a shop’s Google Merchant or Facebook catalogue feed, or a supplier’s JSON export. Import from a feed reads any of them and turns each entry into a listing on your site. It works for every kind of marketplace, not only property.

This is the opposite of listing feeds, which send your listings out to Google, job boards and Meta. For estate agents’ Kyero and XML property feeds, with automatic updates, see the property pack.

What you need

The feed’s address or file. An address is the feed’s https:// address, reachable on the internet. A file can be an .xml file up to 25 MB or a .json file up to 10 MB.
One entry per listing. In XML, a repeated element such as <item>, <entry>, <product>, <vehicle> or <job>. In JSON, a list of objects. Your site finds it by itself.
Your custom fields set up first. To import values such as mileage or salary, the fields must already exist under Listings › Custom Fields.
Your categories, ideally. Category names are matched as in a CSV import.

Import a feed

In the admin panel, go to Tools and click Start in the Move your site to Yclas card.
In the Import from a feed card, enter the Feed address, or choose the file under Or the feed file.
Click Read the feed and continue.
On Map columns and fields, check the line at the top, for example XML feed: 120 listings found (one per <item> element).
Fill in the choices for the whole feed and match each listing field to a feed field (see below). Click Continue: preview.
On Review before importing, check the number of listings, the first ones and any notes. Nothing has been imported yet.
Click the import button and keep the page open until it finishes.

Match the feed’s fields

The mapping step lists every field found in the feed’s listings, with an example value, for example price (19.99), location/city or enclosure/@url. Fields with a prefix, such as Google’s <g:price>, show without it (price). The step starts filled in with guesses from the field names. Change anything that looks wrong, and pick — not used — for fields you don’t want.

Choices for the whole feed

Setting	What it does
Listed under	The email of the account the listings go under. Importing the feed again under the same email updates its listings.
Put every listing in	One category for every listing, or From the feed (the field below), else “General”.
Feed name	Keeps this feed’s listings apart from other feeds’. It starts as a name made from the feed’s address or file name. Keep it the same to update the listings an earlier import of it made.
Listings with a seller email in the feed	Put them under the account above too, or Put them under that seller’s account: an account is created for a new email. Admin and moderator accounts are never used.

Listing fields

Field	What to pick
Feed reference	The listing’s own ID in the feed. It’s how a later import finds the listing to update.
Title	Required. Entries without one are skipped.
Description, Price, Address, Phone, Website	The matching feed fields.
Category, Location	Names. A category path such as `Apparel > Shoes > Sneakers` uses its last part.
Photos and More photos	Fields with photo addresses. Every value of the field is a photo, up to your Photos per listing.
Seller email, Seller name	Only used when you chose to put listings under their seller’s account.
Date published	When the listing was published. Empty means today.
Status	A field that says whether the entry is live. Words such as sold, inactive, expired, out of stock or false take the listing down.
Latitude, Longitude	The map position, if the feed has one.
Your custom fields	One line per custom field. Numbers, drop-down options, checkboxes and dates are converted for you.

Import the feed again to update it

To update your listings from a newer version of the feed, import it again the same way, with the same address (or the same file name), the same Listed under email and the same Feed name. The mapping step remembers your last choices for a feed with the same fields, so it’s usually one click.

On a repeat import:

Listings already imported are updated: their text, price, fields and so on. Their web address and dates stay the same, and they keep their photos.
New entries become new listings.
Entries marked sold or inactive take their listing down. Inactive entries that aren’t on your site yet are skipped.
Entries no longer in the feed stay on your site as they are. The preview tells you how many: unpublish them in Listings if they’re gone.

This only works with a Feed reference. Without one, importing the feed again adds every listing a second time. The preview warns you: No feed reference is chosen…

Feeds aren’t re-imported automatically yet. To keep listings up to date, import the feed again whenever it changes.

What to know about imported listings

Imported listings are handled as in a CSV import: they go live straight away, nobody is emailed, and they aren’t posted to your social media channels. Photos are downloaded from their addresses after the listings are in.

Plan limit. New listings stop at the number your plan allows. Updates to listings already on your site still go through, and the preview says so.
Up to 20,000 listings per import.
Undo. Undo this import on Tools › Move your site to Yclas removes the listings the import created, for a week. Listings it only updated stay as they are. See Cancel or undo an import.

When something goes wrong

Message	What to check
Enter the feed’s address or choose its file.	Fill in one of the two.
The feed could not be fetched: …	The address must be public, with nothing to sign in to. Open it in a private browser window to check.
That file is bigger than the 25 MB limit.	Split the feed, or give its address instead.
A JSON feed can be up to 10 MB. or This JSON feed is too big to read here…	Split it into smaller files, or use an XML version of the feed.
This is not an XML or JSON feed.	Check the address points at the feed itself, not a web page.
Feeds with a DOCTYPE are not accepted.	For security, XML with a DOCTYPE line is refused. Ask the feed’s provider for a version without it.
No listings were found in this feed.	The feed is empty, or has no repeated entry.

Import listings from a CSV file — the same import from a spreadsheet.
Listing feeds — send your listings out to Google Shopping, job boards and car ads.
Property pack — property feeds, with automatic updates.
Custom fields — create the fields you want to fill.
Move your site to Yclas — import from other platforms.