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June 22, 2023
April 4, 2023
Deep Dive Into Our Deal Feed
Written by Josh Hutter
Welcome back to FMTC’s Tech Corner, where we take a deep dive into our tools and technology. This week, we’re taking a look at our Deal Feed.
FMTC’s Deal Feed aggregates your monetized links into a single stream, allowing access to the freshest, most accurate deals and coupons all in one place through a single API. Below, you can find frequently asked questions regarding our Deal Feed.
What is the relationship between the FMTC Deal Feed and the FMTC Product Feed?
While a merchant must be in the Deal Feed to be included in the Product Feed, there is otherwise no relationship between the merchant in each of the feeds. Each feed is completely separate from the other, and calling one of the API endpoints will not affect the other in any way.
How are my affiliate links returned in the Deal Feed API?
In the FMTC Portal you will enter your Network IDs for each network. Next, select merchants on the Manage Merchants page. Upon your API calls, FMTC will then automatically populate your links with your Network IDs. You may also set up MerchantSync to automatically add or remove merchants you have joined within the networks.
What is an incremental call and how do I use it?
An incremental call is a parameter that helps make your more frequent API calls smaller than a full call.
- incremental=0 will return all active deals from all selected merchants on your account.
- incremental=1 will return any deals that have been added, modified, or deleted since the last incremental call.
For more information, you can see this Tech Corner about each call.
What is the difference between getChanges and incremental?
getChanges will get the changes only for a particular deal, while an incremental getDeals call returns all deals added, modified, or deleted since your last call. For example, your frequent calls will use an incremental call. Use getChanges when you want information on a specific deal. Since only one ID may be used at a time for this call, it is more efficient to use an incremental parameter if you need multiple calls.
How often do I need to do a full call vs. an incremental call?
FMTC suggests you pull incremental data every 30 minutes and full data every couple of hours because our database is updated so frequently from the networks. A limit of 500 calls per day is strictly enforced.
Why are no images returned in the “Image” field within the API?
Images are only delivered when a merchant supplies an image in the network, which is not very common practice. Most deals will be text links. FMTC does provide logos and screenshots for each merchant. Many of the publishers we work with use “lifestyle” images to represent either a category or the merchant.
Do both HTTP and HTTPS work in FMTC URLs?
Yes, you can use both URL types. If you pull an HTTP link, the FMTC API automatically redirects to an HTTPS link. You can use the link directly as is; however, if you wish to change them, you can do so after you ingest our feed.
What is the difference between Primary Category and CategoriesV2?
While both merchants and deals have categories associated with them, only merchants have a Primary Category field returned. CategoriesV2 includes all the categories associated with the deal. The taxonomy comes from FMTC, and you can access it through the getCategories API call.
The API keeps timing out — how do I tackle this? Can I paginate?
None of our endpoints are paginated, though we recommend that you specify a large timeout of 7,200 seconds in your endpoint. You should also only call the getDeals endpoint every 30 minutes with the additional parameter &incremental=1.
Can I add a SubID to FMTCURL links?
Yes, you can add a SubID to FMTCURL links. Please refer to our Tech Corner on SubIDs for more information.
Why are my exclusive offers not coming through the API?
All of the offers that come through FMTC’s API are from the affiliate networks or merchant newsletters. If you have an exclusive offer from a merchant, you can add it in the FMTC platform under the Exclusive Data section.
What types of links come through the Deal Feed?
FMTC has four different types of links that come through the Deal Feed API: the Affiliate Link, the FreshReach® Link, possible BYO-Subaffiliate Links, and the Direct Link. The FMTCURL is built to handle the logic for each of these links for you. For more information, please refer to our Tech Corner about the FMTCURL.
As always, our team is ready to help you! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact your account manager or email us at [email protected].
Curious about other FMTC technologies? Find more information on FMTC’s tools in our Tech Corner: