Automatic matching allows the seller to send Item specific information for their listings without having to create a posting template for each category they plan to list to.  This feature allows you to create a generic posting template for each posting format (e.g. one Fixed Price template and one Auction template) and essentially apply all of your listings to this one posting template format.  With careful configuration of your item attributes, our system will automatically send the appropriate item specific data of the category you're listing to for your items.   

There may be cases where you still want to manage the item specifics details in a category, and for those you can create a category-specific posting template with explicit mapping rules yet leave the majority of your items on a generic posting template with automatic matching.

Prerequisites

The following topics should be reviewed before completing this task.

• Working with eBay Item Specifics

Tasks to Complete

Configuring your account to utilize the Automatic Matching feature can be done by completing the following tasks:

1. Enable the Account Setting
2. Create a Posting Template
3. Configure Attributes to match eBay's Item Specifics
4. Create the Ad and Assign the Category
5. Auto Match Reference Information
• Converting to Automatic Matching from Category Specific Posting Templates
• Using Automatic Matching with Variation-Style Listings
• Automatic Matching Limitations

Enable the Account Setting

1. Navigate to your  Marketplaces > eBay > Settings > eBay Settings > Listing s configuration page.  
2. In the " Item Specifics Automatic Matching " section, select the option to enable automatic matching.  

Once enabled, it will automatically apply to all listings in your account as specified below. 

Create a Posting Template

For a new user getting started, the easiest way to configure the options is to create a single posting template for eBay fixed price listings without a category assigned. Below are a few considerations to keep in mind

• Automatic matching will only take effect when no explicit configuration has been made on a posting template.  
• If you have created posting templates with item specifics information already configured, those values will always be used.    
• You can have a posting template assigned to a category for use with Automatic Matching if you require.  However, the Item Specifics area of the posting template must be blank.  If any of those fields are populated, we will send those Item Specifics and the Automatic Matching feature will not function for that listing.

Configure your Attributes to Match the Item Specific Names of your eBay Category.

Automatic matching  requires the name of the inventory attribute to match the eBay item specific name exactly.  For example, if the category you are listing to has an Item Specific name of Operating System , but your attribute name is OS, Automatic matching will not function and that Item Specific value will not be sent.

For an example, an item with inventory attributes of  Size ,  Color ,  Supplier ,  and Country of Origin, and Store Brand .  This item is submitting to a category on eBay with item specifics of  Color ,  Size ,  Width ,  Material  and  Bran d .  When the listing is submitted, the following information will be processed: 
 

Item Specific Sent to eBay	eBay Item Specifics field	Inventory Attribute Field Used	Reason
	Color	Color	Color matches exactly between the eBay field name and the Inventory attribute field name.
	Size	Size	Size matches exactly between the eBay field name and the Inventory attribute field name.
X	Width	--	There is no match for Width in the inventory attribute fields.
X	Material	--	There is no match for Material in the inventory attribute fields.
X	Brand	Store Brand	Because these do not match exactly, we will not send this Item Specific.

Based on this information, this item would be submitted with  Color  and  Size  but no other fields.  If the inventory item was then changed to add a  Material  attribute then that value would be used automatically the next time this item was submitted to eBay.  You will also note that the inventory attribute fields of  Supplier  and  Country of Origin  were not used.  These did not match any of the eBay item specifics fields for this category and are not submitted to eBay.

Create the Ad and Assign it to a Category

Because you will no longer be assigning the eBay category to the posting template, you will need to assign the category for the listing to the Ad instead.  When the listing is submitted, ChannelAdvisor will determine what Item Specifics are related to that category you specify and search your item for attribute names that match those Item Specifics. 

Reference

Below is some additional information regarding the use of Automatic Matching

Converting to Automatic Matching from Category Specific Posting Templates 

Users with many Item Specifics already configured may be able to still utilize them and enable automatic matching..  Also, users that don't want to spend the extra time to manually map all of the elements between inventory and the eBay item specific fields for each category may just want to enable automatic matching and let the items submit with the values that can be linked directly from the inventory items.  For users that already have some category-specific posting templates configured and working but would like to convert to automatic matching, the best way to do that is by following these steps:

1. Enable automatic matching in your account
2. Set up new items using the automatic matching process
3. Validate that the items are being submitted with the fields and information you expect
4. Convert existing items to use the automatic matching posting template
5. Validate the new listings for existing items to ensure proper information is submitted for each of them
   • If you find that some are not processing the way you want, you can always revert them to the category-specific posting template
6. Delete old category-specific posting templates that are no longer used

This step-by-step process allows you to ensure that your new items are processing correctly before making any changes to any of your existing items.  You may also choose to leave existing items as they are already configured and only submit new items through the automatic matching process.

Using Automatic Matching with Variation-Style Listings

Create all of your inventory items with all of the details including the variation information if appropriate for your items.  If you would like to know the values that should be included with your items, you can look in the categories at eBay to see the most common fields used when items are listed.  Across the entire eBay site, the top 15 fields are: 

• Brand
• Material
• Type
• Original/Reproduction
• Metal
• Metal Purity
• Main Stone
• Color (in the US, Colour in the UK)
• Ages
• Size (note that in many clothing categories there is a very specific "Size" element for that category)
• Format
• Style
• Main Color (in the US, Main Colour in the UK)
• Shade (used with the Main Color option to define an exact color)
• Theme

You will notice from the list above that both Color and Age are duplicated with slightly different values.  This is because eBay has one value in some categories and the other value in other categories.  In order to be sure of the exact values for your products, you will need to check the category at eBay to be sure of the item specifics for that category, but keep in mind that they can change at any time.  To make listing variations easier, we have added functionality to  automatically create new item specifics for variation items  when the eBay fields are insufficient.  After you  create ads  and those items are submitted to eBay, the automatic matching rules will fill in all of the appropriate item specifics fields and submit the listing to eBay.

Limitations

Prior to configuring your account to utilize Automatic Matching, please read the limitations below to ensure this feature will fit your selling needs.

• Automatic matching currently only works for the standard item specifics elements.    It does not work for pre-filled item specifics (catalog). 

• Automatic matching requires the name of the inventory attribute to match the eBay field exactly.    If the field name does not match, then the value will not be submitted to eBay.  There is a special exception for variation information, which is detailed on the  Using Automatic Item Specifics Creation for eBay Variation Listings  page.  Other fields that do not match will not be automatically submitted to eBay.  If you would like these to be submitted for an item, you may either rename your inventory attribute to match the eBay name for the field or use a category-specific posting template so you can configure explicit mappings for the values that should be used.
• eBay controls the item specifics options that are available in each category and may change those at any time.    The automatic matching process will use the information that is current at the time of posting though that could change after the item is listed.  Each time an item is submitted to eBay it will be compared against the available fields and those that match the eBay fields will be submitted.  Any others on the inventory item will be skipped.
• The automatic matching process does not affect description HTML, pricing, titles, or any other elements on the eBay listing.    Only the item specifics for the category are controlled by this process.  All other elements of the eBay listing are defined by the options selected on the posting template, ad template or schedule.