How to set up parent/child channels for Amazon

Step 1: Create your Parent channel

1. Go to Channels, click + Create channel and select Amazon V2.
2. Select your Amazon V2 connection and set up your Parent Amazon channel:
   • For Name, choose a name for your channel. (e.g. Parent UK)
   • For Unique ID per item, select the field to pull your product's group ID data. (This is often ‘item_group_id’ or ‘parent_id’). This will be used as  the Seller SKU for the parent in Amazon.
   • For Amazon Country, select the country to advertise your listings.
   • For Listing requirement level, select ‘Product only’.
   • For Amazon error language, select the language you’d like to receive error messages in.
3. Click Continue.

Step 2: Categorize your products

1. Go to the Categories step.
2. Create categories for your listings. You can use ‘Smart Categorization’ to automatically match your items to a likely corresponding category on Amazon, copy categories from an existing Amazon channel, generate categories based on a category field, or create categories from scratch.

Step 3: Create rules 

In this step, you need to group your items so only the parent products remain. To do this, your child products (variants of the parent product), must include a field that ties them to the parent. (e.g. the  item_group_id field)

1. Go to the Rules step in [your Parent channel].
2. Click the ‘+’ icon to create a new rule. Name it “Group items”. Fill in the following rule:

3. Click Save rule.

After this rule, you should have only 1 ‘Parent’ item per group of variant products.

Step 4: Map product attributes

1. In [your parent Amazon channel], navigate to the Build step.
2. In the ‘Shared attributes’ tab, make sure all fields are empty and unmapped. If a field is mapped, click Delete to remove it. Your tab should look like this: 

3. Click Save. 
4. Go to the ‘Attributes per category’ tab and select [your category].
5. Scroll to the Variation theme section and do the following:
   1. For the Parentage level attribute, click the dropdown, select Static values and select the Parent field.
   2. For the Variation Theme attribute, click + Add, select Static values and select what you would like to theme your variants around. Common variation choices are COLOR, SIZE, and SIZE/COLOR.
      
6. If you have set ‘Offer and Product’ for the Listing requirement level, in step 1, scroll down to the Offer section, and set the attribute Skip offer to the static value True. (Click the dropdown field > Static values > True).

7. Fill in any remaining attributes marked as required by Amazon. Mandatory attributes are represented with the color blue.
8. Click Save.
9. Repeat these steps for each category.
10. Go to the Quality step and review and resolve any items flagged with errors.

Step 1: Create your child channel

1. Select your child Amazon channel.
2. For Name choose a name for your channel. (e.g. Child UK)
3. For Unique ID per item, select the ‘id’  field to pull your product's ID data. (This is often ‘id’). This functions as the unique SKU for your variants.
4. For Amazon Country, select the country to advertise your listings.
5. For Listing requirement level, select 'Offer and product'.
6. Click Continue.

Step 2: Categorize your products

1. In [your child channel], go to the Categories step.
2. Copy your categories from your Parent channel.

Step 3: Create rules to enrich, filter, and refine your product data

When your product data is incomplete or doesn’t match the format that Amazon requires, you need to use rules in Channable to make improvements. Create rules to optimize your products and meet Amazon’s listing requirements.

Step 4: Map product attributes

1. In [your child channel], navigate to the Build step.
2. In the ‘Shared attributes’ tab, map all mandatory fields to an appropriate corresponding field from your data.
   1. It is mandatory to map the attributes Item Package Dimensions and Package Weight. These attributes are part of the Shipping section. If you get an error that refers to either weight or dimensions, that there is a strong possibility that the error is referring to these attributes.
      
   2. To set up offers for all Amazon customers, map relevant attributes in the Purchasable offer (Standard) section. Click + Add to view and map attributes related to Offer information and Discount price, respectively.
   3. To set up exclusive offers for registered Amazon Business (B2B) accounts, map relevant attributes in the Purchasable offer (Business price) section. Click + Add to view and map attributes related to offer information, and + Discount to add discount details.
      
3. Click Save. 
4. Go to the ‘Attributes per category’ tab and select [your category]. Scroll to the Variation theme section.
   1. At the Child Parent Sku Relationship heading, click + Add and fill in the following attributes:
      1. For the Child Relationship Type attribute, click the dropdown, select Static values > Variation.
      2. For the Parent SKU attribute, click the dropdown and select item_group_id.
   2. For the Parentage level attribute, click the dropdown, select Static values > Child.
   3. For the Variation Theme attribute, click + Add, select Static values and choose what you would like to theme your variants around. Common variation choices are COLOR, SIZE, and SIZE/COLOR.
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat these steps for each category.
7. Go to the Quality step and review and resolve any items flagged with errors.

Step 1: Activate your channels

1. Click Channel to return back to your channel overview page. Select the Settings step in [your parent channel]. 
2. Click Activate API > Save.
3. Click X to return to your Channel overview page. 
4. Click Run now to send your product listings to Amazon.
5. Once your parent channel has run, check your Amazon Seller account to see if your parent products are visible. If they’re not, follow our troubleshooting guide.
6. Back in Channable, click Channels and select the Settings step in the Edit column of [your child channel].
7. Click Run now to send your product listings to Amazon.

Your Amazon seller account should look something like this:

Step 2: Review and fix listing errors

Amazon has strict data requirements for product listings. This step explains how to check if your listings are live and how to review and fix issues preventing them from listing.

1. Go to the Result step in [your parent Amazon channel] and click on the Feedback tab. This page displays all issues your product data has at a given moment, including errors (actively need resolving) and warnings (recommended to review)
2. Return to the Overview tab. This page is an overview of your products and their listing status. Click the All dropdown to filter by status:
   • Active listings: Products successfully listed on Amazon
   • Inactive listings: Products listed on Amazon, but not active
   • Incomplete listings: Products missing information required to get listed 
   • No match found: Products not found in Amazon’s catalog
3. Return to the Feedback tab and begin resolving issues, starting with submission errors.
   
   Tip: Resolving submission errors before listing errors can prevent the error from affecting other listings.
   1. See what caused the error by clicking on the red error code (in Description).
   2. Note the attribute causing the error (e.g. ‘Item Weight’) and click Go to attribute. This redirects you to the attribute you need to fix (at the top of the page)
   3. Re-map the field(s) causing the issue by selecting a static field (if available), a field from your project data, or entering a custom value to be applied across all products (manual value).
   4. Click Save.
4. Repeat these steps for other errors.
5. Click Run now to resend your products to Amazon.
6. Repeat this whole step in [your child Amazon channel].

Amazon needs time to process and list your products. The time this takes varies, depending on the number of products you're sending. In most cases, your listings should be live within 3 to 5 hours.

To see which listings are live in the meantime, you can perform a Dry run at any time. For the best chance of getting your products live, resolve as many submission errors as possible before doing this, as Dry runs clear submission errors which can only be retrieved again in later normal runs.

If your Amazon channel isn’t working as it should, consult our Amazon API troubleshooter article.