Amazon Category
Concept of Amazon Categories
Amazon provides several variations of its category structure depending on the purpose:
- Category structure for buyers
- Category structure for sellers
- Category structure in Amazon API
That is why the same product may be found in different Amazon categories of different categories trees.
Let’s say you sell socks. When assigning the Amazon category using M2E Pro, you can find this product under Sports & Outdoors > Fan Shop > Sports Collectibles > Clothing & Uniforms > Socks.
A buyer, when searching on the Amazon website, can find the same product under Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry > Novelty & More > Novelty > Clothing > Men > Socks.
As you are a seller, when using M2E Pro, you will work with the Categories structure developed by M2E Pro on the basis of the following data sources:
- Amazon API
- Amazon Classifier Category Tree.
Therefore, the category structure on Amazon Seller Central does not coincide with the category structure within M2E Pro.
Amazon Categories in terms of M2E Pro
Each Amazon category has two characteristics:
- Path;
- Browsenode ID.
Browsenode ID is a numeric code that identifies the location of a product category on the Amazon website. It determines the reasonable location, not the path of the category.
Different paths can be used to find the needed category, but you eventually reach the same reasonable category location.
For example, the category “Socks” can be found either under Sports & Outdoors > Fan Shop > Sports Collectibles > Clothing & Uniforms > Socks or under Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry > Novelty & More > Novelty > Clothing > Men > Socks.
To set a category, click Edit in the Category section of your Description Policy. You can choose from Recently Used Categories, browse a Category list, search by keywords, or Browsenode ID.
Product Type
Once the category is set, you should select the relevant Product Type for your item.
Product Type defines the set of available Specifics. You can change the set of Specifics by selecting a different Product Type.
For example, you are selling cell phone chargers, and you need a specific "Charging Time", but it is absent for the selected Product Type. Navigate to the General tab of your Description Policy and change the Product Type, so the required specific becomes available for selection.
Product Types are displayed in three possible ways:
- M2E Pro offers one Product Type to be used in the selected Category, so it is displayed automatically. But you can always change it.
- M2E Pro offers several Product Types to be used in the selected Category.
- M2E Pro does not offer any Product Types to be used in the selected Category.
You may also choose from five of the recently used Product Types for the current Marketplace.
The list of available Product Types varies depending on the Amazon marketplace you are using.
You can change the Product Type whenever you need, except in those cases, when the Category cannot be edited.
Some of the Amazon categories do not support Variational Products. If you choose an unsupported Category, M2E Pro will notify you about it.
If the Category is not selected, you will be able to set options in the Definition tab only. In case you want to add more detailed Product Information, like Specifics, you need to select the Category.
The selected category cannot be changed in the following cases:
- Description Policy is assigned to Magento Product on the basis of which new ASIN/ISBN will be created or is being created now.
- Description Policy is assigned to Magento Product on the basis of which new Child Products may be created for the corresponding Amazon Parent Product. This way, your Amazon Parent and Child Products will be listed in the same category.