Testing

Before submitting an item list data file to CJ, validate your file structure and content locally. This page covers how to check your file for common errors, how to interpret the Receipt and Results emails CJ sends after each submission, and how to resolve the rejection reasons most specific to item list files.

Step 1: Validate Your File Structure

Open your file in a plain text editor before submitting. Check each of the following:

Header validation

Confirm your header contains the required CID and SUBID fields. For all delimited formats, header field names must be prefixed with & (for example, &CID=2532539845). Verify that:

• The CID matches your advertiser account number.
• The SUBID matches the Subscription ID provided by CJ for item list transfers (not a different subscription type).
• The PROCESSTYPE value is either OVERWRITE or UPDATE and reflects your intent for this submission.
• If you are using a non-default character encoding, &ENCODING= is present in the header with the correct value.

Body record validation

For each record, confirm:

• All three fields are present in the correct column order: itemname, itemid, listid.
• The itemname does not exceed 100 characters.
• The itemid does not exceed 100 characters, contains no spaces, and does not include any of the restricted characters: & = ; ? > <.
• The itemid case exactly matches the value as entered in the Item Lists area of CJ Account Manager. An itemid of SKU123 will not match sku123.
• The listid is a valid numeric List ID from your CJ Account Manager. Submitting an itemid against a listid that does not exist in your account will be rejected.

Process type review

Before submitting, do a final check on the processtype in your header relative to the lists referenced in the file:

• If PROCESSTYPE=OVERWRITE is set, every item currently in each referenced list will be replaced by the contents of this file. Confirm that your file contains the complete desired state of each list it references.
• If PROCESSTYPE=UPDATE is set, confirm that no list referenced in the file should instead be fully replaced. If different lists require different process behavior, split them into separate file submissions.

Delimiter and encoding validation

• Confirm that no field value contains the file delimiter character (commas in CSV, tabs in tab-delimited, pipes in pipe-delimited).
• Confirm that no field value contains a pipe character ( | ) regardless of format.
• Confirm that no line ends in trailing whitespace.
• For CSV files exported from Excel, open the file in a text editor and confirm that no trailing commas appear at the end of header lines. Remove them manually if present.

Step 2: Test with a Small File First

Before submitting a large production batch, build a minimal test file with two to five records covering the lists you plan to manage. If you are testing an OVERWRITE submission, use a non-production list or a list you are comfortable fully replacing. If you are testing an UPDATE submission, include one new item and one item name change for an existing itemid to confirm both scenarios process correctly.

After the test file processes, verify the results in the Item Lists area of CJ Account Manager before submitting your full batch.

Step 3: Submit Your File and Confirm Receipt

Transfer your file to CJ using the delivery method specified in your item list data transfer subscription. After the file is received, CJ sends a Receipt email to the email address associated with your advertiser account.

The Receipt email confirms the file was accepted for queuing. If you do not receive a Receipt email within a reasonable period:

• Open the file in a text editor and check for trailing commas at the end of header lines (common in CSV files exported from Excel). A file with malformed headers will not generate a Receipt email.
• Confirm the file was delivered to the correct location specified in your subscription.
• Confirm the SUBID in the header matches your item list subscription.
• Contact your CJ account representative if the issue persists.

Step 4: Review the Results Email

After processing completes, CJ sends a Results email summarizing the outcome of each record. Review this email to identify any rejected records and their rejection reasons.

Common rejection reasons for item list data files and how to resolve them:

Invalid listid The listid value in a record does not correspond to an item list in your account. Verify the List ID by checking the Item Lists area of CJ Account Manager. Ensure the value is numeric and matches exactly.

Invalid itemid characters The itemid value contains a space or one of the restricted characters (& = ; ? > <). Remove or replace the restricted character and resubmit. Confirm the corrected value matches exactly what is used in your catalog and in CJ Account Manager.

itemid case mismatch The itemid in the file does not match the case of the value in CJ Account Manager. The itemid field is case-sensitive. For example, Sku123 and SKU123 are treated as different values. Align the case in your file to match the value in Account Manager exactly.

itemname exceeds character limit The itemname value is longer than 100 characters. Shorten the name and resubmit.

itemid exceeds character limit The itemid value is longer than 100 characters. Shorten the ID or use an abbreviated version and update CJ Account Manager to match before resubmitting.

Encoding error A character in the file falls outside the encoding specified in the header, or a non-default encoding was used but not declared with &ENCODING= in the header. Re-export the file with the correct encoding and add the encoding header field if necessary.

Unexpected items removed after OVERWRITE This is not a processing error, but a common operational issue. If an OVERWRITE submission was submitted when UPDATE was intended, items that were in the list but not in the file have been removed. Resubmit a complete OVERWRITE file containing all items you want in the list, or contact your CJ account representative if recovery assistance is needed.

Step 5: Confirm Item Lists in CJ Account Manager

After the Results email confirms your records processed successfully, log in to CJ Account Manager and navigate to the Item Lists area. Verify that:

• The correct SKUs appear in each list.
• Item names reflect any updates submitted in the file.
• No unintended items were removed (particularly after OVERWRITE submissions).

Once your lists are correct, you can attach them to program terms and assign commission rates as needed.