Products jumping categories

[newguyintown]

Hi All -

I have had this issue ever since I began working with MM. Some products, very random, will jump category codes and end up not only where they are supposed to be, but also in another location. i.e. Ford water pump shows up in Ford, but also in John Deere, etc. Seems very random, hit or miss, and only on a few items. When I have found the rogues and check my category codes, they are accurate and I only have one code per product. When I view page source for the product, it has a different category code that I did not assign it! Anyone run into this before or have suggestions on possible causes?

Thank you for your time.

-- Just thought about this - is there a way to export a file of "all products belonging to more than one category"? Every product I have goes only into one category, so a file like that would quickly speed up my repair time. Any advice on this would be most welcome.

[wcw]

Are you entering one by one in admin or doing a flat file import?

[newguyintown]

forgot to mention that - flat text file. I use Excel to create my databases and then create a flat text file from that to upload into MM.

I just happened to find a good example (http://www.farmlandtractor.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=FTS&Category_Code=N-ALL-8010-WAP) for you to view. If you view page source, you can see that the category code for the case pump is listed as
_Code=N-ALL-8010-WAP

However, in both my Excel file and the flat text file created from it,
category code is N-CAS-130-WAP.

Not sure why this is happening, but it's frustrating!

[wcw]

Did you double check the flat file to make sure the category was correct in that before you uploaded?

If it was, compare the category code in the product line immediately above the problem product to see if it was the same that this product is in.

[newguyintown]

Yes, I double-checked the file - always do just to be safe. And no, the category code for the product directly above the error was NOT the same as either the category it is supposed to be in or the one it shows up in.

The thing is, that these products are always in the category they are supposed to be in, but somehow a duplicate of the product shows up in another category.

[wcw]

It is the same product code right? Thus it is not a duplicate of the product. It is the same product. It is just assigned to a 2nd category.

[newguyintown]

Sorry - yes, same product code, so not actually a "duplicate" - just the same product showing up in a second category.

[wcw]

I've never seen a product get randomly assigned to another category. That usually requires going to a category, clicking products, finding the product, inserting a check in the box for the product, clicking update. Unless you have a 3rd party module that lets you assign products to categories.

[newguyintown]

No 3rd party mods for product category assignment. Only mods we have are your Powersearch, your Mail Manager, your EZ-Batch Report, and Sebenza's Category Template manager. None of those should be causing this.

I have yet to find someone that can explain this to me. Confused my host, baffled MM customer support. Not sure what to do as it is a real pain to find out time to time that some rogue product is wandering around my site.

[Leanne]

If you export your products and include the category codes, do the products show as being assigned to both categories?

[newguyintown]

Found out two things -

(First) Yes - when exported, both the correct category (I only enter one per product in my spreadsheets) and the incorrect category are listed.

(Second) I can't export product files correctly! I asked to export products for product codes 18000-18100. I received a list for product codes 18783-18885. Fortunately (?!?) there were the same errors in that batch, so I was able to get an answer for you on your question, Leanne.

--------------------

I caught this reply before it set and added this note -

I was able to download the Case pump I showed in my "good example". That particular item exports with no category code at all! Still shows up in two categories (it's own, and the example location).

Very strange.

I have noticed that this only occurs in two specific product categories. They are not related products, one created when I began working with MM and another recently. Only those two areas seem effected, yet I don't see any similar "errors" or issues that could make this situation occur.

[Leanne]

When you exported the case pump what settings did you use? Some settings won't include the category information.

FYI, the number range is not the product code range, but the product "count" range, so your export was probably correct. In other words, product codes 18783 - 18885 are the 18000th to the 18100th products listed in the database.

So you're saying this only happens with two particular categories?

[newguyintown]

Well, the number range thing makes much more sense now - good to know!

The settings are:

File: products.dat
Products to Export: 18000 to 18100
Category Settings: Include Category List
Export Format: Import Products from Flat File
Custom Fields: Model# and Part# selected
If file exists: Append
Export Field Names as Header box checked.

Yes, this only happens with Water Pumps (at export, some showed own category code plus rogue category code and some showed no category code) and also in Spindles (I have crankshafts from one brand line showing up in some of the categories). I see no relation between the categories effected and the rogues, it's not an error in my text files, so I'm pretty confused.

Thanks for helping me figure this out.

[Leanne]

What happens if you delete the rogue categories, and then re-import just the products assigned to those categories?

[newguyintown]

I'm in the process up removing the rogue items piece-meal (annoying) since I don't see a way to export "products that are in more than one category". Once they're out, it would look fine since each item is in it's proper place as well as the unwanted place.

What benefit would there be to re-uploading the remaining accurate products since they are already where they should be?

[newguyintown]

Also, I have fixed the page my example led to, so if anyone needs to see what I am talking about, let me know and I'll get another.