Product Title

The title defines the exact nature of the product for a customer to understand easily.  You should avoid using the brand as the beginning of the product title as the brand is automatically added to the item’s title when the item goes live on the site.  Please also ensure that you are not using special characters or including pricing in your title.

Note : This field is limited to 128 characters.

Product Description

A good description of the product will give a customer much deeper insights about the product / item’s functionality and its salient features. The additional details can be useful for decision making before one purchases an item from Sears.  Since the touch and feel is not available on ecommerce / online shopping, a clear explanation of the item helps customers to understand more about the item’s dimensions, weight, color, and maybe even the multipurpose design.

Types of Descriptions

• Short Description: Provide a short description of the product.  This is a required field and is limited to 2400 characters which should include as many details as possible about the item.  You can use limited HTML text in this field 
• Long Description: This field represents the long product description which will be displayed on the product page.  This is an optional field and should not be the same as the short description.  The long description is limited to 8000 Characters only.  To avoid errors, do not include HTML tags or any special characters (ex. * $ & +)

Bullet Points: Sellers can also use HTML tags for creating bullet points to highlight the key features of an item, which will help a customer understand the product more in detail.  The more organized the content in the long description, the smaller the chance that a customer will return the product on delivery.

This helps avoid Order Returns to a seller because of insufficient information or due to the customer overlooking the details mentioned in the long description.

Allowed HTML tags

<br>Single line break
<p>Defines a paragraph</p>
<ul>Unordered list</ul>
<ol>Ordered list</ol>
<li>List item</li>
<h1>HTML heading 1</h1>
<h2>HTML heading 2</h2>
<h3>HTML heading 3</h3>
<h4>HTML heading 4</h4>
<b>Bold</b>
<strong>Strong text</strong>
<u>Underline</u>
<i>Italics</i>
<em>Emphasized text</em>
<blockquote>Long quotation</blockquote>
<nobr>nonbroken text</nobr>
<pre>Preformatted text</pre>

Brand Name

For an item to be built on Sears, the brand of that particular product / item is required. The brand primarily defines the name under which the items are to be sold or traded in the market.  This can be the manufacturer’s name itself. It’s also possible that the manufacturer produces items differing in nature or a range of products with different names. The title of the item could differ, but the brand name remains the same. (Example Acme, Sony, Dell. OEM, Aftermarket etc.)

Note: If the item is unbranded, brand name field should be mentioned as ‘Generic’ 

Manufacturer Model Number (MMN)

All items require a manufacturer model number.  This model number cannot be more than 40 characters and cannot contain spaces or special characters.  Please locate the item in question that is causing this error and make the necessary changes to the manufacturer model number and re-upload the item.

Universal Product Code (UPC)

A UPC is a 12-digit barcode that is found on the packaging of an item. To upload an item on Sears, UPC codes are required.

These UPC codes are provided by the manufacturer, which they buy. Each of these unique codes can be used globally to identify and ascertain if the items are genuine as defined by the manufacturer.

Key benefits of UPC:

1. It can be used for matching information about items that are available on the Sears.com website.
2. This code helps to match the information with other sellers selling the same items on the site.
3. It gives confidence to a member / customer to purchase an item as it has authentic information.
4. UPCs allow other search engines outside Sears.com to discover items available on Sears. (Example Google and Bing)
5. The codes enhance visibility on internet, thereby driving more sales for an item/s.

Do’s for Seller’s about UPC

• The UPC codes have to be reviewed by seller to ensure they are accurate.
• If multiple barcodes are present on the packaging, then seller has to search for UPC validation program on the internet to ascertain the code.
• Only valid UPC codes should be provided by a seller to upload an item on Sears.
• Seller has to contact the manufacturer if the UPC codes are invalid and if they do not show any results on the internet.

UPC (vs) Item Condition:

Any item that is uploaded on Sears needs a UPC code provided by the manufacturer.  Irrespective of the condition, whether it is New, Used or Refurbished, there will be UPCs created / purchased by the manufacturer / seller.

Providing the UPC is always beneficial to all items that are uploaded for sale on Sears.  This is applicable for all categories of items that are available on Sears.  UPC is a required field in Bulk Excel Templates and also in User Interface on the seller portal.

UPC Exemption process:

When a seller is sure that the manufacturer does not provide UPC codes for the items, then UPC field can be exempted for the seller account. 

Steps to get UPC Exemption

• Seller has to use the Contact Us Form to get UPCs exempted for the account.
• On the form, select the topic “Products and inventory” and subtopic “Brand Exception Request”
• In the message field – please provide the brand names that you need exemption for.

The Sears Marketplace Seller Support team will verify if the same brands do come with UPC codes on the internet and on other ecommerce platforms, and will grant exemption accordingly.

If the same brands have UPC codes, then the request might get rejected.  If the team confirms items do not have UPC codes, then the request will be granted.

MAP Price Indicator (Minimum Advertised Price)

Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) is an agreement between suppliers and retailers stipulating the lowest price an item is allowed to be advertised at.

Note: The MAP Indicator only needs to be utilized when your pricing (either sale or sell) is below the published MAP price provided by the manufacturer. 

The MAP Indicator allows sellers to select from 2 different levels of MAP pricing. These are Strict or Non-Strict.

Strict MAP Pricing: The price of the item or any discounts applied will not be displayed in the product page at all. Customers will see the original price crossed out on the product page with the text “Add to cart to see our price”.
When the customer adds the item to their cart they will then see the sale price. See Example 1 below.

Non-Strict Map Pricing: The sale price of the item will not be displayed in the product page, however whatever discount that is applied to that item will be shown. The customer will see the original price in the product page with the text “Additional $### savings Applied at cart”.  When the customer adds the item to their cart they will then see the sale price. See Example 2 below.

If MAP Pricing Indicator is left blank (in the bulk spreadsheet) or left on select (in the user interface) then the sale price will display as normal in the product page. See Example 3 below.

To set MAP using the User interface please follow the guidelines below.

1. Go to Products > Browse & Edit > Single
2. Select the product you would like to edit and select ‘Edit’
3. Go to the Details page
4. For any item for which there is a MAP, the Standard Price MUST always be set to what the manufacturer has advised is the Minimum Advertised Price.
5. If the seller wishes to sell a MAP restricted item below this price, they should then enter a sale price in the Sale Price field, as well as a Sale Start and End Date.
6. You then must change the MAP Price Indicator from “Select” to either “Strict” or “Non-Strict”
7. Finally, to complete the change, click Save at the bottom of the page.
   *Please note changes to MAP may take approximately 48 to 72 hours to reflect online.

To set MAP using bulk templates, please follow the guidelines below.

1. Download the item level or generic bulk template within the seller portal under Products > Browse & Edit > Bulk.
2. For any item for which there is a MAP, the Standard Price MUST always be set to what the manufacturer has advised is the Minimum Advertised Price.
3. You can then set the sale price and dates under the Sale Price and Sale Date columns.
4. Next, enter “Strict” or Non-Strict” under the MAP Price Indicator column.
5. Finally, save and upload the template in the seller portal under step 3 of  Products > Browse & Edit > Bulk.
   *Please note changes to MAP may take approximately 48 to 72 hours to reflect online.

Example 1 (Strict MAP)

Example 2 (Non-Strict MAP)

Example 3 (Item without MAP Indicator set)

Shipping Dimension

This field is required for all items irrespective the category, size or weight. Dimensions help seller to assess the height, width and length to check if that particular item fits their requirement (exceeds the expectations or does not meet any or all)

On Sears the product dimensions are required and are categorized as under.

1. Shipping Length
2. Shipping Width
3. Shipping Height
4. Shipping Weight

Shipping Length, Width & Height:  All these three elements are measured in inches and only numeric values are allowed.  Sellers are suggested to avoid using any measure value such as inches or symbol (“) after the number.

Specifically speaking shipping length, Width & Height are of the packaging of the product.  Please note that this is not the measurement of the shipping box sent to the warehouse or the customer.

The shipping measurement value must be greater than 0. You can enter up to 6 digits before the decimal point and two after – Maximum value –  99,999.99

Shipping Weight:  This is measured in pounds and only numeric values are allowed.  Sellers are suggested to avoid using any measure value such as pounds or ounces or lbs after the number.

This indicates the weight of one sellable item.  Measure in pounds.  Please note that this is not the weight of the shipping box sent to the warehouse or the customer.

Shipping weight value must be greater than 0. Enter whole lbs only – no ounces. Maximum value – 2000.0 lbs.

Item Condition:  This field is required for all items irrespective of the category, size or weight.  In item condition mostly it would be a ‘NEW’ but there are cases where a seller has refurbished items.  This helps the customer to understand if the item that he plans to buy is new or a refurbished / used item.

There are only selected categories in which Sears allows selling of refurbished items. You can reach out to the seller support team to understand which category has the refurbished items as an option and then can list accordingly.

When selling a refurbished item, the condition note and url is mandatory to give a customer a better look at the condition for any scratches or major damage on the item before proceeding to buy one from Sears.

Category of items that can be under used/refurbished condition:  Sellers can view or download the categories in which Sears allows them to list Used/Refurbished items. 

Please follow the path below to download Item class commission table from Sears Seller Portal

Products>Product Mgmt>Bulk>Supporting files>Item class Commission Table

Product Safety

This section is optional.  Sellers are encouraged to complete as many of these as possible when building items. These are safety alerts that are displayed on the product page.  These safety alerts are important to anyone that might be buying an item that will be around small children.

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