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What does "Could not retrieve metadata, may not be a valid id Walmart" mean during bulk item id upload?
What does "Could not retrieve metadata, may not be a valid id Walmart" mean during bulk item id upload?

What to do when you're getting an "Invalid Item ID" error when trying to manually upload an item id to Perpetua.

Claire Lee avatar
Written by Claire Lee
Updated over a week ago

As mentioned in a previous article, all of your items that you would like to advertise on Walmart may not appear on Perpetua's platform. As a workaround, you may manually add products via our "Bulk Add Item Ids" feature.

Invalid Item ID

So, you have tried to manually upload an item ID but you are getting this error message:

Here are some reasons as to why this could be happening and what steps to take next to resolve this issue:

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Issue #1: The item id(s) that you're uploading are for variant (child) items.

Please make sure that the items you are adding or uploading are base (parent) items and not variant items. Sponsored Products doesn’t support advertising variant items at this time.

During the item setup process, one item is classified as a base item ID (item that appears when users search on Walmart.com) and any variations to that item (such as color, pattern, size, etc.) are considered variants.

Solution: To check whether the item id(s) you've entered has a base (parent) item id, click the "Check for Parent ID" button on the right side of each item id.

If it does populate a base (parent) item id after clicking, please proceed to copy the base item id(s) and re-add those item ids instead.

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Issue #2: Make sure this is a correct item id.

Sometimes, you might just be entering the wrong item id.

Solution: If you don't know your item ID, this can be easily found either on your Walmart Seller Central account or by searching for your product on Walmart.com and using the last 9 digits found in the product's URL.

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Issue #3: Not all your items are in your catalog and are published.

Solution: Ensure all the items you are adding are in your seller/supplier center catalog and are published. If you recently published or updated an item, it may take up to 7 days from the date it was published/updated for you to be able to add the item to the platform.

To verify whether the item ids you're trying to add are in fact in your seller/supplier center catalog and associated with the Sponsored Products account you're advertising with, you can try:

1. Log into your Walmart Sponsored Products account here through the "Sign in with Walmart.com" portal.

2. Ensure you're on the correct Walmart Sponsored Products account.

3. Click on the "Keywords" tab.

4. Click the "Add Items" button and try searching for the item id.

5. If you get a "No Items found for a given search" message, it means the item id you are trying is not associated with this Sponsored Products account/is not in your catalog/not published yet. Therefore, you will not be able to advertise these items on Walmart.

Note: If you are both 1P and 3P on Walmart, there is also a good chance that the item ids you're trying to add are set up under a different account than the account you're trying to advertise with. Ex. You currently have a 3P Sponsored Products account that you're trying to advertise with, but the item ids you're trying to add are set up as 1P. In this case, you would have to create a separate 1P Sponsored Products accounts in order to advertise those 1P listings.

To create a new Sponsored Products account, follow the steps here.

If you're confused about why items aren't associated with your Sponsored Products account, please contact Walmart Seller or Supplier help to assist you further.

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Article last updated December 10th, 2021. If you find this information to be out of date, please contact hello@perpetua.io.

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