How to connect a Mergado feed to OpenAI Ads Manager#

To show your products in ads in ChatGPT, OpenAI Ads Manager needs your product feed. Mergado prepares it in the ChatGPT Shopping format and delivers it regularly. Your Mergado and Ads Manager accounts are not linked in any way. Mergado simply sends the current feed to the location you specify.

In this article, you will learn which connection method to choose, how to set up the recommended SFTP connection step by step, both when creating a new project and for a project you already have, and what to do when the products in Ads Manager do not match.

Which connection method to choose#

When you create a feed, Ads Manager offers three options:

There is no need to worry about SFTP. It sounds technical, but you only set it up once. Ads Manager generates the login details for you, and Mergado then sends the feed automatically.

Before you start#

• Check the quality of your feed in Mergado Audit. Ads Manager gives almost no feedback on data errors, so it is better to fix them in advance. The most common missing values are the description (description) and the brand (brand).
• Open two windows side by side: Ads Manager and Mergado. You will copy the login details from one to the other.

Step 1: Create a feed in Ads Manager#

1. In Ads Manager, go to Tools → Feeds.
2. Click Create Feed.
3. Fill in the Display name, for example the name of your online store and the country.
4. Under How will you send products?, select SFTP connection.
5. Click Create.

Step 2: Generate the SFTP login details#

Once the feed is created, the Connect your feed via SFTP panel opens.

1. Under Choose authentication, select password authentication and generate a password.
2. Copy the password right away and store it safely. Once you close the window, you will not see it again. If you lose it, you have to generate a new one and update it in Mergado Keychain as well (see FAQ).
3. Under Add connection details, you will find the details you need in Mergado:
   • Host: the server address, for example sftp.commerce.openai.com or sftp-prod3.commerce.openai.com
   • Username: a long string starting with oaiproductfeedprod
   • Upload path: /
   • Port: 443

⚠️ The server address (Host) differs from feed to feed. Always copy it exactly from Ads Manager. A username and password will not work with a different server.

Keep the panel open, as you will copy values from it into Mergado.

Step 3: Fill in the connection in Mergado#

You can set up the connection in Mergado in two ways, depending on whether you are creating a new project or already have one:

• Creating a new project? Fill in the connection directly in the project creation wizard (option A). You will not need to set anything up afterwards.
• Already have a project, for example with just an output feed URL and no SFTP? Add the connection in the project settings (option B).

Option A: When creating a new project#

This video shows the process:

1. Start creating a new project as described in How to create a new project in Mergado.
2. In the output format step, select the country and choose ChatGPT Shopping as the output format (for example ChatGPT Shopping [CZ] TSV).
3. Below the format selection, turn on the Upload output feed to OpenAI SFTP (optional) toggle. The connection to OpenAI is pre-filled, so you only need to add your login details.
4. Fill in the Username (the Username from Ads Manager), keep Password selected as the authentication method, and enter the Password generated in Ads Manager.
5. Click Show advanced settings and check the Server URL. It is pre-filled with sftp.commerce.openai.com. If Ads Manager shows a different Host for your feed, replace it. Leave the Port 443 and the Remote directory / unchanged.
6. Continue through the wizard to the end.

On the last screen of the wizard, you will see a green message saying that the file is being exported to an external SFTP service, along with the server address. The connection is saved in Mergado Keychain in the background, and Mergado uploads the feed to it right after the first export. Continue with step 4.

Option B: For an existing project#

This video also shows the process:

1. In Mergado, open the project with the ChatGPT Shopping output and go to Settings.
2. Find the SFTP/FTP/FTPS server section and click New connection.
3. Fill in the form:
   • Connection type: SFTP
   • Username: the Username from Ads Manager
   • Authentication: Password
   • Password: the password generated in Ads Manager
   • Server URL: the Host from Ads Manager
   • Port: 443 (replace the default value 22)
   • Remote directory: /
   • File name: any name, for example chatgpt-shopping-cz
   • Connection name: optional, helps you tell connections apart if you have more than one
4. Click Save.

The new connection then appears in the connection overview with the status Connected. The connection is also saved in Mergado Keychain, so you can reuse it in other projects.

💡 In the project settings, you can only create, view, or disconnect a connection. To edit an existing connection, for example to change the password or server address, use Mergado Keychain.

Step 4: Check the upload#

1. For an existing project (option B), click Regenerate changed in the project Settings. Mergado creates an export and uploads it to SFTP right away. For a new project (option A), the first export and upload run automatically once you finish the wizard. After that, uploads run automatically after every project regeneration.
2. Check the upload in Mergado:
   • in the project Overview, in the Last upload to external storage row,
   • in the project History, after filtering by the External storage event. For a failed upload, you will also see the reason here.
3. Check the result in Ads Manager. The SFTP feed panel has an Upload and verify section that detects the uploaded file automatically and shows the processing result. If nothing happens, click Refresh. You will find the total number of products in Tools → Feeds in the Products column, and the details of individual uploads on the Upload History tab.

Processing on the OpenAI side may take a while, so the product count may not update immediately after the upload.

The numbers in the two places can differ. Upload History shows how many products the uploaded file contained, including products that are out of stock. The Products column on the Feed Connection tab shows only the products OpenAI has processed and can use in ads. Hover over the icon next to the number to see the detailed breakdown.

What to do when something is not working#

Ads Manager shows many more products than my feed has#

OpenAI reads all files in the feed’s SFTP folder and adds up the products from all of them. If you set up the connection more than once or changed the file name, the old file stays on the server and its products are still counted.

Solution:

• Delete the old file. Connect to SFTP with the same details as in Mergado, for example using FileZilla or Cyberduck, and delete all files except the one whose name matches the File name in the project settings. The status.json file belongs to OpenAI, so leave it there.
• Or start with a clean feed. In Ads Manager, create a new feed with new login details. Its folder will be empty. Then disconnect the old connection in Mergado and fill in the new one. You will need to reconnect any campaigns linked to the old feed to the new one.

Ads Manager shows fewer products than my feed has#

OpenAI does not process products that are out of stock for ads, that is products with the value out_of_stock in the availability element. You will still see them among the uploaded products on the Upload History tab, but they are missing from the Products column on the Feed Connection tab. A smaller part of the difference is usually made up of products OpenAI has not approved. Hover over the icon next to the product count to see their number in the Not approved row.

Solution:

• Hide products that are out of stock. Create a product query that selects out-of-stock products based on the availability element in your feed, and use it in the Hide Product rule. The feed then contains only products that can appear in ads, and the counts in Mergado and in Ads Manager match. As soon as a product is back in stock, it reappears in the feed automatically.
• Check the products that were not approved in Mergado Audit. Ads Manager usually does not give a reason for rejection; most often it is missing required data, such as the brand.

The SFTP upload is not working#

You can see the reason for the error in the project History under the External storage event. The most common causes are:

• You changed the password. When you generate a new password in Ads Manager, the old one stops working. Update the password for the existing SFTP connection in Mergado Keychain. You cannot edit the connection in the project settings.
• The server address does not match. Each feed may have a different Host. Compare the Server URL of the connection in Mergado Keychain with the Host value in Ads Manager, and correct it there if needed.
• Wrong port. OpenAI uses port 443, not the default 22.

The feed has 0 products or Ads Manager rejected it without giving a reason#

Ads Manager often does not say what is wrong with the data. Check the feed in Mergado Audit, which shows how to fix each error. Then fix the errors with rules in Mergado, not manually product by product.

A Hosted URL connection cannot be saved or the feed does not load#

We are aware of cases where Ads Manager does not accept a URL connection even though the same feed works via SFTP. If the URL does not work for you, switch to SFTP as described in this guide.

The feed or images are not downloading because of a firewall#

If your online store is protected by Cloudflare or another firewall, it may block downloads of the input feed and images. Follow the guide How to set up Cloudflare to not block feed and image downloads.

FAQ#

Do I have to connect the feed via SFTP?#

No, SFTP is not mandatory. You can also add the feed to Ads Manager as a Hosted URL. However, we recommend SFTP because it is more reliable and Mergado uploads the feed to it after every regeneration.

Can I add SFTP to a project I already have?#

Yes. Follow option B in step 3. You do not need to create the project again.

How often is the feed updated in Ads Manager?#

Mergado uploads the current feed to SFTP after every project regeneration. When OpenAI processes it is up to Ads Manager.

Can I send multiple Mergado projects to one feed in Ads Manager?#

We do not recommend it. OpenAI reads all files in the folder and adds up the products, so products from different projects would be mixed in one feed. Create a separate feed in Ads Manager for each project.

Will the products from the feed also appear in regular ChatGPT answers?#

No. A feed uploaded to Ads Manager is used only for paid ads. Organic product listings in ChatGPT are a separate OpenAI program.

I lost my SFTP password. What now?#

Ads Manager shows the password only once. Here is what to do:

1. In Ads Manager, generate a new password in the feed’s SFTP connection settings. This makes the old one invalid.
2. In Mergado, open Mergado Keychain, find the existing SFTP connection to OpenAI, and edit its password.
3. Save. Mergado will log in with the new password at the next project regeneration.

Change the password in Keychain, not in the project settings. You cannot edit the connection there. You can only disconnect it or create a new one.