Manual for Channel and Brand Partners: Personal Catalog File (PCF)

Version: 1.0
Updated on: October 12th, 2026

This manual explains what the Personal Catalog File is, when we recommend it, and how to keep it up to date and download it automatically. Use it if you want the content of your own product list (texts, specifications and media links) in one file per language, without processing XML or JSON.

To generate and download the PCF by hand, see Manual for Channel and Brand Partners: Downloading Your Personal Files in MyIcecat.

To compare the PCF with the other ways of receiving Icecat content, see Manual for Channel Partners: How to Choose Your Integration with the Icecat Catalogue.

1. What the PCF is

The Personal Catalog File is a Product CSV for your whole product list. A Product CSV gives you the content of one product. The PCF gives you the same content, in the same structure, for every product from your product file that Icecat matched.

There is one file per language.
Each row is one product.
Each row holds identifiers, category, product family and series, titles, descriptions, marketing and SEO texts, specifications, links to images, the gallery, PDFs, manuals, videos and other multimedia, reasons to buy, bullet points and variants.

The columns and their content are described in the Product CSV manual. This manual covers only what is specific to the PCF.

2. When we recommend the PCF

Use the PCF when:

Your team works in spreadsheets, or imports CSV into a PIM, ERP or webshop that cannot process XML or JSON.
You want your whole assortment in one download per language, instead of one request per product.
You refresh your content daily, and a full file each day suits your import.

The PCF does not carry all the content that the Product XML and Product JSON data sheets deliver. For what each format contains, and when another channel fits better, see Manual for Channel Partners: How to Choose Your Integration with the Icecat Catalog.

3. Before you start

Upload your product file and match it. See Matching and Coverage Analysis of Your Catalog. The PCF is built from the matched products. To include your own product ID in the PCF, mark the column that holds it when you upload the file.
Generate your first PCF by hand on the My downloads page (see Downloading Your Personal Files in MyIcecat). Choose the languages and the specification layout there, and check the result.
Get an API token (Channel Partners, for automatic download). See Manual: Access Tokens as Alternative to IP Whitelists & Basic Auth. Treat the token like a password: keep it on your server only.

If you want your PCF to update automatically (Channel Partners)

Without regular updates, your PCF is rebuilt only when you generate it on the My downloads page. With regular updates, Icecat re-matches your product file and rebuilds your PCF automatically. To get there:

Give us a link to your product file, not a file from your computer. Choose the URL option when you upload. Icecat then downloads your file again and re-matches it automatically. A file uploaded from your computer is a one-time snapshot: it is never re-matched automatically, and regular updates cannot be requested for it. If you need a place to host the file, see How to host your Product Feed.
Request regular updates. On the My downloads page, click Request updates. Your request goes to Icecat, and we turn on regular updates for your account. You can send one request every 7 days.
If regular updates are not switched on after your request, contact your account manager.

With regular updates on, your PCF is rebuilt in every language of your subscription. Tick Inform about updates on the My downloads page to receive an email each time a new file is ready.

Brand Partners: see section 8.

4. Languages and formats

Languages. You receive one file for each language you choose from your subscription. With regular updates, you receive all of them. INT is the international file: it contains language-independent content.

Formats.

Format	When to use it
CSV	Automation, and large product lists. Files rebuilt by regular updates are always CSV.
Excel (XLSX)	A one-off download that you open in Excel. An Excel sheet holds about one million rows at most, so use CSV for very large product lists.

The format of values (separators, line breaks, multi-value fields) is the same as in the Product CSV. Column headers are always in English, whatever the language of the content.

5. What is specific to the PCF

The PCF has the same columns as the Product CSV, plus the following.

Columns that show what you asked for

The first columns repeat the product you asked for in your product file, so you can link every row back to your own data:

Column	What it contains
`Requested_prod_id`	The product code from your product file.
`Requested_GTIN(EAN/UPC)`	The GTIN from your product file.
`Requested_Icecat_id`	The Icecat product ID, if your file contained one.
`ErrorMessage`	Empty when you can access the product. Otherwise, the reason why you cannot, and the row has no content.
`Your product ID`	Conditional, last fixed column. Your own internal product ID. Present when you marked an internal ID column in your product file.

Specification layout

You choose one of two layouts with the Feature names as headers option on the My downloads page:

Unticked (default): Specs 1, Specs 2, … Each cell holds either a specification group name or one specification as Name: value.
Ticked: every specification has its own named column, so the same specification is always in the same column. This is easier to import into a database, and works best when your products come from one category or a few similar ones. Each category has its own specifications, so with many categories the file adds a column for each one and gets very wide, while most cells stay empty.

The layout applies to all your PCF files. Changing it deletes your existing PCF files, so generate the PCF again afterward.

Variants

If a line of your product file matches a variant of a product, for example through the variant’s GTIN, the variant gets its own row. That row has the variant’s product code, GTIN and specifications, and the gallery and multimedia of the main product.

Media links

Image, document and video links are for downloading. Download the files and host them yourself. Do not link to Icecat file links from your shop pages: they can stop working. Where an expiration date column is filled, remove the file from your shop after that date.

6. Which products are in the PCF and which are not

Product	In the PCF?
Matched, and you can access its content	Yes, with full content
Matched, but you cannot access it (for example, a brand that is only in Full Icecat while you have an Open Icecat account)	Yes, as a row with the reason in `ErrorMessage` and no content
Matched, but Icecat has no data sheet for it yet	Yes, as a row with the reason in `ErrorMessage`
Not matched	No. You can download the list of skipped products on the My downloads page.

Always filter on ErrorMessage: import only the rows where it is empty.

This table applies to Channel Partners. For Brand Partners, see section 8.

7. Downloading the PCF automatically (Channel Partners)

Automatic download is available to Channel Partner accounts. Brand Partners: see section 8.

Request

https://icecat.biz/index.cgi?login_form=csv_content;csv_file=/products_csv_lists_new/<IcecatUserID>_<LanguageCode>.<FileFormat>;api_token=<API_TOKEN>

Placeholder	Value
`<IcecatUserID>`	Your Icecat user ID, digits only. It is the number at the start of your PCF file name.
`<LanguageCode>`	The language of the file, for example `INT`, `EN`, `DE`, `FR`, `NL_BE`. Write it exactly as in your PCF file name.
`<FileFormat>`	`csv` for automation.
`<API_TOKEN>`	Your API token. It must belong to a Channel Partner account.

The file name must match your PCF file name exactly. The simplest way is to copy it from a file you downloaded on the My downloads page.
You can separate parameters with ; or &, and the order does not matter.

Compression

The file is sent compressed. Use a client that decompresses automatically. With curl, add --compressed:

curl --compressed -o pcf_EN.csv "https://icecat.biz/index.cgi?login_form=csv_content;csv_file=/products_csv_lists_new/<IcecatUserID>_EN.csv;api_token=<API_TOKEN>"

How often, and checking for a new file

With regular updates switched on: download once a day.
Without regular updates: your PCF changes only when you generate it again on the My downloads page. Download it after each generation.

To avoid downloading the same file twice, first send a HEAD request to the same address. Its Last-Modified header is the time the file was generated. Download only when it is newer than your copy. A HEAD request does not count as a download.

curl -I "https://icecat.biz/index.cgi?login_form=csv_content;csv_file=/products_csv_lists_new/<IcecatUserID>_EN.csv;api_token=<API_TOKEN>"

Errors

What you get	What it means	What to do
A CSV file	Success	Import it.
`<` or `>` characters visible in your request	The placeholders were not replaced	Replace every `<…>` with your own value.
Status 401	The API token is missing, wrong or expired, or it does not belong to a Channel Partner account	Check your token in MyIcecat.
Status 404	No file with this name exists for your account. The user ID, language code or format is wrong, or the file has not been generated yet	Copy the file name from a downloaded PCF. Check that the file exists on the My downloads page.
Any other HTML page instead of a file	The file could not be delivered	Do not import it. Try again later. If it persists, contact your account manager.

Before importing, always check that the response is a file and not an HTML page.

8. For Brand Partners

Brand Partners receive the same Personal Catalog File, with the same columns and formats, built from the product list they upload and match in MyIcecat.

Getting the file. Upload and match your product list (see section 3), then generate and download the PCF on the My downloads page (see Downloading Your Personal Files in MyIcecat). Generate it again whenever you need a fresh copy. The automatic download address in section 7 accepts only Channel Partner tokens.

Languages. You receive the languages your account has access to. If no languages are set for your account, you receive English.

Which products have content.

Product in your list	In the PCF?
A product of a brand assigned to your account	Yes, with full content, unless it is not yet released or published
A product of another brand that sponsors Icecat	Yes, with full content, unless that brand restricts it
A product of another brand that does not sponsor Icecat	Yes, as a row with the reason in `ErrorMessage` and no content
Not matched	No

To have another brand assigned to your account, contact your account manager.