Catalog Transformations let you define AI-assisted rules that automatically reformat product titles, descriptions, and specifications across your catalog. Transformations clean up and standardize seller-submitted content without requiring sellers to resubmit their listings. For example, they can correct casing, remove unwanted characters, strip HTML, and trim text to length.
Transformations are managed in the same place as your hard-block validation rules: ADVERTS > Catalog Rules.
Note: Catalog Transformations is currently in beta. It is available to select marketplaces at no cost, with fair-use limits applying during the beta period.
What are catalog transformations?
Catalog Rules includes two types of rules:
- Hard blocks: Validation rules that reject a listing if it fails a condition. The seller must fix the issue before the product can proceed. Hard blocks are the existing catalog rules, now part of the unified Catalog Rules page.
- Transformations: AI-assisted rules that automatically reformat a product's title, description, or specifications when that attribute changes. The product is not blocked; the text is cleaned up and the original is always preserved.
The two rule types are complementary. Hard blocks enforce your non-negotiable requirements; transformations handle reformatting work that would otherwise require manual intervention from you or your sellers.
The Catalog Rules page
The Catalog Rules page has two tabs:
- My rules: Your active hard blocks and transformations. Transformations are listed in their own table, grouped by attribute (for example, all Product Description transformations together). Each row shows the rule description, variable if applicable, date added, and controls to toggle, edit, or delete the rule.
- Rules library: A catalog of predefined hard blocks and transformations you can add to your marketplace. You can search by name or filter by attribute and outcome type to find the rule you need.
A Processing order indicator at the top of the page shows the sequence rules run in: Hard Blocks → Transformations → Rules passed. Hard blocks always run first. Transformations only run on content that has already passed validation.
Available transformations
The following transformations are available for product titles, descriptions, and specifications:
| Transformation | Applies to | What it does | Example |
| Title Case | Product Title, Product Description, Product Specifications | Capitalizes the first letter of each word | blue cotton tshirt → Blue Cotton T-Shirt |
| Sentence case | Product Title, Product Description, Product Specifications | Normalizes casing to sentence case | THIS JACKET IS WATERPROOF. → This jacket is waterproof. |
| Remove special characters | Product Title, Product Description, Product Specifications | Removes or replaces special characters | Sale!! 🔥 Jacket™ → Sale Jacket |
| Shorten text | Product Title, Product Description, Product Specifications | Trims a field to a target character length while retaining meaning | 400-character title → trimmed to the configured limit |
| Whitespace normalisation | Product Title, Product Description, Product Specifications | Removes unwanted double-spaces, tabs, and line breaks | Red leather bag → Red leather bag |
| Strip HTML | Product Title, Product Description, Product Specifications | Strips all HTML tags, attributes, and scripts from text fields | <strong>Warm</strong> wool → Warm wool |
Note: Title Case and Sentence case cannot both be enabled on the same attribute. In the Rules library, an attribute is struck through if that rule is already active on it, or if the other one is. This check only applies to preset transformations. Title case or sentence case instructions in a user-defined transformation aren't checked for this conflict.
How transformations are applied
Trigger
A transformation runs when a new advert is created or when a product's title or description changes, whether the change comes through the Operator Portal, Seller Portal, a spreadsheet upload, or M-Connect. Editing other fields does not trigger transformations.
Timing
Transformations run in the background. Preset transformations usually apply within 10–15 minutes, though this is not guaranteed. User-defined transformations are processed in batches, at predetermined intervals, since each new or changed instruction goes through an additional safety check before it's applied. Each product shows one of four statuses while processing:
- Processing: The transformation is queued or running.
- Completed: The transformed text has been applied.
- Failed: The transformation did not apply. The product keeps its original text.
- Blocked by Catalog Rules: The product has failed catalog rules. The transformation will not run until the catalog rule errors are resolved.
Reviewing changes
The original text is never overwritten. A Review panel is available in both the Operator Portal and Seller Portal, showing the original and transformed values side by side. Use it to see exactly what has changed.
New and existing products
Transformations apply automatically when a new advert is created or when a product's title, description, or specifications change. Products already published are not reprocessed unless one of these attributes is updated.
Advert webhook behavior during transformations
If you have an Advert webhook configured (Configuration > Webhooks) or consume the Advert webhook via the API, transformations affect the payload you receive on subsequent updates.
Trigger and events involved
Two standard Advert webhook events are relevant:
- Create: Fires when a brand-new product is added.
- Update: Fires on any subsequent edit, including the transformation result.
No new webhook type or event needs to be configured. This uses the existing Advert webhook you may already have set up.
Create payload
When a new product is created, the Create event fires immediately with the seller's raw, as-submitted title, description, and specifications. The transformation has not run yet at this point.
Update payload
The Update event fires immediately when an existing advert is updated.
It fires a second time once the transformation finishes, using the same processing window as the rest of the feature (usually 30 minutes, not guaranteed). This second Update event carries the transformed values in the same fields as the raw values, replacing them. There is no separate or additional field for the transformed value.
Note: The completion notification always arrives as an Update event, even for a product that was just created.
Guidance for integrators
- If your webhook's event filter is set to Create only, you will never receive the transformed text. Leave the event filter blank to receive all events, or make sure Update is included, if you want to capture transformed values.
- The completion event reuses the same fields as any other update. If your webhook already returns these fields, it picks up the transformed values automatically. No reconfiguration is required.
For help setting up an Advert webhook for the first time, see the Developer Portal's webhook setup guide.
What sellers see
Sellers do not configure transformations. Once you have added a transformation, sellers will see:
- A transformation status column on their products in the Seller Portal.
- Transformed titles, descriptions, and specifications in the Edit advert form and advert exports.
- The Review panel showing original vs. transformed values.
- Active transformations listed on the Marketplace Catalog Rules page in the Seller Portal.
Beta availability
Catalog Transformations is available in beta to select marketplaces from 25 June 2026. The feature is free during beta, with fair-use limits applying. You can also write your own user-defined transformations: custom, plain-English instructions for a title, description, or specifications field, run alongside the presets. See Create a user-defined catalog transformation to get started. Additional capabilities are on the roadmap, including image transformations and the ability to preview changes on existing products before applying them.
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