If you want to check coverage against ICEcat, the best thing to do is to import their dump file available here into a MySQL database.

The file format is a bit unusual, but here is a nice command you can run. You need to have created a database in it with a table called prodid_d

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS <code>prodid_d</code> (
  <code>id</code> int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  <code>part_number</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  <code>brand</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  <code>quality</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  <code>category</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  <code>model</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  <code>ean</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  <code>market_presence</code> varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (<code>id</code>)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1

then in the command line (linux) run the follwing command:

mysqlimport --user=DBUSER --password=DBPASSWORD --columns=part_number,brand,quality,category,model,ean,market_presence --fields-terminated-by='\t\t\t' --replace  DBTABLE /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/prodid_d.txt

The ICECat database is an invaluable resource for webmasters who have to deal with very large catalogues. They offer a single source with a normalised structure for getting high quality images, descriptions and even PDF files about the products you sell.

They have developed relationships with a large number of manufacturers and brands which allow them to offer these details free of charge. If however you want better coverage they also offer a very reasonably priced service which is comparable to the CNET system but at a much reduced price.

Edmonds Commerce have the resources to implement a proper XML integration with the ICECat system for your ecommerce store. We especially specialse in the highly popular open source ecommerce platforms osCommerce and Magento.

If you would like to discuss the benefits of an ICECat integration please do not hesitate to get in touch.