master product table

Now when there's the Listings Crawler plugin and a dedicated table where it stores the results, it got me thinking:

How about also supporting a master product table in Osclass, where basic details of items could be centrally stored..?
Some multi vendor marketplace apps/plugins support this. And yes, I get it that Osclass is mainly designed for classifieds, but that doesn't prevent considering this very useful feature.

When adding a new listing, sellers could just search by certain attributes (for example UPC code, some id, or partial product name) to query the master table and when having a match just automatically populate the attribute fields, without having to type all basic item info. This would also enable the possibility for other features such as "see other sellers selling this item".

In my scenario, I would then definitely try to set up a sync from external SQL database to this master product table, since the needed basic info for these certain niche items would already be there.

That's more like when you have large store or something like amazon where people sell also new products and they know all details about them.

That's more like when you have large store or something like amazon where people sell also new products and they know all details about them.

Yeah, you're right, however this also applies to some niche community marketplaces. Especially when dealing with collectibles and the enthusiasts involved in those circles. These people definitely know all details about their items... and then some. (You might have heard that many collectibles are actually kept in their original packaging to retain value... hence bringing up the UPC code).
Also I can't really see why this feature wouldn't be useful for example on a second-hand DVD/Blu-ray marketplace of some niche.

As a longtime collector myself, I'm currently setting up a community-driven info database for certain niche collectibles, also exploring options for a suitable marketplace platform fitting my needs.

Since you didn't immediately dismiss the idea completely, I'm seriously hoping you could give this a bit more thought while we're at it, I believe it could turn into an excellent new plugin and could be a real game-changer for some Osclass users.

Some more info on my use case, hopefully not TLDR... I try to emphasize the key points:

There are easily 5...10 essential non-changing properties for a typical item (depends on how much subcategories are utilized), to go into custom fields.
That's a lot of typing and selecting if you're going to list a number of items... especially when using a phone to do that, which seems to be a permanent trend in the world today, effective method or not.

When having a master product table, in many cases listing an item could be as simple as typing/scanning a barcode (querying by UPC and accepting the suggested result), then adding a short description and item condition. The barcode scanning method is actually already available in many apps targeted to collectors, so I don't see this as a far-fetched idea at all.
However it should be possible for the seller to search other custom fields too. Only then if nothing found, the option to manually fill in all the listing details would be used.

For the site admin, importing product data manually from a CSV or maybe JSON file should probably be the primary way to bulk add entries to the master table, but any automation possibilities for these would also be welcome.
Upon every new listing added, the values in these certain custom fields could also be automatically added to the master product table if not there already, after admin/moderator review (possible to correct typos etc) and approval.

Probably there should be settings for the admin to enable the feature only for certain categories, to configure which attributes would be included and which of them would be searchable upon adding a listing, as well as to temporarily disable the search possibility completely to only gather data to the table(s).

In practice, especially when listing the more popular items, the sellers would rarely need to fill in all the basic details ever again, because someone else has already done that 

I would love to use specifically Osclass for my project, but the option for the described workflow is what I'm after, so I might have to seek other solutions if you come into conclusion that Osclass won't be having this feature at least in the near future... I'm afraid I would then end up using that darn WP ecosystem, which is not designed for these things at all.

I noticed the Rest API plugin supports adding a new listing... I can see a bit lighter version of the feature being without search form, instead we could just pass a certain id via the API, to query the master product table and populate the resulting values into the listing form fields, then naturally allowing the seller to edit the information before submitting the listing. So a new endpoint would be needed to make this work.

This would also be enough at least for my needs, as I would then show a "Have this item? Sell it on marketplace!" link on my database site on every data card.

I'm not sure though would this approach have some spam and/or security risks that could not be prevented by a captcha and by not allowing API access from any other domains than my own. Probably should at least omit the API key from the front end links and make the actual calls from the back end... I'm familiar with REST API basics but haven't really used any on my sites. Well, this is a bit off-topic already, sorry.

It now also occurred to me that having a global product table without possibility for users to search it, that kind of defeats its purpose (even if it were used for the API calls)... so probably a lighter version like that would not be a good idea. Would also easily produce unnecessary duplicates if it were used as one of the ways to collect data.

Makes no sense for me, there are billions of products with even more attributes.

Makes no sense for me, there are billions of products with even more attributes.

Even more attributes, yes, most likely... well then it just makes even more sense, at least for me 
Every relevant non-changing attribute for a product could be saved, for others to use later in their similar listings, that would be something to be configured in the settings. Huge difference in UX for a seller who will be listing dozens or even hundreds of items, like when selling a whole collection... this feature versus having to type&select everything manually.
So this idea is bad, how..?  I just want to understand your viewpoint and of course I highly appreciate your thoughts on this.

Anyway, the API approach wouldn't actually even need the master product table in Osclass (because the table would be external). All that would be needed is a new endpoint for adding a new listing (with possibility to edit values before submitting), all the attributes could be passed in the URL. In other words, pre-populate the form fields using the API (or some other method), but not submitting the form. Some call this a pre-filled link.
This is a way more reasonable request, don't you think..?

The global catalog approach still highly appeals to me and one option is to make a plugin myself, provided there are suitable hooks available.
I'm not sure will the hooks "new_item" or "item_form" fire early enough to show the user a search form first, but that would have to be investigated.
Also, is there currently a way to subsequently pass on the possible search results to populate the actual custom fields (of type text/number/select)..? A filter hook to alter the default values of the new listing form would be perfect for this. Alternatively, if the pre-filled link would be possible, it could also be used here.

Too bad my project is already so much behind the intended schedule, but well, at least I tried my best to get you interested in the idea for a new official plugin.

Thank you for bearing with me so far, I'll be waiting for your comments on could the pre-populated form link currently be achieved, and possible advice regarding the hooks needed if I decide to try and implement the master table lookup myself.

Okay the proper hook appears to be "post_item"... and adding the search form there would need a dedicated "view" we can call, with the search result processed by a custom function. I guess no big problems so far then, seems simple enough for me.

But, proceeding from there, with the intention to pre-populate the listing form values using the search result... that's when I think the problems start.
I found no trace of suitable filters for modifying the default values.

So I think this feature request then simplifies down to the pre-populated form link suggested above, it would not only solve this problem but also enable direct linking to a pre-filled listing form using data provided by an external website. Would be just what I need in my scenario.

Should I add this request to the plugins area, I mean is it possible to add this kind of behavior to the Rest API plugin or is there an another way:
Endpoint for adding a new listing (but with possibility for the user to edit values before submitting), all the attributes could be passed in the URL.