A webhook is an automated notification that one system sends to another the moment a specific event occurs, delivered as an HTTP request to a pre-configured URL rather than requiring the receiving system to repeatedly ask if anything changed. In feed management, webhooks are what let a price change in an ERP, a new order in a storefront, or a stock-level update in a warehouse system immediately notify a feed platform, instead of that platform having to poll for changes on a timer. They turn feed updates from a scheduled batch job into an event-driven one.

Why It Matters for Feed Management

Polling — repeatedly checking a source system for changes — wastes resources and introduces delay: if a feed tool checks inventory every fifteen minutes, a stock-out can sit live on a shopping channel for up to fifteen minutes before it's caught. A webhook eliminates that lag by having the source system push the change out immediately, so a product marked out of stock at 2:00:03 PM can be pulled from active listings by 2:00:04 PM. That immediacy matters most for anything time-sensitive: flash sales, limited inventory drops, or price-matching against competitors, where even a short delay can mean selling a product that's no longer available or advertising a price that's no longer accurate. Because webhooks rely on the same underlying request-response mechanics as any other API call, they slot into existing feed automation pipelines without requiring a separate integration pattern.

How It Works

Setting up a webhook means registering a callback URL with the source system — a warehouse management tool, a CMS, a payment processor — and telling it which events should trigger a notification. When that event fires, the source system sends an HTTP POST request to the registered URL, with the event's details in the request body and metadata such as the event type or a signature for verification carried in the HTTP headers. The receiving system, typically a feed platform, then processes that payload and updates the relevant product data. Because webhooks fire in real time and often in bursts (imagine a bulk price update triggering hundreds of individual events at once), most systems queue incoming webhook calls and process them asynchronously rather than handling each one instantly and synchronously, which keeps the receiving side from getting overwhelmed. Webhooks are a core building block of broader workflow automation, since they're what let one action in an unrelated system kick off a chain of downstream feed updates without anyone monitoring for the change manually.

Example

<item>
  <g:id>SKU-55810</g:id>
  <title>Wireless Charging Pad - Matte Black</title>
  <g:availability>out of stock</g:availability>
  <custom_label_1>updated_via_webhook</custom_label_1>
  <last_event>inventory.zero</last_event>
  <last_updated>2026-08-15T14:00:04Z</last_updated>
</item>

Here, last_event reflects the inventory system's webhook payload that triggered this item's availability change, and the near-instant last_updated timestamp is the practical result of event-driven updates instead of a scheduled batch refresh.

Related Concepts

Webhooks depend on the same request structure as any API call, just inverted so the source system initiates it rather than the feed platform; the HTTP headers on that request carry the authentication and event metadata needed to trust and route it correctly. Chained together across systems, webhooks become the trigger layer behind most workflow automation in feed management — the reason a single inventory change can cascade into an updated listing, a paused ad, and a refreshed feed entry without a person doing any of it by hand.