Fix “Feed XML invalid” on Pinterest Catalog
Pinterest can't parse the feed XML. Schema validation failed — could be malformed tags, encoding issues, or invalid characters in field values.
What you see in Pinterest Catalog:
Feed XML invalid XML parsing failures from special character encoding, missing closing tags, or wrong character encoding. Pinterest can't parse the feed; items don't sync.
Validate XML before submission. Use proper XML entities (& not &). UTF-8 throughout with no fallback encodings.
Top causes
- 1
Special characters in titles not properly XML-encoded (& becoming malformed)
- 2
Missing closing tags
- 3
Wrong character encoding declaration (UTF-8 declared but ISO-8859-1 content)
How to fix it
- 1
Validate the feed XML
Use an XML validator to find the specific error line. Pinterest's error reports sometimes point to the line, sometimes don't.
- 2
Fix encoding at source
Use proper XML entities (& not &, " not "). UTF-8 throughout, no fallback encodings.
- 3
Re-submit
Pinterest reparses immediately on submission.
FAQ
Should I use CSV instead?
Pinterest accepts both. CSV is more forgiving but lacks XML's structure. For catalogs with complex variant relationships, XML is cleaner.
Last reviewed: 26 May 2026
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