Creating Products Using a Spreadsheet

This article will show you how to use a spreadsheet to create and edit products.

When creating products, it's helpful to have some background knowledge about adding images, using Product Attributes, assigning SKUs and Warehouse IDs, and managing Solid Commerce's three levels of data. For more information on these topics, see the Related Articles section.

 

Downloadable Template for Creating Products

Before you use the attached template, you will need to modify the product attribute:{attribute name} and {marketplace} description column headers. The Optional Fields table in this article explains how. You may also want to use the Manage Excel Columns button to further customize the file.

 

What we'll cover:

  1. Key Fields
  2. Uploading a Spreadsheet
  3. Editing Products
  4. Adding Products to a Warehouse
  5. Related Articles

 

Key Fields

Required Fields
results Leave this field blank. It will automatically populate if you upload the file using the Solid Commerce Excel Add-In Tool.
product name

The name you're assigning to your products in Solid Commerce.

You can create separate titles on every marketplace, so your Solid Commerce Product Name can be different than your listing titles.

product custom sku

The unique SKUs of your products. The maximum length is 50 characters.

 

The following table includes the most popular optional fields.

To see a complete list of fields, click on the Manage Excel Columns in the Solid Commerce Excel Add-In Tool. For more information on using the Manage Excel help, please see Creating and Customizing a Solid Commerce Excel Template.

Optional Fields
upc The Universal Product Code (12 digit UPC) of your product.
manufacturer The product's manufacturer.
model number The product's model number.
msrp The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. Enter a number without a currency symbol.
product attribute:{attribute name}

Product Attributes are custom fields. You must add them to your Solid Commerce account before you can populate them through Excel. To learn how, please see Creating and Using Custom Product Attributes.

To use this column header, replace the {attribute name} with the name of your Product Attribute.

EXAMPLE: You add a Product Attribute named Color to your Solid Commerce account. The column header in your spreadsheet will be: product attribute:Color. This field is not case sensitive, so product attribute:color will also work.

description

This is a generic description of your product. You can also provide unique descriptions for each marketplace using the {marketplace} description field described below.

If you don't provide a unique marketplace description, we will submit this description to every marketplace when you create new listings.

{marketplace} description

Each marketplace has their own description column header.

If you don't provide a unique marketplace description, we will use the information in the generic description field instead.

To use a marketplace description, click on the Manage Excel Columns button for the correct column header. The most popular headers are: ebay description, mystore description, amazon description, buy.com description.

product weight The weight of your product in ounces. Enter a whole number with no decimal points.
taxable

This field controls the tax setting on the marketplaces when you list products, or update listings, through Solid Commerce.

Enter Yes to enable the taxable settings on your marketplace. Enter No to establish the item as not taxable. This setting does not modify the tax profiles you created on your marketplaces. Your marketplace settings will be used. The default setting is No.

image file The URL for your hosted image. For more information about product images, see Image Requirements, Hosting Options, and Naming Best Practices.
alternate image file 1 (2,3,4,...)

The URL for additional images. Each additional image is added in its own column. The numeric value in each column header increases by one, beginning with alternate image file 1. The next column header would be alternate image 2, and so on.

For more information about additional images, see Adding Images to Products.

 

Uploading a Spreadsheet

There are two ways to upload your file:

1.   The Excel Add-In Tool allows you to upload your file directly from Excel. You receive row-by-row upload results.

2.   The web uploader allows you to use spreadsheets from applications other than Excel. It also allows you to use spreadsheets created on a Mac, or upload files with thousands of items without tying up Excel.

The web uploader is also designed to process custom templates in a format different than Solid Commerce.

You can even automatically process files if your supplier loads them to an FTP site.

1. Solid Commerce Excel Add-In Tool Upload:

Click the Upload Data button in the Solid Commerce Excel menu. Check only the Update Product box.

inventory_management_creating_products_product_update_excel_upload.png

 

2. Web Uploader:

In Solid Commerce, go to the Products menu -> Import Products and Inventory. Check the Import Product box.

inventory_management_creating_products_product_update_web_uploader_ui.png

 

Editing Products

There are three ways to use a spreadsheet to edit products:

1.  Create a new file with the minimum fields necessary for your revision.

Click on the Manage Excel Columns button in the Solid Commerce Excel menu for help selecting the columns you need.

2.   Open a file you used to create new products.

After opening, clear any old product data so the cells below the column headers are empty. Use the Retrieve Data button in the Solid Commerce Excel menu to populate the file with your current product data.

For more information about retrieving information into Excel, see Retrieving With the Excel Tool - Quick Guide.

3. Open a file with saved product data.

We recommend retrieving up-to-date product data for the SKUs in the file before making revisions and uploading your file. The data in your saved file could be outdated.

No matter which option you choose, first revise the data in your file, then upload it with a Product update.

 

Adding Products to a Warehouse

Now that you've created some products, you can add them to a Warehouse. Adding Products to a Warehouse Through a Spreadsheet shows you how.

 

Related Articles

 

 

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