A detailed explanation on what you need to include on your Import CSV when bulk uploading products within your freewebstore control panel.
This section outlines what you can add to your import CSV along with how the data should be formatted. If you are struggling to upload your CSV, this section could be very helpful in fixing it.
The data you can upload your products includes:
This is the abstract of the product. This short description is used in many places to promote your product such as product result lists, featured products, meta tags and more.
Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 1000 Example: This Sony LCD Television is the latest in a long line of excellent feature-rich models...etc.
Sometimes you want your product to appear in more than one category on your store. To achieve this simply supply the ID of each other category that you want your product to appear in. You can find out your category ID's by visiting "Manage > Products > Categories" and ticking the "Show Category ID's" box below the main panel. Required: No Allowed Characters: NUMBERS ONLY (delimited by semicolon) Max Length: n/a Example: 1568;1893;3568 etc
Enter the full file name of the image. Multiple images can be attached to a product by separating each file name with a semi-colon (;). Please note that each image file linked must be present and visible in the Manage > Images section of the control panel. Images can be imported via the Import/Export > Import Images section of the control panel.
Alt Tags can be included in this as well. At the end of the file name before the semi-colon, wrap the alt tag in square bracks e.g. [This is the alt tag].
Required: No Allowed Characters: NUMBERS ONLY (delimited by semicolon) Max Length: 450 Example: television_image.jpg URL Example: http://www.sony.com/images/television_image.jpg Multiple Images Example: image01.jpg;image02.jpg;image03.jpg etc
Example with Alt Tag: television_image.jpg[An image of a silver television] URL Example with Alt Tag: http://www.sony.com/images/television_image.jpg[An image of a silver television] Multiple Images Example with Alt Tags: image01.jpg[An image of a silver television];image02.jpg[An image of a yellow television];image03.jpg[An image of a blue television] etc
This is the product Base Price exclusive of tax. Required: Yes Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 9.99
This is the Brand name associated with the product. If it does not already exist in your Manage > Products > Brands section, it will be created automatically. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 80 Example: Sony
It is possible to give shoppers a discount when buying more than one of the same product. These are called Bulk Discounts and they allow you to discount the per-unit price as the number of items purchased increases. For example, a product may have a Base Price of $10. For customers buying between 2 and 5 units, the price can be reduced to $8.99 per item. For customers buying between 6 and 9 units, the price can be reduced to $7.99 per item. For customers buying 10 or more units, the price can be reduced to $4.99 per item. The final price entered will be used for all larger orders Required: No Allowed Characters: Strict Format (First Upper Quantity:Unit Price;Next Upper Quantity:Unit Price;) Example: 5:8.99;9:7.99;10:4.99 (based on the above pricing example). The first part of the example is 5:8.99. This means that when up to 5 products are ordered, the price will be $8.99 per item. Next, a semi-colon (;) has been entered to separate the discounts. The second quantity is listed as 9:7.99. Following on from the previous quantity, this means when between 6 and 9 products are ordered, the price will be $7.99 per item. Finally, the last quantity is 10:4.99. As this is the final entry, it means the price will be $4.99 per unit for all orders of 10 or more products.
This is the name of the category to which the product should be assigned. If the category does not already exist in your store, it will be created automatically. TIP: You can target sub-categories by using semi-colons (;) to separate your categories (for example, entering "Parent Category; Sub-Category1; Sub-Category2" would place the product inside Sub-Category2, which would be accessible by browsing through Parent Category into Sub-Category1 and finally into Sub-Category2). Required: Yes Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 50 Example: Televisions Sub-category Example: Televisions;LCD;Sony
A product can have three conditions: NEW, USED or REFURBISHED. This information is passed to Google Shopping. Required: No Allowed Characters: Text(NEW, USED, REFURBISHED) Example: USED
Country of origin represents the country or countries of manufacture, production, design, or brand origin where your product comes from.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Numbers & Letters
Example: United Kingdom, United States, China
Setting a Custom URL for a product allows you to specify a unique address of your choosing for that page. This is entirely optional, but it does allow you to simplify your URLs a little, and can also be used to prevent search engines from indexing duplicate content by accessing the same page from several different paths. For example, if you entered "My_Product_10" as the Custom URL, the full web address for that product would become: http://www.freewebstore.org/MyStoreName/product/My_Product_10 or http://www.mydomainname.com/product/My_Product_10 Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Example: My_Product_10
This is the depth of your product in millimeters, meters, inches, or feet, depending on your store/ product preference. Required: No Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 1000
This is the depth unit of the product's depth. Required: No Allowed Characters: mm, m, in, ft Example: in
This is the description of the product. Product descriptions should be fairly lengthy and contain as many relevant keywords as possible. You can provide HTML descriptions should you wish. Required: Yes Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 5000 Example: This Sony LCD Television is the latest in a long line of excellent feature-rich models...etc.
This is the EAN (European Article Number) code of your product. Unique Product Identifiers are product codes associated with an individual product. Also known as Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs), Unique Product Identifiers include UPC, EAN (in Europe), and ISBN. Along with other identifiers such as Brand and MPN, these values can be used by Google Shopping to match users' queries to your products when a search is carried out on Google's Product Search. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 14 Example: EAN12345678910
Whether the product is featured on your store.
Featured products typically appear on the Homepage of your store. Required: No Allowed Characters: True, False
If this product has a Fixed Shipping Cost associated with it, please enter it here. Enter -1 if you would like the product's shipping to be calculated using your default Shipping Rules and settings, as set in the Manage > Shipping section of the control panel. TIP: Only use this Fixed Shipping Cost if you need to. It is much better practice to use the Shipping Rules feature. Required: No Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 5.99
Clothing or fashion items uploaded to some Google categories require additional information such as Age Group. The allowed values are "Adult" or "Kids". Required: No (Yes if uploading to Google Shopping in a clothing or fashion category) Allowed Characters: "Adult" or "Kids" Example: Kids
Clothing or fashion items uploaded to some Google categories require additional information such as Colour. Required: No (Yes if uploading to Google Shopping in a clothing or fashion category) Allowed Characters: Any text Example: Black
Clothing or fashion items uploaded to some Google categories require additional information such as Gender. The allowed values are "Male", "Female" or "Unisex". Required: No (Yes if uploading to Google Shopping in a clothing or fashion category) Allowed Characters: "Male", "Female" or "Unisex" Example: Unisex
Clothing or fashion items uploaded to some Google categories require additional information such as Material type. Required: No (Yes if uploading to Google Shopping in a clothing or fashion category) Allowed Characters: Any text Example: Leather
Clothing or fashion items uploaded to some Google categories require additional information such as Pattern information. Required: No (Yes if uploading to Google Shopping in a clothing or fashion category) Allowed Characters: Any text Example: Striped
Clothing or fashion items uploaded to some Google categories require additional information such as sizing information. Required: No (Yes if uploading to Google Shopping in a clothing or fashion category) Allowed Characters: Any text Example: Small
If you intend to upload your products to Google Shopping then you must notify Google which category your product belongs to. Select a category from the Google Taxonomy that closest relates to your product. For more information see http://support.google.com/merchants/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1705911 Required: No (Yes if using Google Shopping) Allowed Characters: Any (Must match a category from a Google Taxonomy) Example: Food, Beverages & Tobacco > Food Items > Candy & Gum > Candy & Chocolate
This is the height of your product in millimeters, meters, inches, or feet, depending on your store/ product preference. Required: No Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 1000
This is the height unit of the products height. Required: No Allowed Characters: mm, m, in, ft Example: in
This is the HS Code of the product. Harmonized System (HS) codes are based on goods descriptions. They're used throughout the world to classify international shipments and assess which taxes, duties and restrictions may apply.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Numbers & Letters
Example: 0000123ABC
If your product is a book, you can provide the ISBN code here. Unique Product Identifiers are product codes associated with an individual product. Also known as Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs), Unique Product Identifiers include UPC, EAN (in Europe), and ISBN. Along with other identifiers such as Brand and MPN, these values can be used by Google Shopping to match users' queries to your products when a search is carried out on Google's Product Search. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 13 Example: 123456789123A
Whether the product can be purchased on your store or not. Required: No Allowed Characters: True, False
This is the MPN (Manufacturer's Part Number) code of your product. Unique Product Identifiers are product codes associated with an individual product. Also known as Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs), Unique Product Identifiers include UPC, EAN (in Europe), and ISBN. Along with other identifiers such as Brand and MPN, these values can be used by Google Shopping to match users' queries to your products when a search is carried out on Google's Product Search. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 50 Example: SX-123456789-A
This is the minimum order quantity for the product. Your customers will not be able to order less than the number set here.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Numbers
Example: 4
This is the maximum order quantity for the product. Your customers will not be able to order more than the number set here.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Numbers
Example: 3
This is the pack size of your product. This information is for your internal use only and not shown on the live website.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Numbers
Example: 4
Enter the full file name of the image. This should be a single image file name and will be your primary image for the product. Required: Yes Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 450 Example: television_image.jpg URL Example: http://www.sony.com/images/television_image.jpg
The alternative tag for your primary product image. This should describe the image and is essential for usability and SEO. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 450 Example: An image of a standard basic television with a cathode ray tube (CRT) display. The television has a rectangular shape with a black plastic casing and a screen with a slightly curved surface. There are a few control buttons on the front and some ports and connectors on the back.
This is your identification code for the product. It can be shown on your store and is used to identify a product within your control panel. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 50 Example: EBX-1005A
The name of your product as you want it to appear on the website. Long descriptive product names can help with the search engine optimization of your store. Required: Yes Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 150 Example: Sony LED Television 42" HD Ready
If this product has a Product Offer Type of 2 then you can use this field to set a discount percentage amount. The allowed values for this are 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 Required: No Field Type: number (multiple of 5) Example: 25
If the product Offer Type for this product has been set to 1 then you can set a special offer price for the product using this field. Required: No Field Type: Numbers decimals (no currency symbol) Example: 9.99
You can set a special offer on a product by setting the Product Offer Type. The available values are: 0 = No Offer (default) 1 = Special Offer Price 2 = % Discount Off Offer (only multiples of 5 are allowed) Required: No Field Type: number only 0, 1 or 2 Example: 1
Product options are added via the Manage > Products > Options/variations section of your freewebstore control panel. These previously added options can be attached to products here. Simply provide the ID number of each product option you want to attach to the product in a list separated by a semi-colon. Required: No Field Type: string (strictly formatted: [optionID];[optionID];[optionID]; etc.) Example: 11256;11253;11254
You can augment the product search results in your store by adding specific search terms (product search tags) to your products. If you want your product to appear for a specific search term then simply add it is a product search term to your product. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any - quoted comma-separated list Max Length: 20 tags per product Example: "search tag A,search tag B"
Whether your product is visible on your store or not. Required: No Allowed Characters: True, False
You can add a related product to other products in your store. Links to the related products are shown at the bottom of this products details page. To achieve this simply provide a list of FWSID numbers for each product that you want to be shown in the related products section for this particular product. This field is unusual in that it will append related products to existing related products when updating, rather than replacing as most of the other fields will do. Required: No Allowed Characters: NUMBERS ONLY Max Length: na Example: 556789;6544445;343555 etc
Enter your SEO Description here. SEO Descriptions will not be displayed on your webstore but they may be displayed on search engine results pages. We recommend that you include several relevant keywords (words and phrases that you think your customers may search for on search engines). Search engines use this information to help determine the content of the page and it can affect your search engine rankings. Relevancy is very important and you should try to ensure that any information entered here is reflected in the visible content of the page (such as in your Product Name and Description). Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 1000 Example: Sony Television LCD HD Ready Plasma 42" screen - followed by long descriptive text (Recommended length: 200 - 400 characters)
Add a list of relevant keywords separated by commas (for example, "keyword1, keyword2, keyword3"). Keywords will not be displayed on your webstore. We recommend that you include several relevant keywords (words and phrases that you think your customers may search for on search engines). Search engines use this information to help determine the content of the page and it can affect your search engine rankings. Relevancy is very important and you should try to ensure that any information entered here is reflected in the visible content of the page (such as in your Product Name and Description). Required: No Allowed Characters: Any (comma-separated list) Max Length: 1000 Example: Sony, Television, LCD, HD Ready, Plasma, 42" screen etc. (Recommended length: 100 - 300 characters)
The SEO Title will appear in the Title Bar of the browser when this product is viewed on your webstore. We recommend that you include several relevant keywords (words and phrases that you think your customers may search for on search engines). Search engines use this information to help determine the content of the page and it can affect your search engine rankings. Relevancy is very important and you should try to ensure that any information entered here is reflected in the visible content of the page (such as in your Product Name and Description). Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 100 Example: Sony Television LCD HD Ready Plasma 42" screen (Recommended length: 50 - 100 characters)
You can override the default URLs that your products can be found on to improve your search engine optimization performance.
For example, a default URL for one of your products may be http://www.yourdomain.com/p13432_34543.aspx. You can set your own custom URLs which will contain relevant keywords such as:
http://www.yourdomain.com/product/Sony-Televsion-LCD-HD-Ready-Plasma
These custom URLs can add a lot of weight to your general store SEO performance and can help to attract many more visitors and therefore shoppers.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Any
Max Length: 150
Example: Sony-Television-LCD-HD-Ready-Plasma
This will appear online as http://www.yourdomain.com/product/Sony-Televsion-LCD-HD-Ready-Plasma
Please do not provide the full URL. Just the customized part.
If you track your stock levels, you can enter the current stock level for the product here. Required: No Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 500
Simply provide the ID number of the Supplier as shown in the Manage > Suppliers section. Required: No Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 61543
This is the supplier product sku/ code which is provided by the supplier of the product. This information is for your internal use only and not shown on the live website.
Required: No
Allowed Characters: Any
Example: 4815ABC12
If your store has sales tax turned on then the rate at which it is applied is set in the Settings > Tax Options section. However, some products in some countries have different tax rates. Examples include children's clothing and safety equipment etc. You can use this field to set a specific tax rate per product that is different from the default store rate. Required: No Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 17.5* * Do not supply the percentage % symbol as this may cause an error.
This is the UPC (Unique Product Code) of your product. Unique Product Identifiers are product codes associated with an individual product. Also known as Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs), Unique product Identifiers include UPC, EAN (in Europe), and ISBN. Along with other identifiers such as Brand and MPN, these values can be used by Google Shopping to match users' queries to your products when a search is carried out on Google's Product Search. Required: No Allowed Characters: Any Max Length: 12 Example: 123456789ABC
This is the weight of your product in either grams or ounces depending on your store preference. You can change this preference via the My Account > Settings section of the control panel. Required: No* Allowed Characters: Numbers Example: 1000 (which equates to 1Kg) * If your Postage Rules are based on weight, each product will need to have a weight associated with it.
This is the weight unit of the product's weight. Required: No* ** Allowed Characters: g, oz, lb, st, tn, kg Example: oz
* If your Shipping Rules are based on weight, each product will need to have a weight associated with it.
** This will default to your store weight unit preference if not set
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