Documentation

Import products

Need to add many products into Print Trail? No problem, you can import products in bulk.

Products can be imported in bulk into your Print Trail account (team), at: Products > Import. All you need to do is follow the instructions below and you’ll have all your products imported quickly and easily.

👉 Tip: Try the below import with just one or two products first, before attempting to import many products. This will help you to reduce errors.

Step-by-step instructions

  • Each product must be one row in your import file
  • Not all data needs to be completed (see below) but all headers from the template must be included
  • The import process gives you a chance to preview how the products will be imported and rectify any errors, before you confirm.

Step 1. Download our products template file

Step 2. Copy your product data into the template

  • Export your products from your e-commerce system as one product per row. Using a spreadsheet editor such as Google Sheets, Open Office, or Excel, copy and paste your products into the template.

  • Do not change the column headings provided in the template. These need to be unchanged for the import to work in the next step. Make sure the data you copy matches the column headings provided in the template.

  • Check the details below for required fields and more details.

  • Take care that the spreadsheet software you’ve used has not changed numeric values (for example ISBNs or phone numbers).

  • When you’ve checked your data, save the file as a CSV or XLSX file.

⚠️ Note: look out for spreadsheet software altering your date and number formats. You may need to format the cells as plain text before exporting/saving as a CSV.

Step 3. Click the “Upload and Preview” button

  • You will be taken to the import ‘Preview’ page. Nothing has been imported at this stage.
  • Any problem products will be shown, and you have the option to download any products - with issues so that you can fix the data and start the import again
  • Review the upload and either confirm or reject the import

Step 4. Confirm the import

  • You will be shown the results of the product import
  • Valid products will now be imported
  • Any errors or warnings will be shown for each product, if applicable
  • Any problem products can be downloaded as a CSV

Required fields

Each product must have these fields, or the product will not be imported:

  • name – the product name

  • At least one of these product IDs is required (no product is expected to have all of these) and they must be unique per product:

    • sku (recommended)
    • isbn (books only, either ISBN-13 or ISBN-10)
    • ean
    • upc
    • gtin

  • type is a required field and each product must have one of these values:

    • book
    • poster
    • leaflet
    • brochure
    • dust_jacket
    • cd
    • dvd
    • other

Other product fields

Status

If set, product status must be one of the following options:

  • active (this product is able to be ordered)
  • pre_order (this product can be ordered, but orders will be processed only when stock is available or print-on-demand is enabled and approved)
  • inactive (this product cannot be ordered)

If no status value is included for a product, it will default to inactive

status is editable per product so the initial import status is not fixed

Sizes

Product sizes are optional for import but necessary for a product to be shipped. If sizes are included in the product import, size_unit must be one of:

  • mm Millimetre
  • cm Centimetre
  • m Metre
  • in Inch

Weight

Product weights are optional for import but necessary for a product to be shipped. If weights are included in the import, weight_unit must be one of:

  • g Grams
  • kg Kilograms
  • lb Pounds

Prices and costs

Prices are the standard retail price you charge a customer for the product.

Costs are the wholesale costs you pay to purchase items.

Both are optional but are useful to ensure smooth international shipping as this data is often required for customs documentation.

Each product’s cost and price can be set in up to three currencies: USD, GBP, EUR:

  • price_GBP, price_EUR, price_USD
  • cost_GBP, cost_EUR, cost_USD

Example: 100.00 and 100 in the price_USD column are both equivalent to $100.00.

Country of Manufacture

A product’s country_of_manufacture is necessary for international shipments as it is required by customs, but is optional in the product import.

If country_of_manufacture is set, it must be a 2 or 3 digit ISO country code.

Book data

Some of the fields in the product import template are relevant only to books:

  • isbn
  • authors
  • subtitle
  • binding
  • number_of_pages
  • publication_date
  • language
  • imprint

ISBN

isbn is the international product identifier, used only for books. You can use ISBN data formatted with dashes, or without.

You can add either ISBN-13 format, or the legacy ISBN-10 format, in the product import’s single isbn field. Valid ISBN-10 data will be converted to ISBN-13 and both versions will be shown on the imported product.

Publication date

publication_date is an optional field, for the date the book was first published.

The following date formats are accepted:

  • MM/DD/YYYY e.g. ‘12/31/2020’
  • DD-MM-YYYY e.g. ‘31-12-2020’
  • YYYY-MM-DD ISO 8601 format, e.g. ‘2020-12-31’

Product data that can’t be set via import

Product images and productions methods (Inventory and Print-on-demand settings) cannot be set via product import. These need to be edited per product in the Print Trail app.

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