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Bulk: General Tips

This guide is the final part of the Introduction to Bulk Series - for maximum learning, please read all the guides in the series! To view the whole series, go here!


The following is a list of important things to know to get the most out of bulk. It will help you avoid mistakes and work more efficiently.


SureDone's bulk editor is a powerful tool that enables you to mass automate editing, adding, and ending listings across all the marketplaces simultaneously.



General Tips


  • The only accepted file format for spreadsheets is CSV (comma separated values)
  • When uploading images, the folder of images must be compressed into a ZIP file
  • Headers are not case sensitive - but the data is:.
    • Example: title, TITLE, Title, TiTLe will all update the same field.
    • However: UPSGround is not the same as upsground - channels require very specific formatting.
  • The system will automatically ignore bad headers
  • To lock in a column to all have the same value, you can set the header equal to the value.
    For example, to make sure that the action is always start, you can do action=start in the header.
    Another example would be if you wanted to lock in the entire column to have a stock count of 5, you could do stock=5
  • The two requirements for the spreadsheet are:
    1. The first header (cell A1) needs to be action
    2. The second header (cell B1) needs to bean identifier, such as ID, SKU, or GUID. Only one of these should be used.
  • Only upload the headers you need.
    • Example: If you're not editing the title, don't upload the title column.
    • If you need the title to help you organize you data while editing, that's fine - but delete it before you upload.
    • This will help you minimize the chance of accidentally changing or erasing data.
  • Only use one identifier in a spreadsheet, and make sure that identifier is the 2nd column.
    • You should use GUID whenever possible.
    • Do not upload id and another identifier, unless you are advised to by SureDone Support.
    • The only time you should upload more than one identifier is when adding variations. (In that case, you will use GUID as your identifier and SKU to identify the parent).
  • The actions available for the spreadsheet are as follows:
    • Start: adds the products to your inventory as a draft. This allows for reviewing the item in the system before uploading it to the marketplaces.
    • Add: adds the products to the e-commerce storefront and all the marketplaces, unless the marketplaces are skipped.
    • Edit: edits the products with the data provided in the uploaded spreadsheet.
    • Relist: will take a product that's disabled or a draft and attempt to relist it.
    • End: ends the listing on the storefront and all the marketplaces, unless the marketplaces are skipped.
    • Delete: deletes the product from the database and from any marketplaces it is on. There is no way to undo this.
  • The delete action deletes every record of the listings on both the channels and SureDone cannot be undone.
    • It's usually best to do action=disable first because it will end the listings on all channels, but the product info will be saved in SureDone so you can quickly relist it if you make a mistake.
  • Cells left blank in a bulk spreadsheet will reset that field to the default value and erase any existing data.
    • For most fields, this means they will become blank or 0.
    • For fields that can be pre-set (such as eBay Options) they will revert to your default settings
  • If you cancel an uploading in preview when bulk uploading images, the other actions included in that spreadsheet will still be performed.
  • The system will automatically ignore invalid headers, the file will still process.
    • This allows you to store more information in your spreadsheet (for example,  oldPrice when uploading an edit to Price) for your later records.
    • An warning message will display telling you which headers are ignored.


Images


When uploading images in bulk, the images must be in the same order as the spreadsheet.

The two best methods of getting your photos ready for a bulk upload are: 

  1. Prepare your spreadsheet and then take your photos in the same order as the spreadsheet.
  2. Take photos of your products and then type up your spreadsheet in the same order as the photos.


The mediacount header is the number of images the item has.
If you are uploading many products with the same image, you don't need to have multiple copies of the image. All you need to do is set the first mediacount to the number of images you'll be using and then type in copy for the rest of the column. This will copy the same image for every row.

Here's an example:

 


The file size limit for the zipped folder of images on https://www.suredone.com/bulk is 300MB.

If you need to upload a file containing images that exceeds 300MB, you need to use https://bulk.suredone.com/bulk, which allows you to upload a zip file up to 2GB.