Products template
Create and update BigCommerce products using Shift.
Quick start
The best way to get started is to run an export and use the file as a guide to the format required.
You can also download the product template.
Import & export columns
info
Modifiers are not currently supported. Please get in touch to vote for this feature.
Basic columns
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| ID | This is the unique identifier provided by BigCommerce for existing products. It's unique per BigCommerce store. This field is required to update existing products. |
| Name | The product's name. This must be unique. |
| Type | Whether the product is a physical item of stock or a digital download. Allowed values: physical, digital |
| SKU | The Stock Keeping Unit code that identifies a product. This must be unique. |
| Description | The product description, which may include HTML. |
| Weight | The weight of the product. This is used when calculating shipping costs. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings. |
| Width | The width of the product. This is used when calculating shipping costs. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings. |
| Depth | The depth of the product. This is used when calculating shipping costs. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings. |
| Height | The height of the product. This is used when calculating shipping costs. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings. |
| Price | The price of the product. This might include or exclude tax, depending on your tax settings. |
| Cost Price | The cost price of the product. This is used for internal reporting only. |
| Retail Price | The recommended retail product of the product (MSRP). Displayed on the storefront. |
| Map Price | The minimum advertised price |
| Sale Price | When provided, this price will be used for calculating the product's price instead of the Price field. |
| Tax Class ID | The ID of the tax class applied to this product. Allowed values: 0 - Default Tax Class 1 - Non-Taxable Products 2 - Shipping 3 - Gift Wrapping 4 - Reduced Tax Class |
| Product Tax Code | Case-sensitive code used for tax calculations such as with Avalara. |
| Brand ID | The ID of the brand |
| Brand Name | The name of the brand to which the product is assigned. You can assign a product to a new brand by updating the Brand Name field, you do not need to use the Brand ID field. |
| Inventory Level | The number of items available to sell. This field is used when Inventory Tracking is set to Product. If using multi-location inventory, this field should be used for information only. To update stock levels, use the relevant multi-location inventory columns. |
| Inventory Warning Level | When the inventory level drops below the warning level, the store owner will be informed. This field is only used when Inventory Tracking is set to Product. |
| Inventory Tracking | Dictates how inventory is tracked on a product. Allowed values: none - Inventory is not tracked product - inventory is tracked at the product level variant - inventory is tracked at the variant level |
| Fixed Cost Shipping Price | Override the shipping price calculations and use this price for this product. |
| Is Free Shipping | When a product has free shipping, the shipping costs will be zero. |
| Is Visible | When a product is visible, it can be viewed on the storefront. |
| Is Featured | When a product is featured, it is shown in the Featured Products panel on the storefront. |
| Related Products | The related products. Provide a Pipe-separated list of BigCommerce product IDs. Other allowed values: -1 - Automatically show related products |
| Warranty | Warranty information displayed on the product page. This field supports HTML. |
| Bin Picking Number | The BIN picking number for this product. |
| Layout File | The layout template file in the Blueprint theme used to render the product page for this product. This field is not used for Stencil themes. For Stencil based themes, use the Custom Template associations. |
| UPC | The product UPC Code is used in some product feeds and marketplaces. |
| Search Keywords | A comma-separated list of words and phrases that can be used to help optimise the site search. |
| Availability Description | Availability text communicates to the customer how long it will normally take to this product. It is typically shown on the checkout page beneath the product title. Example value: Usually ships in 24 hours |
| Availability / Purchasability | Determines whether this product is available for purchase, unavailable, or listed for preorder. Allowed values: available, disabled, preorder |
| Gift Wrapping Options Type | Which gift wrapping options are available on this product. Allowed values: any - Allow any gift wrapping options none - Don't allow gift wrapping on this product list - Specify using the Gift Wrapping Options List field the specific list of gift wrapping options that should be available. |
| Gift Wrapping Options | A list of gift-wrapping option IDs. Applicable when Gift Wrapping Options Type is set to list |
| Sort Order | The priority to give to this product when shown on category pages and in search results. Products with lower numbers are shown nearer the top of the page. This may be overriden on specific categories if Category Sort Order is set, e.g. with Category Merchandiser. |
| Condition | The product condition. Allowed values: New, Used, Refurbished |
| Is Condition Shown | Should the product condition be visible on the storefront. |
| Order Quantity Minimum | The minimum quantity required to place an order for this product. |
| Order Quantity Maximum | The maximum quantity that can be purchased in a single order. |
| Page title | The meta title used for SEO. |
| Meta keywords | The meta keywords used for SEO |
| Meta description | The meta description used for SEO. |
| View count | [Deprecated] The number of times the product has been viewed |
| Preorder Release Date | When a product is marked as available for pre-order (see Availability / Purchasability), this is the date that the product is marked as to be released. |
| Preorder Message | Text to display on the storefront on pre-order products. You can use the placeholder %%DATE%% and it will be replaced with the Preorder Release Date. |
| Is Preorder Only | Preorder only products will automatically be marked as available upon the Preorder Release Date. Allowed values: Yes, No, 1, 0, True, False |
| Is Price Hidden | Should the product's price be hidden from the storefront. This requires the product's Availability / Purchasability to be disabled Allowed values: Yes, No, 1, 0, True, False. |
| Price Hidden Label | When the product's price is hidden, this label is shown instead of the price. This field also request the product's Availability / Purchasability to be disabled |
| Custom URL | The URL of the product |
| Open Graph Type | The Open Graph type, defaults to product Allowed values: product, album, book, drink, food, game, movie, song, tv_show |
| Open Graph Title | The title to use for Open Graph. If none provided then the product name will be used. |
| Open Graph Description | The description to use for Open Graph. If none is provided, the Meta Description will be used instead. |
| Open Graph Use Meta Description | Determines if the meta description is used instead of the Open Graph Description. |
| Open Graph Use Product Name | Determines if the product name is used instead of the Open Graph Title. |
| Open Graph Use Image | Determines if the product image is used for Open Graph or whether no image is provided. |
| GTIN | Global Trade Item Number |
| MPN | Manufacturer Part Number |
| Reviews Rating Sum | The sum of all of the review ratings. |
| Reviews Count | The number of reviews of this product. Divide the Reviews Rating Sum by the Reviews Count to get the average review rating. |
| Total Sold | The total quantity of this product sold, all time. |
Categories columns
Products can be assigned to multiple categories by providing multiple category columns, e.g Category 1, Category 2, etc.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Category {number} | To assign a product to a category, the category must already exist in BigCommerce. This can be achieved manually in the admin, or via Category Import using Shift. The full category path (including parent category names) should be provided to assign a product to a category. For example: Bathroom > Baths > Bath Taps |
Custom Field Columns
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Custom Field {custom field name} | Product custom fields can be imported & exported. The column name should match the custom field name. There is a 255-character limit. Multiple custom fields with the same name can exist, but they must have different values. Custom field names are case-sensitive. |
Images columns
When there are multiple product images, the fields for each will have a numeric suffix, e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Image 1 ID | The unique ID for this image. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Image 1 File | The URL of the image. The image should first be uploaded to BigCommerce's WebDAV. For details on the URL format for files in WebDAV, see Importing images. |
| Image 1 Is Thumbnail | Should this image be used as the product's thumbnail |
| Image 1 Sort Order | The order in which the image is shown in the product gallery on the product detail page. Higher numbers are shown earlier in the gallery. |
| Image 1 Description | The alt text used for the image - helpful for SEO and accessibility, e.g. screen readers. |
| Image 1 URL Zoom | This is the URL for the image that's used to power the zoom on the product page. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Image 1 URL Standard | This is the URL for the standard image - the one that's used for product page images. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Image 1 URL Thumbnail | This is the URL for the thumbnail version of the image. It's used on the category page. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Image 1 URL Tiny | This is the URL for the smallest version of the image. It's used for the thumbnails in the product gallery on the product page. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Image 1 Date Modified | The last time the image was updated. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
Video columns
When there are multiple videos, the fields for each will have a numeric suffix, e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Video 1 ID 1 | The unique ID for this image. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Video 1 Title | The title of the video |
| Video 1 Description | The description of the video |
| Video 1 Sort Order | Used to order the videos on the storefront. Videos with higher numbers are shown earlier. |
| Video 1 Type | The type of video Allowed values: youtube |
| Video 1 YouTube ID | The YouTube identifier for the video. |
| Video 1 Length | The length of the video. |
Variants columns
Variant columns are also numbered so all columns related to a single variant can be identified.
If not set, many of these fields, such as price and weight, will inherit their values from the base product.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Variant 1 ID | The unique identifier for the variant. It is created by BigCommerce. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Variant 1 SKU | The Stock Keeping Unit for this specific item of stock. |
| Variant 1 Price | The price of this variant. |
| Variant 1 Cost Price | The cost price of the variant. |
| Variant 1 Retail Price | The retail price of the variant. |
| Variant 1 Sale Price | The sale price of the variant. |
| Variant 1 Map Price | The Minimum Advertised Price for the variant. |
| Variant 1 Calculated Price | This is the price that will be used for this variant. It considers the product and variant's price and sale price. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Variant 1 Bin Picking Number | The BIN picking number for the variant |
| Variant 1 Calculated Weight | The weight to be used for this variant. It considers the product weight if no weight is set on the variant. |
| Variant 1 Depth | The depth of the variant. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings |
| Variant 1 Fixed Cost Shipping Price | Set a specific shipping price for this variant. |
| Variant 1 GTIN | The Global Trade Item Number for the variant |
| Variant 1 Height | The height of the variant. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings |
| Variant 1 Image URL | The URL of the image for this variant. Displayed on the storefront when this variant's options are selected. ❌ Variant images cannot be imported due to an open BigCommerce issue. |
| Variant 1 Inventory Level | The available stock for this variant. This is used when the product's Inventory Tracking is set to variant. The inventory level only returns to the stock available on the default location. |
| Variant 1 Inventory Warning Level | When the available stock for a variant is at the warning level, or lower, it is considered low stock |
| Variant 1 Is Free Shipping | Should this variant have free shipping? |
| Variant 1 MPN | The Manufacturer Part Number for the variant. |
| Variant 1 Purchasing Disabled | When enabled, this variant will not be available to purchasable on the storefront. |
| Variant 1 Purchasing Disabled Message | The message to show on the storefront when this variant is set to Purchasing Disabled. |
| Variant 1 SKU ID | 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Variant 1 UPC | The UPC code used in feeds for this variant |
| Variant 1 Weight | The weight of the variant. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings. |
| Variant 1 Width | The width of the variant. The unit is defined in Physical and Dimensional Settings. |
Variant options columns
A variant will have one or more options. These are the selections that are made on a product page that identify the variant to add to cart.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Variant 1 Option 1 Name | The name of the first option on the first variant, e.g. Colour, Size. |
| Variant 1 Option 1 Value | The value of the first option on the first variant, e.g. Red, Small. |
Supported variant actions
Shift supports:
- Updating variant fields, e.g. inventory, price, purchasability, etc.
Shift does not support:
- Create a product with variants
- Updating an option label
- Adding a variant option (and related variants)
- Adding a variant option value (and related variants)
- Updating variant option type
- Updating variant option value
- Deleting a variant option (and related variants)
- Deleting a variant option value (and related variants)
- Updating the default variant or options
Bulk Pricing Rules columns
When there are multiple bulk pricing rules, the fields for each will have a numeric suffix, e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Bulk Pricing Rule 1 ID | The unique identifier for the bulk pricing rule. 🔒 This field is read-only. |
| Bulk Pricing Rule 1 Type | The type of price adjustment that is made. Allowed values: price - The adjustment amount per product percent - The adjustment as a percentage of the original price fixed - The adjusted absolute price of the product. |
| Bulk Pricing Rule 1 Quantity Minimum | The minimum quantity required to trigger this rule. For fixed rules, the minimum Quantity Minimum is 2. |
| Bulk Pricing Rule 1 Quantity Maximum | The maximum quantity allowed for this rule to apply. |
| Bulk Pricing Rule 1 Amount | The adjustment amount, either a fixed amount or a percentage. |
Multi-location Inventory columns
Including multi-location inventory will add a significant number of columns as there will be an inventory record for every variant for every location.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Location 1 SKU | The specific SKU that these inventory items belong to 🔑 This field is required when importing inventory levels. |
| Location 1 Product ID | The specific product ID that these inventory items belong to |
| Location 1 Variant ID | The specific variant ID that these inventory items belong to. |
| Location 1 ID 1 | The ID of the first location |
| Location 1 Code 1 | The code of the first location |
| Location 1 Available to Sell 1 | The inventory available to sell at this location. |
| Location 1 Bin Picking Number 1 | The BIN picking number for this inventory item at this location |
| Location 1 Is In Stock 1 | Whether this inventory item is in stock at this location |
| Location 1 Enabled 1 | Whether this location is enabled |
| Location 1 Name 1 | The name of this location |
| Location 1 Safety Stock 1 | The amount of safety stock reserved for this product/variant at this location |
| Location 1 Total Inventory Onhand 1 | The total amount of stock for this product/variant at this location. 🔑 This field is required when importing inventory levels. |
| Location 1 Warning Level 1 | Once the product/variant stock level reaches this level at this location, a notification will be sent. |
Customs Information columns
One or more Customs Info HS Codes columns are required in order to set a HS Code per region.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Customs Info Country of Origin | The country of manufacture, production, or growth in ISO 3166-1 2 letter country code format. Example values: US, GB, CN |
| Customs Info Commodity Description | A description that customs can use to identify & verify the package. |
| Customs Info International Shipping | Has this product been shipped internationally? Allowed values: Yes, No, 1, 0, True, False |
| Customs Info HS Codes - {2 letter country code} | The HS codes can be provided in multiple columns with the country code as a suffix, e.g. "Customs Info HS Codes - CN" for the China HS Code. Use multiple columns to define HS codes for each region Example values: 501000, 508313 |
Metafield columns
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| {namespace}.{key} | You can create and update product metafields by adding a column named after the metafield namespace and metafield key separated by a .. If the metafield already exists for the product, it will be updated, otherwise, it will be created. The metafield namespace and key each must be fewer than 65 characters Metafield values can be up to 65,535 characters long. An empty string or a string with only whitespace is not a valid metafield value. All metafields will be created with write and storefront access permissions so they can be queried via the storefront GraphQL API. |
info
As we don't know the names of metafields in advance, you can only select all metafields when exporting.
Template Association Columns
A product can be assigned to one template per channel and so multiple associations can be defined.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Template 1 Channel ID | The ID of channel where you want to override the template used for this product. |
| Template 1 Channel Name | The name of the channel that you wish to set a custom product template. You may use Channel ID or Channel Name column to identify the channel. |
| Template 1 File Name | The file name of the Stencil custom template to use. |
Export filters
You can filter product exports by:
- Product ID range
- Brands
- Categories
- Purchasability
- Condition
- Date updated
- Visibility
- Keyword
- Name
tip
As you reduce the number of items in your export, or change what data should be included, the estimate of the number of records and duration of the export will be updated.