ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
1 BEST ANSWER
Accepted Solutions
There are two things to keep in mind.
1) The headers and data format from a download will not necessarily match the headers and data format that you need to submit to File Exchange.
2) Categories differ by country and each category may have a different set of parameters.
Since you are in the UK (asking on the US forum), I want to make sure that you are working with the UK site for uploads destined for the UK site:
https://pages.ebay.co.uk/file_exchange/SMP_instructionsandresources.html
From that UK page, choose File Exchange Template from the left column and then select an Item Specifics Category template. If you download the XLS template, the spreadsheet will provide a droplist of suggestions for each column. This droplist advice will get you well on your way.
When first attempting to create new listings with File Exchange, the Action column should be "VerifyAdd". That lets you test your file without actually creating a listing. Once all the bugs are ironed out, you can change the action to "Add" and post the listing for real.
MAJOR FAILURES:
Extra linebreaks are the most common failure for initial uploads. Make sure there are no extra spaces around the header fields and no stray linebreaks or line-ends in the data cells. The description is the most likely area to find extra linebreaks. And be sure that you don't have stray content at the bottom of your spreadsheet.
If using an Apple computer, export your CSV file in DOS format to use the Microsoft line terminators that eBay expects.
Do not save your CSV as UTF-8, as that might add special characters to the front of the file, causing immediate rejection. The UK site, like the US site, expects and uses ISO-8859-1 (or CP1252) data in the CSV upload.
WARNINGS AND ERRORS:
Note that eBay's template marks required columns with an asterisk, so be sure those are populated.
Are you using Business Policies? If so, you would choose the payment, shipping, and returns profile columns to add your policy/profile "names". Otherwise, you would leave those empty (or remove the columns from your template) and populate all of the appropriate policy detail columns. If your policy states calculated shipping, then you will still need to add dimensions and weight, and you may need to add the appropriate column headers for those.
The Item Specifics are the columns that start with "C:". Some are required and some can be ignored.
Category and item Condition are numbers.
For your first attempt, use a single line description. You can revise it later.
You'll need an external image host to submit your photos. Be sure that your external host allows eBay to fetch photos. Sites like Flickr and Imgur do not.
Some warnings are simply recommendations that will not prevent a file from uploading.
I believe File Exchange reviews each line left to right, so as you fix some errors, you may see new errors appear farther along the line.
I know you might like more specific details, but every template is different and it is sometimes easier for us to see what you are starting with and then make recommendations to fix what is broken.
There are two things to keep in mind.
1) The headers and data format from a download will not necessarily match the headers and data format that you need to submit to File Exchange.
2) Categories differ by country and each category may have a different set of parameters.
Since you are in the UK (asking on the US forum), I want to make sure that you are working with the UK site for uploads destined for the UK site:
https://pages.ebay.co.uk/file_exchange/SMP_instructionsandresources.html
From that UK page, choose File Exchange Template from the left column and then select an Item Specifics Category template. If you download the XLS template, the spreadsheet will provide a droplist of suggestions for each column. This droplist advice will get you well on your way.
When first attempting to create new listings with File Exchange, the Action column should be "VerifyAdd". That lets you test your file without actually creating a listing. Once all the bugs are ironed out, you can change the action to "Add" and post the listing for real.
MAJOR FAILURES:
Extra linebreaks are the most common failure for initial uploads. Make sure there are no extra spaces around the header fields and no stray linebreaks or line-ends in the data cells. The description is the most likely area to find extra linebreaks. And be sure that you don't have stray content at the bottom of your spreadsheet.
If using an Apple computer, export your CSV file in DOS format to use the Microsoft line terminators that eBay expects.
Do not save your CSV as UTF-8, as that might add special characters to the front of the file, causing immediate rejection. The UK site, like the US site, expects and uses ISO-8859-1 (or CP1252) data in the CSV upload.
WARNINGS AND ERRORS:
Note that eBay's template marks required columns with an asterisk, so be sure those are populated.
Are you using Business Policies? If so, you would choose the payment, shipping, and returns profile columns to add your policy/profile "names". Otherwise, you would leave those empty (or remove the columns from your template) and populate all of the appropriate policy detail columns. If your policy states calculated shipping, then you will still need to add dimensions and weight, and you may need to add the appropriate column headers for those.
The Item Specifics are the columns that start with "C:". Some are required and some can be ignored.
Category and item Condition are numbers.
For your first attempt, use a single line description. You can revise it later.
You'll need an external image host to submit your photos. Be sure that your external host allows eBay to fetch photos. Sites like Flickr and Imgur do not.
Some warnings are simply recommendations that will not prevent a file from uploading.
I believe File Exchange reviews each line left to right, so as you fix some errors, you may see new errors appear farther along the line.
I know you might like more specific details, but every template is different and it is sometimes easier for us to see what you are starting with and then make recommendations to fix what is broken.
Suppliers in the business of providing goods to online retailers will usually provide a spreadsheet with that info. If they don't, you may need to build your own.
Theoretically, you should be able to reference the images hosted on your supplier's site, and eBay's File Exchange will attempt to rehost those photos on eBay servers. Once rehosted, the links are no longer needed.
File Exchange is free, while other third-party listing programs require a subscription. I don't have any experience with the other services, but they will all have a better interface than File Exchange, meaning they will likely guide you through the process and may have a better mechanism for managing your photos.
