eBay

itolduandso · ‎03-15-2023

Finally managed to setup my upload to Ebay via CSV from my database.

I don't like to have to edit the CSV files manually every time, rather setup things once and produce the CSV file I need. While Ebay mobile app and the single-item listing page has significantly improved, sellers who list of different platforms will likely use either CSV, MIP or API methods to upload listings. For smaller sellers the CSV makes most sense. Yet, the CSV method is the most forgotten by Ebay. It shows how badly the documentation needs revision, there are many section of documentation online that are outdated. It's a jumbo-mumbo of different updates. Anyhow I hope when Ebay continues to improve the CSV upload process, it will not break things. It takes quite a bit of time to find out what works and what doesn't.

Here is a summary of some observations.

Perhaps this helps somebody who is new to CSV save time.

These fields work for uploading Live listings CSV but they do not work for Drafts CSV (these are going ot be ignored in Drafts CSV):

ConditionDescription
StoreCategory
PostalCode (same is with the Location field)
Duration
P:UPC
ShippingProfileName
PaymentProfileName
ReturnProfileName
P:EPID

This means when uploading listings to Drafts, these fields will be empty in draft listing and you need to fill in manually.

The ConditionDescription is not imported but the import simply copies over the Condition ID in wording. I use business policies, so not applicable to me, but likely same will also apply to adding shipping detail fields.

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Condition ID/ ConditionID field requirements different

Condition ID (in Drafts CSV) - must be written in word (NEW, USED)
ConditionID (in Live listing CSV) - must be in number (e.g. 1000, 3000 etc)

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The lines between the first line and the header are not needed:

INFO Version=1.0.0 Template=fx_category_template_EBAY_US (line required)

Action(SiteID=US|Country=US|Currency=USD|Version=1193|CC=UTF-8) End

All other lines starting with #INFO or INFO are not required for upload.
If you use MacOS and MS Excel, the application will add characters in front of the word INFO (Info) at the first line ( ï»¿ ). These need to be removed, otherwise the CSV upload will not work.
On the other hand, the character # can stay there (removing it also works).

Mentioned about it here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Tools/CSV-files-on-MacOS-Errors-when-uploading-them-to-Ebay-How...

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The column order and empty columns

Both Draft and Live listing CSV allows any order of columns, it allows spaces between columns (empty columns). However, the Live listing CSV, the first column must be the Action column (e.g.)

Action(SiteID=US|Country=US|Currency=USD|Version=1193|CC=UTF-8)

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If you are listing in US site (Ebay.COM) and the item location is not in the US, the column for Action must include the correct country code, e.g. for Canada: CA, otherwise it will not accept the Canadian code in PostalCode field (and likely also not accept whatever is entered in Location field if you don't use PostalCode field).

So I had to change this...

Action(SiteID=US|Country=US|Currency=USD|Version=1193|CC=UTF-8)

To this...

Action(SiteID=US|Country=CA|Currency=USD|Version=1193|CC=UTF-8)

This assumes the CSV is downloaded for the US site.

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Action (...) field

AddVerify - A few PDF guides mention this is an option, however, this option is not available for any CSV uploaded in Sales Hub. Too bad, because it may be helpful to verify the listing before I actually send them live. I assume it is only available for the API upload.

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Mobile / Search SEP fields:

MobileDescription
MetaDescription

Unfortunately both fields are not available for any CSV uploaded in Sales Hub.

This was mentioned here and partial solution:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Tools/Ebay-has-not-fixed-the-CSV-update-listings-upload-still-m...

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General 1st line instructions

You can use the same CSV file to perform multiple things: upload drafts, upload live listings, revise price & quantity and also end listings.

Of course this assumes Ebay doesn't change the format.

The only difference is the first line:

Draft.......
Info Version=0.0.2 Template= eBay-draft-listings-template_US