How to import products from a CSV file (Etsy, eBay, Shopify, Amazon)

Last update November 10, 2023

Is it possible to use a CSV file to sell on multiple channels simultaneously?

The answer is “sometimes”.

Not all channels let you directly import products through a CSV file. As stated is its policies, Etsy, for example, doesn’t natively allow sellers to upload products from a CSV. On the other hand, accounting software, ERPs, and e-commerce tools let you easily download your listings as a text file (the .csv).

Moreover, every marketplace and e-commerce platform has different CSV requirements, you can’t use just one for all of them. But there is a solution that makes your life a lot easier.

Use Nembol to list products using a CSV

If you want to import products from a CSV file, you have to use third-party apps, like Nembol.

With Nembol, you can list your products on multiple channels simultaneously. Easily import your listings directly from your source channels, or use the CSV file you just downloaded from Quickbooks or any other e-commerce tool, accounting system, or ERP that allows CSV product export.

Once your products are imported in Nembol, you can effortlessly and quickly publish them on any or all of: Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Facebook Catalog (aka Facebook Meta Commerce), Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr.

Start by easily importing your products in Nembol using a .csv file.

Please note: if your products are hosted on eBay, Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, or a second Etsy account, you can import those items into Nembol directly, without using a CSV file!

Why should you import products via CSV?

Import via .csv is extremely useful if:

1. The software in which you manage your products is not one of those directly connected by Nembol (i.e. Quickbooks, Magento, Walmart, etc).
2. You prefer using a tool like Excel or Numbers to massively edit your products before uploading them – say – on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, or any of the other channels.
3. Importing via .csv, and Nembol, in general, may be very useful to migrate across e-commerce tools.
4. You need to find an ERP e-commerce solution to generate listings from the the data of your legacy system

Below the full explanation of how to upload your CSV file to Nembol.

Why should you import products via CSV?

Import via .csv is extremely useful if:

1. The software in which you manage your products is not one of those directly connected by Nembol (i.e. Quickbooks, Magento, Walmart, etc).
2. You prefer using a tool like Excel or Numbers to massively edit your products before uploading them – say – on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, or any of the other channels.
3. Importing via .csv, and Nembol, in general, may be very useful to migrate across e-commerce tools.
4. You need to find an ERP e-commerce solution to generate listings from the the data of your legacy system

Below the full explanation of how to upload your CSV file to Nembol.

CSV Bulk Edit

Did you know that you can bulk-update your listings using a CSV? Simply export your products and use Excel or Numbers to edit up to hundreds of listings at the same time.

Read more: the CSV bulk Edit function.

Easily upload your CSV to Nembol

Following: the steps you need to follow to upload your CSV to Nembol. You can also watch our tutorial video (we use an Amazon .csv file, but it works the same way).

1) Log in to your Nembol account on app.nembol.com or create a new account if you are a new user (there’s a free trial for up to 14 days).

2) Click on the blue button “Import CSV” in the Products Tab.

3) Download the .csv file template.

This is important because it shows you which columns Nembol requires in order to correctly upload your CSV.

4) Open the .csv file template with Excel or with Numbers.

5) Also open the CSV file containing your products that you downloaded from your source (Quickbooks, Magento, etc.)

6) Now that you have both CSV open side-by-side, you need to copy and paste the column headers FROM the template CSV download from Nembol TO your CSV. Meaning that you substitute your column header with our column header. This allows Nembol to recognize the data from your .csv file, and it’s vital to successfully import your products.

7) You can add and customize all data you want regarding your products.
Bear in mind that you can later edit one-by-one each product in Nembol, also if they have already been published.
NEW 2019: you can later edit inventory in bulk directly in Nembol.

8) You can now import your edited and adjusted CSV to Nembol. Go back to the Product Tab and click the button “Import CSV”. Click on “Choose file” in Nembol, select your file on your PC and click “Start import”.

9) Nembol will start the import and add your products to your Nembol account. Once done, refresh the Products Tab in Nembol.

Please note:

• In case some of your products generated an import error, Nembol will inform you and give you an error log file to make it easy for you to correct and resubmit.
• Note that Nembol will not import twice the same product, and makes these checks via product ID also in your .csv file.

Useful tips on creating your CSV file

How to convert CSV to semicolon delimited

Many CSV files are natively created with commas “,” as separators. But Nembol requires semicolons “;” as column separators. So, how do you change all you “,” to “;”?

The List Separator depends on your regional settings. In some countries, like Italy, the separator is set up on “;” by default. If this is not your case, you can easily change the settings.

In Windows 10:

1. Click the Start button, and then open the Control Panel.
2. Click Change date, time, or number formats. The Region dialog box appears.
3. Click on Additional settings.
4. Under List separator, change “,” to “;”.

At this point, you can simply save your CSV file with Microsoft Excel:

• Open the CSV file in a new sheet
• Save as a new file
• Select “CSV (semicolon delimited)”
• Done! Your file is ready to be uploaded on Nembol

How to add images to your CSV file

If you want to add pictures to a CSV file, you need to host them online. This is the only possible way to include a picture in a text-file.

You can host them on any picture hosting service, as long as such tool provides you with a public URL per each of your pics.

Where can you host pictures online?

1. Google Photos
2. Cloudinary
3. Dropbox

In the latter case, you have to set your Dropbox so that the images are downloadable, otherwise they will be just blanc. The URL in the pics has to change from:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xvt….rzx9cbt/picturename.jpg?dl=0

to

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xvt….rzx9cbt/picturename.jpg?dl=1

The difference is in the 1 vs 0 in the last element of the URL.

How to add multiple images to the same listing

The main image goes in the image_link column

Secondary images go in the additional_image_link column, separated by commas “,”

Example: URL1, URL2, URL3

How do you separate tags in the CSV?

You can separate the tags by placing a “,” between each one.

Example: tag1, tag2, tag3

How to list the products from the CSV file to Etsy or any other channel

Once your products are imported into Nembol, you can easily bulk-publish them on multiple channels simultaneously.

Here is how it’s done:

1. Access your Products Tab and select the products you wish to publish on (for example) Etsy.
2. Make sure your Etsy account is connected to Nembol in the Channels Tab.
3. Click on the Actions button > Publish and select all the channels you want.
4. Confirm by clicking on Publish.
5. And you’re done!

Now that you published your products on any or all of Amazon, eBay, Etsy, WooCommerce, and Shopify using Nembol, Nembol can sync inventory across all channels and also lets you edit products centrally in Nembol (or in Shopify) and then sync your edits to all connected channels.

These functions will save you plenty of time, allow you to clean errors also after publication, and make it easy for you to publish on more channels thus increasing your reach, traffic, and potential sales.

Common questions