How to bulk upload to Etsy (With Variants)

Shop Uploader lets you bulk upload listings to Etsy with a simple spreadsheet.

This tutorial will show you how to upload a product with variants. Etsy product variations can have 2 options and a different SKU, inventory quantity, and price. We're going to focus on the changes you need to make when working with variants. Visit the full guide for a deep dive into bulk uploading products to Etsy.

These sections are:

• Title
• Description
• SKU and Parent SKU
• Styles, Tags, and Materials

Let’s get started.

Title and Description

To begin, fill out the title and description of your listings. Remember, your title needs to follow Etsy’s Title Requirements.

You NEED to have the SAME title for all variants of the same product. If you have different titles for your variants, you will make a new listing for each.

Referring back to our ship example, we had 4 variants. This means we need to have the same title for 4 rows in the excel document.

You need to follow Etsy’s Seller Policy to avoid getting into trouble with your description. When dealing with variants, you have two options for posting your description. The first is to post the same description in all rows. The second is to place it in the first row and leave the other rows blank. Remember, Etsy only shows the first 160 characters in its search results.

For this example, here is our description:

SKU and Parent SKU

SKUs help differentiate between variants of the same product. They are mandatory and are limited to a max of 32 characters.

Your listing Needs to have a Parent SKU. They are mandatory and are limited to a max of 32 characters. Your Parent SKU must be the same for each variant of a product. If it is different, you will be creating a new listing for each variant.

For this example, here is our SKU setup:

Styles, Tags, and Materials

Style_# gives the overarching broad art category your product falls into. Etsy has various predefined styles you can choose from, but you can also import your own. The predefined options differ slightly depending on what you are listing. We recommend going to Etsy, selecting your category, then taking a style option from there.

Tag_# is a word or short phrase that describes your item. Tags can be up to 20 characters long, and you can have up to 13 per listing.

Material_# is what materials make up the product. Each number will be for one material.

These are our style, tags, and materials:

Production Partner(s)

Production_partner_# is generated by Etsy. You can access these on the Shop Page (must be logged in).

Uploading Your File

Now that you've completed your template, head on over to the Uploads Page (must be logged in) to complete your first bulk upload.