Adding products one by one is slow. How to prepare a clean CSV, handle categories, prices, stock and images, import safely and fix errors, plus when manual entry is still better.
If you're moving from Facebook, a marketplace or a spreadsheet to your own website, adding 100 products by hand can take days. A CSV import lets you prepare everything in a spreadsheet and upload it in one go. Done carefully, it saves hours; done carelessly, it creates 100 broken product pages.
What the Multipurc Learning Center describes
According to the Learning Center, bulk CSV uploads work like this:
- Go to Products → Import / Export in your store dashboard.
- Download the official Sample CSV Template.
- Fill in product titles, descriptions, categories, prices, stock counts and image URLs.
- Upload the completed CSV and preview the column mappings.
- Click Run Import; products and images are imported in the background.
Menu names can change with updates; if you don't see this exactly, check the Learning Center or ask support from the dashboard.
Other bulk options mentioned in the Learning Center include importing from Dropship multipurc or CJ Dropshipping, and syncing from marketplaces like Daraz via plugins (CJ and Daraz are on Pro and Elite per the pricing page). Moving from WooCommerce? See our migration checklist for WordPress Connect.
Before you start: check your product limit
At the time of writing, the pricing page lists product upload limits of 50 on Starter, 200 on Pro and unlimited on Elite, with variants, sizes, colours and gallery images inside each product. If your CSV has 150 products and you're on Starter, plan accordingly. Confirm current limits on the pricing page.
Step 1: Always start from the official template
Don't build your own column layout. Download the sample template so column names match exactly what the importer expects. Keep a copy of the blank template.
Step 2: Prepare your data cleanly
Open the template in Google Sheets or Excel and fill it carefully:
Titles
- Consistent format: "Cotton Panjabi – Navy"
- No emojis or ALL CAPS
Descriptions
- Plain text or simple formatting
- Include size or spec info, fabric or material, and care
Categories
- Create your categories first in Catalog → Categories and use the exact same names in the CSV. "Three Piece" and "Three-Piece" may be treated as different categories.
Prices and stock
- Numbers only:
1250, not৳1,250or1250 tk - Stock as whole numbers
Images
- The template asks for image URLs, meaning images hosted online with a direct link to the file.
- Test a few URLs in a browser; each should open the image directly, not a web page.
- Use compressed images (WEBP or optimised JPG) at a consistent size.
Step 3: Clean the spreadsheet
Common problems that break imports:
- Extra spaces at the start or end of cells (use the spreadsheet's TRIM function)
- Line breaks inside cells that the importer doesn't expect
- Commas inside text that aren't properly quoted (Google Sheets and Excel handle this when exporting as CSV)
- Wrong encoding: save as CSV UTF-8 so Bangla text stays readable
Step 4: Test with a small batch first
Never import 200 products on the first try.
- Copy 5 products into a separate CSV.
- Import them.
- Open each product on the storefront: title, description, price, stock, category, images.
- Check on a phone.
- Fix the template issues, then import the rest.
Step 5: Import the full file
Upload the full CSV, review the column mapping preview carefully, and run the import. Imports run in the background, so give it time before assuming something failed.
Step 6: Check and fix after import
- Catalog → Products (or the product list): spot-check 10–20 products at random.
- Missing images: usually a bad URL. Fix in the product editor or re-import those rows.
- Wrong categories: fix the category names and re-import or edit manually.
- Variants: if your products have sizes or colours, check that variants and per-variant stock look right in Catalog → Variants. Complex variant setups sometimes need a manual touch in the product editor.
When manual entry is better
- Fewer than about 15 products
- Products with complicated variants and different photos per colour
- Premium products where each description is carefully written
Many sellers combine both: bulk import the basics, then polish the top 20 products by hand.
Keep your master spreadsheet
After importing, keep the spreadsheet as your product master list. Use it for:
- Price updates across many products
- Seasonal restocks
- Backups
Common mistakes
- Skipping the test batch
- Currency symbols in price columns
- Category names that don't match existing categories
- Image links that point to a web page or a private cloud folder
- Saving as plain CSV instead of CSV UTF-8, scrambling Bangla text
Summary
Download the official template, create categories first, clean your data, test with five products, then import the rest and spot-check. Bulk upload turns days of typing into an afternoon, provided the spreadsheet is clean.