Help & Documentation

How to Bulk Order with CSV

A complete guide to placing large, multi-product orders in a single upload. Download the catalog as a CSV, fill in the quantities you need, and upload it back from your cart to add every item at once.

Customer guide (PDF) Administrator guide (PDF)

1. Introduction #

The CSV Order Import tool lets you build a large, multi-product order in a spreadsheet and add every item to your cart in a single upload — no need to add each product manually from the catalog.

The workflow is simple: open the cart drawer, download a CSV that already lists every product in the store, fill in the quantities you want, and upload the file back. The tool previews the order, flags any rows that don’t match a real product, and only adds the valid rows when you confirm.

  1. 1

    Open cart

    Sign in & open drawer

  2. 2

    Download CSV

    Sample or full catalog

  3. 3

    Fill in qty

    Edit only the qty column

  4. 4

    Upload

    Review the preview

  5. 5

    Check out

    Pay & ship as usual

Figure 1. The end-to-end CSV order import flow.

2. Before you begin #

  • You must be signed in to your customer account — the cart and checkout require an active session.
  • You need a spreadsheet program: Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, or LibreOffice Calc all work.
  • You don’t need to empty the cart first — CSV uploads are added to whatever is already in your cart.

3. Open the import panel #

  1. Click the cart icon in the header to open the cart drawer.
  2. The CSV import panel is built into the drawer:
  • If your cart is empty, the panel is centered.
  • If your cart already has items, the panel appears below the line items, alongside an “Empty cart” button.
Figure 2. The CSV import panel inside the cart drawer (highlighted in amber).

4. Download the template #

Two download options live inside the import panel:

Download sample CSV

A small file with around 15 products taken from the live catalog. Useful as a quick reference to see the column layout and try the upload flow without committing to a full order.

Generate full catalog CSV

Builds a fresh file with every product currently available in the store. The qty column is empty — you only fill in the quantities you actually want. This is the recommended starting point for a real order.

The downloaded CSV has seven columns:

ColumnWhat it means
id_productThe unique product identifier used by the store. Never modify this value.
name_productThe product title. For your reference.
upcThe product barcode (UPC). For your reference.
priceThe unit price in the store currency. For your reference.
wholesale_msrpThe wholesale MSRP (suggested retail price). For your reference.
wholesale_bag_sizeThe wholesale bag size. For your reference.
qtyThe number of units you want. Leave blank to skip the row.

5. About the ="..." wrapper #

! Heads up — this is intentional, not a bug.

When you open the CSV in Excel or Google Sheets, every cell in the id_product, upc, price and wholesale_msrp columns is wrapped like the cells highlighted in amber below. Do not remove the ="...". It is a standard spreadsheet directive that forces the cell to be treated as text, not as a number.

On the ID and UPC columns it stops long numbers from being mangled into scientific notation. On the two money columns it keeps both decimals visible — a spreadsheet reads 15.00 as the number 15 and hides the trailing zero.

Figure 3. The downloaded CSV opened in a spreadsheet. Amber cells are protected by the ="..." wrapper; only edit the green qty column.

Why we add it

Product IDs and UPCs are very long numbers (12 to 15 digits). Without the wrapper, Excel automatically converts them to scientific notation:

4260765914950   →   4.26E+12        (last digits permanently lost)
47170831319278  →   4.71708E+13     (last digits permanently lost)

Once a cell has been corrupted this way, the original digits are unrecoverable — the file won’t match any product in the store and the upload will fail.

What you should do

  • Leave the ="..." alone in the id_product and upc columns.
  • Edit only the qty column — that’s the only column you need to touch.
  • When you save the file, Excel removes the ="..." automatically. That’s expected. Our system accepts the file with or without the wrapper.
  • If you ever need to type a new ID or UPC by hand, type it as ="YOUR-VALUE" (with the equals sign and quotes) so the cell stays as text.

✓ The simplest rule

Open → type quantities in qty → save → upload. Don’t edit anything else.

6. Fill in quantities #

  1. Find the rows for the products you want to order.
  2. Type a whole, positive number in the qty column.
  3. Leave qty blank on any row you don’t want to include — blank rows are skipped automatically.
  4. Save the file. Keep the .csv extension and the comma separator.

You can also delete rows you don’t need. The order of rows doesn’t matter, and any extra columns you add are ignored. The system only uses id_product and qty.

7. Upload your file #

  1. Open the cart drawer.
  2. Click Upload CSV.
  3. Choose your edited CSV.
  4. The system reads the file in your browser and shows a preview.

i Your file stays on your computer

The CSV is parsed entirely in your browser. Only the resulting product IDs and quantities are sent to the store — the file itself is never uploaded.

8. Review the preview #

Before anything is added to your cart, the import panel shows a preview table:

  • Row — line number from your CSV.
  • ID Producto — the identifier from your file.
  • Product — the matching product name from the store.
  • UPC — barcode (when provided in the file).
  • Price — unit price (when provided).
  • Qty — the quantity you entered.
  • Status — OK if the product exists, Not found if the ID doesn’t match anything in the store.

! Rows marked “Not found” are excluded

Any row whose id_product doesn’t match a product in the store is listed below the preview and is not added to your cart. The confirm button shows the real count, e.g. “Add 5 item(s) to cart” on a file with six rows where one is missing.

Format errors (invalid IDs, invalid quantities) are listed beneath the table with a plain explanation. When you’re happy, click Add N item(s) to cart. To start over, click Cancel.

9. Enter your PO number #

A PO Number (purchase order number) is optional, whether you built your cart from a CSV upload or added items manually. You’ll find the field inside the cart drawer and on the full cart page, marked “(optional)”.

  1. If you use purchase orders, type your PO number into the PO Number field.
  2. The value is saved automatically as you type — you don’t need a separate “save” step.
  3. It is stored with the order, so it appears on your order confirmation and on the store’s records.
  4. If you don’t use purchase orders, just leave the field blank and check out as normal.

✓ The PO number never blocks checkout

You can check out with or without a PO number, using either the regular Checkout button or the express/dynamic payment buttons (such as Shop Pay, PayPal, or Google Pay). The same field shows in the drawer and on the cart page, and both stay in sync — you only have to fill it in once.

10. Add to cart and check out #

Once you confirm, the cart drawer refreshes with the new items added. From here the checkout flow is identical to a normal order:

  1. Optionally fill in the PO Number field (see section 9) — it is not required to check out.
  2. Click Checkout.
  3. Complete payment, shipping, and any B2B steps as usual.

11. Empty the cart #

If an upload introduced more items than intended, or you just want a clean slate:

  1. Open the cart drawer.
  2. Click Empty cart (next to the CSV import title when the cart has items).
  3. Confirm in the browser prompt.

Every line item is removed at once. You can then upload a new CSV or shop normally.

12. Other ways to add in bulk #

The CSV upload is the best tool for large, cross-catalog orders. For quicker additions you don’t need a spreadsheet — the store also offers one-click “add in bulk” buttons in three places. All of them add the items straight into your cart drawer and refresh it without reloading the page.

Add all variants (product page)

On a product with more than one available variant, an “Add all N variants to cart” button appears below the buy buttons. It adds every in-stock variant of that product at once.

Add all in collection

At the top of a collection page, “Add all N SKUs in this collection to cart” adds every in-stock variant of every product on the page in a single action. Some collections (patterns, needles and similar) do not show this button.

Add from search results

Each result in the predictive search dropdown has its own “Add to cart” button, so you can add products directly from the search box.

i Large batches are handled automatically

When you add many items at once, the store sends them to your cart in batches. If a single item can’t be added (for example, it just went out of stock), the rest are still added and only the problem item is skipped. As with any order, you’ll still need a PO number before you can check out.

13. Common errors & troubleshooting #

ErrorWhat it means / how to fix
Missing columns Your CSV doesn’t have the id_product and/or qty column. Re-download the template and copy your quantities into it.
Shopify product export detected You uploaded a raw Shopify product export (with columns like Handle, Variant SKU) instead of the import template. Use Generate full catalog CSV instead.
Not found (red status) The id_product doesn’t match any product currently in the store. Re-generate the catalog CSV to get fresh IDs, or check for typos. These rows are skipped on submit.
Truncated by Excel The ID was saved in scientific notation and the real digits are lost. Re-download the template, copy your quantities into it, save, and re-upload. See section 5.
Out of stock The product exists but is not available for purchase. Remove the row or wait until restocked.
Invalid quantity The qty value is not a whole positive number. Correct it and re-upload.

14. Frequently asked questions #

Do I have to enter a PO number to check out?

No. The PO Number field is optional and never blocks checkout. If you use purchase orders, enter yours and it will be saved with the order; otherwise leave it blank. See section 9.

Do I need a PO number for CSV orders too?

No. The PO Number is optional for all orders regardless of how the cart was built — CSV upload, “Add all” buttons, or manual adds. Fill it in only if you use purchase order numbers.

Why are the IDs and UPCs wrapped in ="..."?

To prevent Excel from corrupting them. Long numbers are silently converted to scientific notation, which drops the last digits. The ="..." wrapper forces the cell to stay as text. Leave it alone, edit only qty, and the system handles the rest. Full explanation in section 5.

Can I add the same product on multiple rows?

Yes. If the same ID appears on several rows, each one is processed and the quantities accumulate in the cart.

Which spreadsheet apps can I use?

Any tool that opens and saves CSV files. Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, and LibreOffice Calc are all supported.

Do I need to log in before uploading?

Yes. You must be signed in for the cart to persist and for checkout to reflect your account-specific pricing and shipping.

Where is my data uploaded?

The CSV is parsed in your browser. Only the parsed product IDs and quantities are sent to the store to build the cart — the file itself is never uploaded.

What happens if a product is unavailable when I check out?

The row is skipped during the add-to-cart step and listed in the rejection report. You can fix the row or remove it and try again.