If you need to add a large number of products to your account, you may want to use the “Upload New Products” option that can be found on the Set Up Products page. Here are some guidelines for creating a properly formatted CSV file that can be used for this.

The most important thing to remember is the number of fields used per-line in the CSV: 13. Each field is separated with a comma and there must be no more or less then the expected number (again, 13) per line. Product names and descriptions are common offenders to this rule, as they sometimes include extra commas. These commas should be removed or changed to another character prior to the file being uploaded.

The first line of the file is a special line and should only contain the vendor ID number of the account the products will be uploaded to. This number should not be followed or prefixed with commas or any other information.

The other lines will contain your product information to be uploaded. Here is a list of the fields that will need entered for each product and the maximum length in characters that can be used:

• Product ID
• Name
• Inventory
• Price
• Weight
• Handling Charge
• Tangible
• Description
• Start Up Fee
• Pending URL
• Approved URL
• Recurrence
• Duration

Product ID:
The ID that you use to identify your product. 64 char max.

Name:
The name to be used for your product. 128 char max.

Inventory:
This field is not currently used by the 2Checkout system and may be set to any non-negative number, including zero, or left blank. 9 char max.

Price:
This should be a positive number representing the price of your product in the currency used by your 2Checkout account. No currency symbol should be used in the field itself. Valid examples are ‘100′ and ‘100.00′. 8 char max.

Weight:
The weight, if any, of your product. This field is used to calculate a shipping charge using your weight-based shipping methods. Only numbers should be used in this field. 4 char max.

Handling Charge:
An optional handling charge to be added on a per-product basis. Follows the same rules as “Price”. 4 char max.

Tangible:
Whether this product is a physical item (ie. clothing) or intangible (ie. software or services). Represented with a ‘1′ for tangible or ‘0′ for intangible. 1 char max.

Description:
A short description of your product that will display on your Order Page or when the item is added to a shopping cart. It’s easy to add an unintentional comma in this field, so check your descriptions. 255 char max.

Start Up Fee:
This is an additional fee to be used for recurring services. This must be a non-negative number, although it can be changed to a negative value after upload to represent a discount on the first billing cycle. 4 char max.

Pending URL:
The URL to return customers to for non-credit card orders. This must be a full URL starting with “http://”. Can be left blank to use the URL specified in your account’s Look & Feel section. 128 char max.

Approved URL:
Same as “Pending URL” but used for approved credit card orders. 128 char max.

Recurrence:
For recurring products; specifies the length between billing cycles (how often to charge a customer). Entries should contain a number followed by ‘Day’, ‘Week’, ‘Month’ or ‘Year’. Examples: 1 Day (once a day); 1 Month (once a month); 4 Year (four times a year). There must be a space between the number and the word. Also, the word must start with a capital letter (see examples above). 32 char max.

Duration:
For recurring products; specifies how long to continue billing a customer. This should be formatted in the same method as “Recurrence” but can alternatively be set to ‘Forever’ to continue billing until cancelled. Keep in mind that, while ‘4 Year’ in the recurrence field means “bill four times per year”, in the duration field this means “continue billing for four years”. 32 char max.

Below you will find the first three lines of a working CSV file. The first line, as described above, contains a vendor number (sometimes called a seller ID). The first product is a simple tangible product that costs $1.00. The second product is a recurring intangible product that will bill for $10.00 every month for two years, with a $15.00 start up fee for the first month. Custom approved and pending URLs have also been set for this product. The last product is a tangible product that costs $100.00, weighs 10 pounds and has a $5.00 handling charge.

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EX01,Example One,,1.00,,,1,My first sample product.,,,,,,
EX02,Example Two,,10.00,,,0,Another sample product.,15.00,http://www.example.com/script/pending.php,http://www.example.com/script/approved.php,1 Month,2 Year,
EX03,Example Three,,100.00,10,5.00,1,The final sample product.,,,,,,