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Updating eBay Listing Templates in Bulk
Updating eBay Listing Templates in Bulk

Learn how to get ChannelGrabber to push a bulk revision out to your eBay listings to update your listing and template contents

Clare Cormican avatar
Written by Clare Cormican
Updated over a week ago

Since eBay have recently made several changes to their policies on listing content and template content, we have created a new and easier way to update your eBay Listing Templates in bulk via ChannelGrabber.

 

BEFORE YOU PROCEED…

 

1)  This method should ONLY be used if you are 100% confident that all your eBay listing content in ChannelGrabber is up to date. 

If you ever make changes on eBay directly, then it’s likely that your eBay listings in ChannelGrabber will be different to those on eBay, meaning that if you push any eBay listing updates from ChannelGrabber, we will overwrite whatever is currently on eBay with the content that is in CG right now.

 

2)  This method should only be used on listings where the previous template has been applied via ChannelGrabber, or the current eBay descriptions are in plain text/do not contain any HTML or old template code.

If any of your eBay listings in CG were imported from eBay with templates applied already, then unfortunately this would mean that the HTML from the template is embedded in the eBay description, so if you apply a new template via CG, then your old template will just end up being incorporated into the new template.  If this is the case for any of your listings, then we would not recommend to update them in bulk, but instead see our guide onUpdating/Switching to a new eBay Template Design via ChannelGrabber

 

If you understand and accept the above points, please feel free to proceed with this process.

 

 

Exporting Active eBay Listing Data

 

1. Navigate to Products > Data Exchange > Listings:

 

2.  To export the necessary eBay data, click on the “Ebay Listing Exports” tab then click the “Generate” button:

 

3.  As per the information above, you will be presented with a disclaimer to ensure that you understand the potential effects of using this file if your eBay listings are not up to date or contain HTML from previous templates.  If you understand and accept responsibility for this, please tick the box next to the disclaimer and then click the “OK” button:

 

4.  A CSV file will start being generated which contains the core eBay listing data that you will need to trigger a bulk template update on your existing ACTIVE eBay listings (If you have thousands of listings you may need to leave this going and come back to it after a short wait).  Please note that if an eBay listing is not currently active, then it will not be included in this data export.  A history log will be displayed to show any time this file has been generated, and once the file is ready, the status will change to “Processed” and a filename and spreadsheet logo will appear.  Click on the spreadsheet logo to download the file and save it to your computer:

 

5.  Open the CSV file.  It will contain the following columns:

  • SKU

  • ListingID

  • Channel

  • eBay Nationality

  • eBay Account ID

  • eBay Listing Template ID

All of these column headers are required to update your templates, so please do not edit or remove them.

 

6.  If you have not yet amended your eBay listings or template to be compliant with eBay’s new standards, please do so now.  Here are a few of our other articles on these subjects to help you along:

 

eBay Listing Templates

FAQs: New eBay Active Content Updates

FAQs: eBay HTTPS security protocol

 

Important Note

If you have made amendments to your original template code in CG (see eBay Listing Templates) then you won’t need to change anything in the file.  However, if you have added a new template in your ChannelGrabber settings to replace your previous template, then you will need to replace the existing “eBay Listing Template ID” content with the four digit ID for your new template, which can be found in Settings > Templates > eBay Listing Templates by loading in the template you want to apply:

 

So for the above example, your file should look like this:

 

If you have made any changes to the file, please make sure you save the file in “CSV (Comma delimited)” format – this is crucial, as ChannelGrabber will not be able to process any files that are not in CSV format.  If you use an Apple Mac, you should use the CSV (Windows format) option.  Please avoid the use of full stops in the filename.

 

 

Importing eBay Listing Data to Update Existing Listings

 

Once you are satisfied that your eBay listings and templates are up to standard, you can now use the file that you previously downloaded, and import it to trigger a bulk update of all the listings.

 

7.  Navigate to Products > Data Exchange > Listings and then click on the “Imports” tab:

 

8.  Click the “Choose file” button, select your eBay Template Update file from your PC, then click the “Upload” button:

 

9.  The data mapping section will then load once the file is uploaded, and the headers from your file should auto-map to the matching fields in ChannelGrabber (if you changed any of the headers in the file you may need to manually match them up):

Please note:  even though the “SKU”, “ListingID” and “Channel” columns are not shown in the mapping section, they will be automatically imported, so do not need to be added to the mapping.

 

10.  When you’re ready to start the bulk update, simply click the “Generate” button and a progress box will appear above the tabs to show how many rows there are to process and will update as it works through the file (you can leave this running and continue with other tasks – you don’t have to sit and watch it):

 

11.  Once the file has finished importing, you can navigate to Products > Data Exchange > History to check that all rows have been processed.  If they have, but there were any problems/errors when the system tried to update eBay, you will be able to see the “eBay Failed” column which will tell you how many rows failed to update on eBay, and you can also download an “Error Report” to help you identify the problem listings and the reasons why they could not be updated.  You may then need to manually check these listings in CG Products page and Edit the eBay listings to correct the problem and re-submit.

 

We hope this guide is useful, but please feel free to contact our Support Team if you need further assistance.

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