Bulk listing on Amazon India with the flat file template
One spreadsheet, one row per SKU, uploaded in one go. Here is how to fill it without the mistakes that fail whole files.
In Seller Central go to Catalog, Add Products via Upload, and download a spreadsheet for the product types you sell. Fill one row per SKU on the Template tab using only allowed values, upload the file, wait for it to process, and fix whatever the processing report lists.
- Download the template from Catalog, Add Products via Upload, for the exact product types you sell. One template can cover several types.
- Data Definitions explains every column and Valid Values lists what each dropdown column accepts. Read both before typing.
- Never edit, delete or reorder the header rows or columns. Data goes in the rows beneath them, one row per SKU.
- Update replaces the whole record with the row, PartialUpdate changes only filled cells, Delete removes the SKU.
- After upload, download the processing report. Fix only the failed rows and upload those again, not the whole file.
The flat file is the fastest way to list a range and the fastest way to make the same mistake a hundred times. The template is strict about where things go, and most failures come from the spreadsheet program rather than from Amazon: a barcode turned into scientific notation, a header row someone tidied up, a value typed instead of picked.
When the spreadsheet beats the form
Use a spreadsheet when you have more than a handful of SKUs, when a product comes in sizes or colours, or when you will change many listings at once later. Every row sits next to the others, so a wrong price or a missing attribute stands out in a way it never does across thirty separate forms.
For your first one or two products, the single Add a Product form is easier. It is worth learning the fields there before meeting them as columns.
Downloading the right template
Go to Catalog, then Add Products via Upload, and choose to download a spreadsheet. Search for each product type you sell and add it. Choosing the wrong product type here is the same mistake as choosing it in the form: wrong required fields, wrong category, wrong fee.
Amazon offers a choice between a template with only the commonly used fields and one with every attribute. Start with the smaller one unless your product type needs attributes buyers filter on that it leaves out.
The file comes as an Excel workbook with macros, which is what drives its dropdowns and checks. Open it in desktop Excel. Online spreadsheet tools often drop the validation, and the file you upload afterwards may not be one Amazon reads cleanly.
What each tab is for
Data Definitions lists every column with what it means, an example, and whether it is required for that product type. Valid Values lists what a dropdown column accepts, word for word. The Example tab shows filled rows. Browse data lists the categories you can place a product in.
The Template tab is the only one you fill. Everything else is there to be read, and it is worth reading Data Definitions top to bottom once for each new product type, because a column that sounds optional can be required in your category.
The header rows are not yours to edit
The top rows of the Template tab carry the template's own settings and the column names Amazon reads. Do not rename, merge, colour, delete or reorder them, and do not insert columns between them. A file with altered headers can fail entirely, with every row rejected for a reason that looks unrelated.
Your data starts on the first empty row beneath the headers. Leave the example rows that came with the template out of the upload, or delete only those rows, never the headers above them.
Filling a row
One row is one SKU. The columns that cause most of the trouble are the product type, the seller SKU, the brand name, the product ID with its ID type (EAN for most Indian products), the item name, the browse category, your price, MRP, quantity, and the main image location.
The image columns want a web address for each image that anyone can open, not a file on your computer and not a link that needs a login. Test one link in a private browser window before you fill a hundred.
The update and delete column decides what the row does. Update creates the SKU or replaces its whole record with what the row contains, so a blank cell can clear something you set before. PartialUpdate changes only the cells you filled and leaves the rest. Delete removes the SKU. For edits to live listings, PartialUpdate is the safe choice.
Variations in a spreadsheet
A size or colour family needs one parent row and one child row per variant. The parent row describes the family and carries no price or stock. Each child row names the parent SKU, the relationship, and the variation theme, such as size or size and colour, with its own value in the theme columns.
The theme must be one the product type allows, picked from Valid Values. A parent with the wrong theme, or children that point at a parent SKU with a typing difference, is the commonest reason a family uploads as separate unlinked products.
Excel mistakes that break the file
A 13-digit EAN typed into a general cell turns into something like 8.90123E+12 and loses its last digits. Format the product ID column as Text before you paste, and check one cell after pasting.
Leading zeros disappear from SKUs and barcodes in number cells, for the same reason. Dropdown values typed by hand with a different capital letter or an extra space do not match Valid Values and fail. Saving as a CSV can mangle Hindi or other non-English text and special characters, so keep the workbook format unless the upload page asks for something else.
From workbook to live listings
Download, fill, upload, read the report, fix only what failed.
Uploading and reading the processing report
Return to Add Products via Upload, choose the upload option, select the file and submit. Processing takes a while for a large file. When it finishes, download the processing report, which lists each row that failed or carries a warning, with an error code and a message.
Errors block the row. Warnings let it through but flag something worth fixing. Fix the failed rows in your copy of the file, then upload a file containing only those rows. Uploading everything again with Update can overwrite changes you made in the meantime.
The common codes are the same as in the form: 5665 for a brand mismatch, 8541 for a product ID that matches an existing ASIN with different details, 5461 for a brand or category not yet approved. The error codes guide covers each one.
The part of this Robnu does for you
Robnu reads your Amazon account and reconciles every settlement line back to the order that caused it, so a wrong deduction is visible the day it lands.
- Orders, returns, payouts and inventory synced
- Every settlement line matched to its order
- FBA units Amazon has not made good, listed
Where this sits in the rest of your Amazon operation
On Amazon, Robnu syncs your orders, returns, payouts and inventory, reconciles every settlement line back to the order that caused it, lists the FBA units Amazon's own ledger has not made good, flags a return that never came back before the SAFE-T window closes, and scans returns in at your dock. It reads your Amazon account rather than writing to it, so accepting orders and making labels run on AJIO and Meesho today. Related reading:
Sources & further reading
- Amazon India, how to list your products the one publicly readable Amazon.in page that states listing figures: title 200 characters, images 500x500 or 1,000x1,000. Read 6 November 2026.
- Amazon listing and image style guides login-gated. It redirects to Amazon sign-in, so the detailed rules it holds are not quoted here and are described as market convention instead. Read 6 November 2026.
- Amazon India seller forums where the failure shapes described here are reported by sellers. Read 6 November 2026.
- Amazon India Seller University the public training hub. It serves, and it does not publish the account-health thresholds. Read 6 November 2026.
Not legal or tax advice. Amazon changes fees, windows and policies without notice, and the detailed style guides and account-health thresholds sit behind a Seller Central login, so any figure quoted here as convention is not Amazon-published. Check anything you plan to act on against your own Seller Central account first.
Questions sellers ask
In Seller Central go to Catalog, then Add Products via Upload, and choose to download a spreadsheet. Add the product types you sell and download the workbook for them.
Yes. You can add more than one product type when you generate the template, and each row names its own product type. Required columns can differ between types, so check Data Definitions for each.
Excel treated the barcode as a number. Format the product ID column as Text before pasting, then paste again, and check that all 13 digits are there.
Update creates the SKU or replaces its whole record with the row, so blank cells can clear data set earlier. PartialUpdate changes only the cells you filled. Use PartialUpdate when editing live listings.
After the upload finishes processing, download the processing report from Add Products via Upload. It lists each failed row with an error code and message. Fix those rows and upload only them again.
It is safer to use desktop Excel. The template relies on Excel macros and validation for its dropdowns, and other tools often drop them, which leads to values that fail on upload.
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