Amazon Inventory Loader Flat Files: A Beginner’s Guide Amazon Inventory Loader Flat Files

As an Amazon seller, you know that managing your inventory can be a time-consuming and tedious task. From listing new products to updating existing listings, there’s a lot of data to keep track of and maintain.

You can speed up this process and semi-automate your updates by using Amazon Inventory Loader flat files. This nifty catalog management tool can save you a lot of time and effort, freeing you up to focus on other aspects of your business.

Interested in learning more? Here’s everything you need to know.

What is Amazon Inventory Loader Flat File?

Amazon Inventory Loader is a spreadsheet tool that allows you to bulk upload and manage your product listings on Amazon.

It allows sellers to download and upload files containing product data like product IDs, descriptions, and quantity. This data is then used to automatically update Amazon listings connected to the products in the inventory file.

The Benefits of Using an Amazon Inventory Loader Flat File

The Amazon Inventory Loader Flat File will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

Instead of wasting time entering and updating your listings one by one, you can upload a file containing all your product data at once and let Amazon do the heavy lifting for you.

This can be especially useful if you have a large number of products to list or if you frequently update your listings.

Another benefit is that it helps ensure your product listings are accurate and up to date. This is crucial for customer satisfaction and overall success on Amazon.

What Changes Can You Make With An Inventory Loader File Flat File?

You can make all the changes you could do manually for each individual listing and your entire inventory. This includes:

Creating new listings
Deleting existing listings
Updating existing listings
Creating parent/child relationships (variations)

How To Set Up And Use Amazon Inventory Loader Flat File

1. Log in on Amazon Seller Central

2. Select “Add Products via Upload”

Once the main dashboard opens, hover your mouse over the “Catalog” category in the main tab. This will open a drop-down menu where you’ll click “Add Products via Upload.”

This should take you straight to the “Download an Inventory File” tab, but double-check if that’s where you truly landed. If not, click the tab to open it:

3. Download The Inventory Loader

Choose the Inventory Loader Template that best fits your needs:

List products already in Amazon’s catalog – add new offers to existing products
List products not currently in Amazon’s catalog – create new products
Update price & quantity – change the price and quantity on your listings
Update product details – edit product details, such as name, variations, etc.

Clicking one of these options will open a new window from which we’ll get to the template we want.

Here’s an example of a window opening for the product template (associated with the fourth listed option):

What you have to do from there will depend on which template you chose. But we’ll walk you through the rest of the process based on the product template.

First, you’ll select a marketplace that you serve (e.g., amazon.es for Spain) and a category the listings you want to update belong to:

Once you find the right category and subcategories, you’ll be able to download the category template that you’ll later fill with appropriate data. Just scroll down and click “Generate template” (the large orange button at the bottom).

4. Using The Inventory Loader Template Flat File

When you open the Inventory Loader (an Excel file), you should see the following three worksheets:

Instructions – Teaches you how to use the template.
Data Definitions – Defines which values are acceptable for different tabs on the template, such as “SKU” or “product-id.”
InventoryLoader Template – This is the sheet you’ll use to create your inventory file.

You should spend some time reading the Instructions and Data Definitions worksheets. You’ll need this knowledge to fill out the template.

For example, you should label certain features, like the product ID type and the item’s condition, numerically rather than describing them with words. To label them correctly, you’ll need to consult the Data Definitions worksheet to find out which number represents which value:

Within the template, you’ll notice that the headers are highlighted in different colors. You are only required to fill out those highlighted in bright peach color.

All that’s left to do is to add your desired (and required) details.

5. Save And Upload Your File

Once you fill out your template, save it as a *.txt file:

The last step is to upload it back to Amazon Seller Central.

To do this, click “Catalog” > “Add Products via Upload” on your main dashboard.

This time, you want to make sure you’re on the “Upload your Inventory File” tab rather than the “Download your Inventory File” tab that opens by default. Click on it:

A new page will open where you can upload your inventory files.

What Now?

Once you’ve uploaded your file, you’ll be able to download your processing report. This report will show if there are any errors in your file you should fix. If so, you’ll need to follow the notes inside your report and re-upload your file.

Ready To Manage Your Inventory The Smart Way?

Once you start using Amazon Inventory Loader flat file, you’ll never go back to manually editing your listings, especially if you’re a bigger seller. This free tool will make managing your inventory easier than ever, and you’ll be able to focus on other important aspects of your business.

However, if you’d like to skip even more steps, we recommend using specialized Amazon listing tools like FlatFilePro to edit multiple listings at once and fix broken listings faster.