How many products can I import at once?

Native Shopify CSV accepts ~100,000 rows per file. In practice, splitting into 5,000-row batches prevents timeouts.

Can I import metafields with the native CSV?

Partially. The native Shopify CSV accepts some defined metafields. For exhaustive metafield imports, Matrixify or the GraphQL API are more robust.

Are images imported via CSV?

Yes, by public URL. Shopify downloads each image from the URL. Plan for an accessible CDN during the import.

What to do after import?

Quality audit (listings without description, without alt, without meta). That's exactly what Seegea does continuously: "incomplete listings" saved views + inline editing to complete fast.

Shopify product import: load 1,000 SKUs without the pain

Loading a catalog into Shopify is technically easy via CSV. But loading it cleanly with variants, images, metafields and SEO is a different beast. Here are the methods that hold.

Typical Shopify import workflow

The 4 Shopify product import methods

Native Shopify CSV

Free, built-in. Limit: complex variants and metafields handled poorly. Ideal for 500-5,000 simple listings.

Matrixify / Ablestar

Paid apps. Fine-grained metafield, variant and translation handling. Slow CSV roundtrips on post-import fixes.

Shopify Admin API / GraphQL

Most powerful, most technical. Needs dev or middleware. Recommended past 10,000 SKUs.

Shopify CSV format: the columns that matter

Native CSV expects one row per variant (not per product). Critical columns:

Handle — unique product identifier used in the URL
Title, Body (HTML), Vendor, Type, Tags
Option1 Name, Option1 Value, ... up to Option3
Variant SKU, Variant Price, Variant Inventory Qty
Image Src — public URL
SEO Title, SEO Description

Variants of the same product must share the same handle on successive rows. Following rows omit Title/Body to avoid overwriting.

The 5 classic import mistakes

Handles with accents or spaces: rejected. Always kebab-case, no accents.
Non-public image URLs: Shopify can't download them.
Prices with comma instead of dot: US format enforced (1299.00).
100+ variants per product: hard Shopify limit.
Tags too long: 255 chars max per tag.

Case	Native CSV	Matrixify	Seegea (post-import)
Initial import 2,000 SKU	OK	OK	No (Seegea enriches)
Defined metafields	Partial	Full	Inline editing
Missing descriptions	—	—	One-click AI
Image alt	—	—	Bulk generation
Rollback after error	No	No	Yes, versioned

The chain that works: import + enrich

The real 2026 method isn't "which import tool", it's "how to chain import + enrichment". Example for 2,000 SKUs migrated from PrestaShop:

Day 1-2: PS export + Shopify CSV transform + Matrixify import.
Day 3: QA via Seegea ("listings without description", "without alt" views).
Day 4-5: AI generation of descriptions, metas, alts. Bulk editing.
Day 6: final review + publish.

Scope your Shopify import in 30 min

Google Meet · we review your source catalog

Scope your Shopify import in 30 min

After the import: the real work begins

60% of imported catalogs end with incomplete listings: thin descriptions, empty alt, unfilled metafields. That's where Seegea earns its place: tabular Excel-like view, adjustable columns, AI that proposes and human validates. A 2,000-SKU catalog becomes presentable in 2-3 days instead of 40 person-days.

Created in France (Annecy – Chantilly) · Email & Google Meet support

FAQ

Native CSV for a first load, Matrixify for complex metafields and variants, Admin API for 10k+ volumes. Seegea steps in after import to enrich fast.