Adding products can be time-consuming but it doesn’t have to be. This how-to guide is designed to show you step by step how to add products, images, pricing, and other details so you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to efficiently complete the task of adding inventory to your store.

 

V2 vs V3 Product Creation
It’s recommended to use v3 to add products since its more efficient and can be used to add more detail to products. If you choose to upgrade to v3 and decide you want to switch back you can. Just contact the support team to make the change.

How To Add A New Product
Here are the steps to add a product using v2

1. Click Products then Add.

This page will appear

3. Add product name
4. Add default price
5. Add additional pricing options

 

Images and Videos

1. Click on the Images & Videos tab next to details
2. Add product photos

Here are three ways to add an image:

• Drag and drop the image from your computer to the blue box.
• Click Upload Images and navigate to the image on your computer.
• Use Add from URL to use an image (or YouTube video) already on the web.

3. Click the Thumbnail button and select the image you want to appear on the product pages
If you have uploaded multiple product photos the first one in the list will automatically be the default image. To change the order just drag and drop to reorder the photos.

4. Add image description
This will become the image alt tag for those who are visually impaired and cannot see the photo.

The supported files for images are:

• JPEG/JPG
• GIF
• PNG

The optimal size for your product images is 1280 x 1280 pixels.

To delete an image click Delete Selected.

If you would like to add a video:
1. Locate the Add from URL button
2. Paste the video URL in the field

 

Inventory
The Inventory tab is where you choose how/if you want the inventory to be tracked.

 

Options & SKU’s
In this tab, you can set how you want your item to be displayed on the product page. You can also set rules and create SKUs here. Get a more in-depth view of the rules and options for the Options & SKU’s tab.

 

Custom Fields
Custom Fields allow you to display extra details about a product. For example, if you sell books you can create a custom field to display the date the book was published.
How to add a custom field:
1. Go to Products › View, then click on the name of a product to edit it.
2. Go to the Custom Fields tab.
3. Enter the following information for your custom field:

• Custom field name (e.g. Material) – limit 250 characters
• Custom field value (e.g. Cotton) – limit 250 characters

4. Save your changes when done.

To add or remove a custom field, click the + (plus sign) or the – (minus sign) to the right of the row.

 

Other Details
The Other Details tab allows you to set various product-related fields and settings, including related products, SEO, and Facebook Open Graph settings.

The Other Details tab is where you can place your product identifiers like UPC, brand, or Manufacturer Part Number.

This is also the section where you set related products. These will be displayed on the screen below the item someone clicked on.

When searching a product online there are usually tabs to click on that have necessary related information. The Other Details tab is where you will put such information for your products. Here are some examples of extra info to include when working in the Other Details tab:

• Bin picking number
• Warranty
• Template layout file
• Search keywords
• Availability
• Visible
• Featured products
• Gift wrapping
• Sort order
• Product condition
• Minimum purchase quantity
• Maximum purchase quantity

 

Bulk Pricing
Bulk pricing is a great option for merchants to set. It gives a discount if a customer buys a certain number of products that has been set by the merchant.
If bulk pricing is a good option for you, enable it by going to Store Setup then clicking Store Setting, click the Display tab. Check the Enable Bulk Discount setting.

You can have up to 50 rules for each product related to bulk pricing. Follow the steps below to set a rule:
Set your quantity ranges
Choose how you will discount it (percentage, dollar amount)
Set the percentage or dollar amount (ex- 5%, $1)

You can add additional lines for different bulk discount rules by clicking the blue plus button in the bottom right corner.

 

How To Add A New Product using V3 

1.Log into BigCommerce. This is the screen that will appear.

2. Click Add a Product in the top right corner.

It will take you to the Basic Info screen.

1.Add the product name

2. Add the SKU

3. Add the price

4. Add the weight. 

Once you are finished entering the basic info 

1.Scroll down to the description or click on Description in the middle panel 

2. Describe in two to three sentences what your product is and who/what it could be used for

Next you’ll fill in the information for the images and videos

1. Scroll down to or click on Images & Videos in the middle panel. 

2. Add photos of the product 

• Multiple angles are recommended

Here are three ways to add an image:

• Drag and drop the image from your computer to the blue box.
• Click Upload Images and navigate to the image on your computer.
• Use Add from URL to use an image (or YouTube video) already on the web

3. Click the Thumbnail button and select the image you want to appear on the product pages. 

If you have uploaded multiple product photos the first one in the list will automatically be the default image. To change the order just drag and drop to reorder the photos.

Your image description will become the image alt tag for those who are visually impaired and cannot see the photo.

The supported files for images are:

• JPEG/JPG
• GIF
• PNG

To delete an image click Delete Selected.

 

Product Variants & Options

Use Variations to generate Variants (each with a unique SKU) that can be used to track inventory. This is where you can assign attributes such as image, price, and weight on the variant level. When a shopper chooses one of the variants when on the product page the image will automatically be updated.

Variant options can be displayed as one of four multiple-choice types:

• Swatch
• Radio Buttons
• Rectangle List
• Dropdown

 

Customizations

Modifier options are available in this section. It’s great for products that need custom messages, dates, and checkboxes.

 

Additional Explanations For Each Section

Here’s a glossary of the BigCommerce sections and what they do.

 

Importing and exporting files on Big Commerce can seem like a daunting task at first but with the steps and video listed below you should be able to import and export with ease. 

 

Before Getting Started

To import and export on Big Commerce you will need access to a program like Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets that supports CSV and XML files. CSV is recommended due to the fact that it is needed if you plan to import exported data back into Big Commerce.

The CSV requires certain fields for import. 

Creating new products requires:

• Product name
• Price fields. 

Importing product images must have:

• Only allowed characters 
• Case-sensitive text 
• Image files that are either JPEG/JPG, GIF or PNG. 

When importing SKUs they must have the:

• Product SKU
• Stock level fields

For other common issues visit the Big Commerce troubleshooting page.

 

Choosing An Export Template

Big Commerce provides two export templates.

Bulk edit (recommended) – This template allows you to skip steps in the import process since it prefilled headers that are the same as the ones Big Commerce uses. 

Default – this template only has basic fields like name, weight, description, and price.

You can make your own custom template and decide which export fields to include.

 

Export Your Products

1. Click on Bulk Edit
2. Choose Export to ____ (CSV)
3. Optional- Check Save export to the server for later download (this will save progress in case any interruptions happen while exporting
4. Click Continue button in the bottom right corner
5. Click the Download link in the pop-up window

 

Importing Products

1. Go to Products
2. Click Import

Steps to take if you used the Bulk Edit 

1. Check the box next to Bulk Edit Re-Import
2. The fields will auto-populate
3. Upload your edited CSV file
4. Click Next
5. Edit the Link Import Fields to match the headers in your CSV spreadsheet (if you used the Bulk Edit option this isn’t necessary)
6. Click Next
7. Click Start Import
8. Options will come up click More Information to check for any warnings found during the import process
9. Click View Imported Products

 

Creating New Products Via Import

When adding a new product there are some things that are required.

Required fields for a new product:

• Product Name
• Category
• Price
• Weight (physical products only)
• Track Inventory Value

Leave this field blank otherwise the product will not upload correctly

• Product ID

To ensure import runs smoothly do not import more than a couple hundred items and use the Bulk Edit CSV if possible.

 

Importing Product Options

To create product variants tied to product options, you will need to add sub-product SKUs or Rules with those attributes. The easiest process is to create the base product first, export it, then add the SKUs or Rules. 

 

Importing Product Images

As mentioned above images have requirements they are:

• Image file names are restricted to a-z, 0-9, – and _.
• Image file names cannot contain any spaces or special characters.
• Image file types must be JPEG/JPG, GIF or PNG. They cannot be TIFF, BMP, or PDF file formats.
• The optimal size for your product images is 1280 x 1280 pixels. Other product images (like thumbnails) will be created from the original image you upload.

There are two ways to import an image:

• If the image is already on the Internet you can use the URL to import them using the image path in the CSV file
• If you’re uploading photos from your computer it’s recommended to upload them using WebDAV

 

How to import using the image path:

1. Find the column in your CSV for product images. If you’re using the Bulk Edit template, this column will be called Product Image File
   • If you are importing new products, be sure to leave the Product Image ID column blank.
2. Enter the full path (URL) http must be included
3. To upload multiple images for a single product, create a new column with a heading of Product Image File – # (increasing the number each time you make a new column)
4. To include any of the other information for that image (such as descriptions), make a new column with the appropriate heading and the same number as the corresponding image.

 

Ex: 

1. • Product Image ID – 2
   • Product Image File – 2
   • Product Image Description – 2
2. Once these steps have been completed import your items. If you are using a template other than Bulk Edit, match the Product Image field to the correct column on the Link Import Fields step of the import.

 

Uploading through WebDAV:

1. Connect to your store through WebDAV 
2. Open the product_images folder followed by the import folder. Then drag and drop the images from your computer into the import folder.
3. In your product CSV, locate the column for product images. If you are using the Bulk Edit template, this column is called Product Image File – (#). Enter the file name (such as image.png) of the image file.
4. To upload multiple images for a single product, create a new column with a heading of Product Image File – # (increasing the number each time you make a new column)
5. To include any of the other information for that image (such as descriptions), make a new column with the appropriate heading and the same number as the corresponding image.
6. If you are using a template other than Bulk Edit, match the Product Image field to the correct column on the Link Import Fields step of the import.

 

Exporting Specific Products

There are three ways to export specific products. They are selecting individual products, export products based on search or view, export products belonging to a certain category.

Here are the steps to export select individual products:

1. Go to Products
2. Click on View
3. Click the checkbox to the left of the product or products you want to export

 

There are times you may have to go into a placed order to change some details. The most likely occurrence is when a customer reaches out to change an aspect of their order, whether it be a simple typo or a different shipping address these can all be easily adjusted in the control panel by the store owner or those with the right credentials to access that information. 

 

Order Details

When editing an order, the following details can be changed:

• customer account
• email address
• billing address
• product price *
• product quantity *
• product options *
• shipping address
• shipping method *
• discount amount
• coupon code
• order comments
• staff notes

Once payment is approved you cannot go back and add things. If a customer would like to add more items you’ll have to create a new purchase order and if they would like to remove items a refund will need to be issued. 

 

Order Editing Process

To edit an order that has already been charged:

1. Go to Orders
2. Click on View
3. Click on the action icon
4. Click Edit Order

The Edit an Order screen is broken down into four parts:

1. Customer Info — the customers billing information including their email address
2. Items — the cart contents
3. Shipping — the customers shipping information
4. Finalize — the order summary and the area where a discount or coupon can be entered

 

Contact Us

Now that you know how to edit your orders you can leave the marketing-related e-commerce factors to us. Contact us online or by phone. The number for the Tampa location is 813-556-7990 and the number for the Las Vegas location is 702-515-2057.

Customer Info

The Customer Info section is where you will make corrections to an order’s email address or billing information. When editing a guest order, the Order for selection will be set to New Customer. If you are editing an order created by someone with an existing customer account, the Order for selection will be set to Keep existing customer details. When editing an existing customer’s order, keep the default setting to ensure the changes are saved to the correct account.

Editing a guest order

Editing an order from an existing customer

When making changes to the Billing Information section, you can choose to save the new changes to the customer’s address book via the Save to customer’s address book checkbox located at the bottom of the page.

 

Guest Orders From Existing Customers

A returning customer may accidentally check out as a guest. They will not be able to view that order in their history.

To resolve this, edit the guest order and change the Order for selection to Existing Customer. Enter the customer’s name, email address, or company name in the new Search field and select them from the list of customers that appear.

If the rest of the order is correct, click Next until you reach the Finalize step and click Save to save the changes. The order will now be linked to the returning customer account. 

Items

The items section is where you will go to adjust items that have been purchased, as long as you’re not adding additional items after payment has been authorized. The items section could be utilized for example if a customer ordered the wrong shirt size or color. You would manually go in and adjust this so their order gets fulfilled correctly. 

Shipping

The shipping section is where you will make adjustments to shipping details should a customer need that. A situation in which this will be required is if a customer put in the wrong shipping address or needs to split an order into two separate delivery destinations.

 

When viewing the shipping method, the original choice will be labeled as Use Existing Quote.

If you need to add a shipping charge, change the shipping method, or split the order to send it to multiple addresses (which will adjust shipping costs), a new order will have to be created. You will not be able to capture funds or authorize a new capture using the same order.

If you select None, this will remove any previously selected shipping and not assign any new shipping method. This is useful when updating an order from a paid shipping method to a customer pick-up method, where you won’t be charging for any shipping costs. When downgrading the shipping method, as in the above example, use the Refund action to provide a partial refund or provide a store credit to the customer’s account.

 

Finalize

This section is where you can view any changes and information associated with the order such as Customer Billing, Cart, or Shipping Details. If you are editing an order that has already been charged, you will see the payment option that was used, the transaction ID, and the payment status.

Further down the page, there will be a summary section. This is where you will apply any coupons or discounts.

*Note- Even though you can apply a discount or coupon to an order that has been charged, it will not automatically return the difference to the customer. If the amount charged is incorrect, we recommend canceling and refunding the order, and then either you or the customer would create a new order for the proper amount. You cannot edit gift certificates once they are applied to an order.

Near the bottom of the page, you will see boxes for Order Comments or leave a Staff Note. Comments are visible on invoices, while Staff Notes are only visible in the control panel and are not seen by customers.

Once you are done making change click Save.

Video Tutorial For Returns And Refunds

If you need additional guidance, Big Commerce has a video tutorial on how to manage return requests and order refunds.

This how-to guide is to help you understand the order process on Big Commerce. It will explain order statuses, changing an order status, and how they can be used during the fulfillment process.

 

How To View Your Orders

To view your orders and order statuses go to Orders and click on View.

 

Order Status

Order statuses are generally automatically updated when a customer or store user does an action. These statuses can be manually changed if needed. Below is a list of order statuses.

New orders that have been paid for will have a status of “Awaiting Fulfillment” (physical products) or “Completed” (downloadable products)

Pre-orders or backorder will have a status saying pending, awaiting payment, or awaiting fulfillment.

Here’s a list of all order statuses and their definitions:

• Pending — Customer started the checkout process but did not complete it. Incomplete orders are assigned a “Pending” status and can be found under the More tab in the View Orders screen.
• Awaiting Payment — Customer has completed the checkout process, but payment has yet to be confirmed. Authorize only transactions that are not yet captured have this status.
• Awaiting Fulfillment — Customer has completed the checkout process and payment has been confirmed.
• Awaiting Shipment — Order has been pulled and packaged and is awaiting collection from a shipping provider.
• Awaiting Pickup — Order has been packaged and is awaiting customer pickup from a seller-specified location.
• Partially Shipped — Only some items in the order have been shipped, due to some products being pre-order only or other reasons.
• Completed — Order has been shipped/picked up, and receipt is confirmed; client has paid for their digital product, and their file(s) are available for download.
• Shipped — Order has been shipped, but receipt has not been confirmed; seller has used the Ship Items action. A listing of all orders with a “Shipped” status can be found under the More tab of the View Orders screen.
• Cancelled — Seller has cancelled an order, due to a stock inconsistency or other reasons. Stock levels will automatically update depending on your Inventory Settings. Cancelling an order will not refund the order. This status is triggered automatically when an order using an authorize-only payment gateway is voided in the control panel before capturing payment.
• Declined — Seller has marked the order as declined for lack of manual payment, or other reasons
• Refunded — Seller has used the Refund action. A listing of all orders with a “Refunded” status can be found under the More tab of the View Orders screen.
• Disputed — Customer has initiated a dispute for the method of payment used for the order.
• Manual Verification Required — Order on hold while some aspect (e.g. tax-exempt documentation) needs to be manually confirmed. Orders with this status must be updated manually. Capturing funds or other order actions will not automatically update the status of an order marked Manual Verification Required.
• Partially Refunded — Seller has partially refunded the order.

 

Changing An Order Status

As mentioned earlier most order statuses will automatically be changed when a customer does an action on the store, but there are a few instances where items will have to be changed manually. For example, shipping items will change an order’s status to Shipped, whereas a Cancelled or Declined order status has to be manually applied.

To manually change a status:

1. Go to Orders
2. Click on View
3. Change the status in the order status drop-down menu

When a status is changed the customer will receive an email notification. You can select which statuses trigger these emails in your checkout settings.

 

Order Status Workflow

While every business is different and you may find a different process that works for you here is an efficient way to handle incoming orders step by step.

1. You receive a new order

2. On your orders screen, you will see there is a new order with the status Awaiting Fulfillment

3. You package the order and purchase the appropriate shipping label. You take the package to a shipping provider or schedule a pickup. In either case, you manually update the status to Awaiting Shipment, which indicates the order is ready to leave your business

4. Once the shipping company has possession of the item you go into Orders and click on View then click on the Ship Items button which changes the status to Shipped

5. Optionally, you could confirm receipt by the customer by emailing them the tracking number or other methods — then manually update the order status to Complete.

 

Status Change Notifications

You can select which order statuses trigger an email notification to your customers by editing your order notification settings. This is in addition to the Order Confirmation email (also known as the Invoice email), which is sent automatically. You can customize the email templates for both the Order Confirmation and Status update messages by going to Storefront and clicking on Email Templates in the control panel.

Order status notifications are universal and apply to all customers. For example, you can’t specify that a particular customer group doesn’t get a particular status notification.

 

Customizing An Order Status Label

You can customize the order status labels to something more specific to your business. For example, you could update the Awaiting Shipment status (which represents that an order has been pulled and packaged, and is awaiting collection from a shipping provider) to Package ready to be picked up by FedEx. This will not give it any additional functionality but can be used to provide more specifics for your customers or fulfillment team.

Here are the steps to rename an order status:

1. Go to Orders
2. Click on Order Status 
3. Click Edit, and the fields will become editable text fields. You’re able to customize your Order Status labels up to 200 characters in length.
4. Once you’re satisfied with the changes click Save

If you’d like to change a status back to the original status click the ellipses and select Restore to Default.

*Note- If your label is longer than 30 characters, it will be trimmed in the control panel but will show as full length to your customers.