Learn about BigCommerce features, integration options, customizing your online store, and best practices for maximizing sales.

BigCommerce

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.

You will be presented with several options, as follows:

Provide accurate and comprehensive information such as product name, brand, and category. Be sure to use correct spelling and grammar!

: Set this toggle to yes or no to make your product visible or hidden from customers on the storefront.

: A unique identifier for each product. It should be a combination of letters and numbers.

: Select the type of product you are selling.

*: Set the default price of your product.

: Select the brand that your product belongs to.

*: Enter the weight of your product in pounds or kilograms.

It is best to use clear and concise language to describe the features, benefits, and use-cases of your product.

WYSIWYG Editor for description of product

: Use the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor to write a detailed description of the product, including features, benefits, and usage instructions.

Use high-quality images that accurately represent the product and provide different views, if necessary. Consider adding videos to give customers a better idea of the product’s features and use.

: Use this option to add images to your product from an existing URL.

: Upload images from your computer to use on your product page.

: You can drag and drop images from your computer to add them to your product page.

Assign unique identifiers such as UPC, SKU, or EAN to help customers easily find and compare products.

: This is a unique identifier for each product. It should be a combination of letters and numbers.

: This is an identifier used by the manufacturer to identify the product.

: This is an international product code used to identify products in the retail industry.

: This is a global standard that allows retailers to track products across multiple countries.

: This is a unique identifier used by warehouses to quickly locate products.

Set a competitive price for the product, taking into account the cost of production, shipping, and taxes.

): Set the default price of your product, excluding any taxes.

: Select the appropriate tax class for your product.

: Enter the tax code assigned by the tax provider.

: Enter the cost of the product. 5. MSRP: Enter the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for the product.

: Set a discounted price if you are running a sale.

: Select whether you want to apply a percentage or a fixed discount.

: Enter the minimum quantity, percentage of discount, and unit price.

Keep track of stock levels and set up notifications for low stock levels to avoid selling out of stock items.

: Set this toggle to yes or no to enable inventory tracking for the product.

: Enter the initial stock level of the product.

You may offer product variations, such as different colors or sizes, to give customers more 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.

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

: Variants are different versions of the same product, such as size, color, or material. When adding variants, you can choose between creating a variant list or adding modifier options to the product.

: When creating a variant list, you’ll be asked to include the option name, such as size or color, and the values that follow, such as small, medium, large, or red, blue, green.

: Modifier options are additional features you can add to your product, such as extra options, customizations, or add-ons.

: When adding modifier options, you’ll be asked to include the option name, such as extra options, and the values that follow, such as engraving or gift wrapping.

This section allows you to set the product as featured on your homepage, add search keywords for easier discovery, or even setting an entire template for the specific product if developed.

: To set a product as featured, you can check the box next to “Featured product” in the Storefront Details section of the product page.

: Search keywords are words or phrases that you can add to the product page that you want customers to be able to find when searching for the product in the store.

: The sort order allows you to control the order in which the products appear in the store.

: The template layout file lets you choose which page layout file the product page will use.

: Warranty information is a field to add any additional warranty information you want to include regarding the product.

: The availability text is a field to add any additional information about the availability of the product.

: The condition field allows you to add a description of the condition of the product.

: To show the condition of the product on the storefront, you can check the box next to “Show condition on storefront”.

Custom fields allow you to specify more details about a product on the product’s page. For example, “Material: Polyester”.

: Custom fields are optional fields you can add to the product page to provide more information about the product.

: The custom field value is the information you want to include in the custom field.

Enabling this option allows your store to show similar products at the bottom of this specific product. It is recommended to keep this enabled.

Automatically show related products on my storefront

: To automatically show related products on your storefront, you can check the box next to “Automatically show related products on my storefront”.

Provide accurate dimensions and weight information to help customers make informed decisions and to correctly calculate shipping costs.

: The weight field allows you to enter the product’s weight in ounces.

: The weight field allows you to enter the product’s weight in inches.

: The height field allows you to enter the product’s height in inches.

: The depth field allows you to enter the product’s depth in inches.

You may specify if there is free shipping, or set a fixed shipping price, for this specific product.

: The fixed shipping price field allows you to set a fixed price for the shipping of the product.

: To offer free shipping for the product, you can check the box next to “Free shipping”.

 of the BigCommerce sections and what they do.

How to Add a Product to BigCommerce

Your BigCommerce store allows you to generate API keys that can be used to manage your storefront programmatically. Whether you're building a custom BigCommerce app, or your BigCommerce design agency has requested your API key, we've got you covered in this article. Let's get your key!

Follow the steps below to get your API key

On the Settings page, scroll to the very bottom and click 

On the Store-level API accounts page, click 

Ensure V2/V3 API Token is selected, and 

To assign full permissions to the API key, go down the list and 

click the rightmost button for each permission

, and your full API key information will download as a text file to your computer

Congratulations! You have successfully retrieved your BigCommerce API Token / BigCommerce API Key. 

It is very important that you keep the API key in a safe place, as it can control your entire ecommerce store.

 This token is for both the BigCommerce API V2, and BigCommerce API V3 and can be used for a wide variety of BigCommerce API integrations. To send this to your BigCommerce Development Agency, copy the contents of the downloaded text file and send it to them via email or project management software.

A BigCommerce API key allows you to manage your BigCommerce store programmatically. It is essential for building custom apps or integrating with other platforms.

How do I log into my BigCommerce Dashboard?

 to log into your BigCommerce Dashboard using your store credentials.

Where do I find the option to generate an API key in the Dashboard?

Once you're logged in, click on 'Settings' in the sidebar on the left. Scroll to the bottom and click on 'Store-level API accounts'.

On the 'Store-level API accounts' page, click the 'Create API Account' button.

You can name your API key anything you like, such as "Ventura".

To assign full permissions, go down the list of permissions and click the rightmost button for each one.

Click the 'Save' button, and your API key information will download as a text file to your computer.

What versions of the BigCommerce API does this key work for?

The generated API key is compatible with both BigCommerce API V2 and V3.

How do I share my API key with my BigCommerce Development Agency?

You can copy the contents of the downloaded text file and send it to your development agency via email or project management software.

What can I do with my BigCommerce API key?

Your API key can be used for a wide variety of integrations, including custom BigCommerce apps and third-party services.

How to Get Your BigCommerce API Key

First, log in to your BigCommerce account. In the left side menu, go to 

On the new page that loads scroll down to the API section and click on 


Click on Create API Account, and then - Create V2/V3 API token.

After this, you will need to give your account a name.

Next step - select OAuth scopes, which will be needed for your account. You should set these permissions:

Storefront API Customer Impersonation Tokens: None

After you set the permissions, save the account and you should get a pop-up window with your Client ID, Client Secret, and Access Token. Please make sure to save this information somewhere because there is no way to find this information again. If you are using Edge, Chrome, or Firefox, a text file containing this information will be downloaded to your computer.

Please provide this access token to connect your online store.

How to Create a BigCommerce API Access Token

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. 

 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:

Image files that are either JPEG/JPG, GIF or PNG.

For other common issues visit the Big Commerce 

 Big Commerce provides two export templates. 

 (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. 

 - this template only has basic fields like name, weight, description, and price. You can make your own 

 and decide which export fields to include. 

Optional- Check Save export to the server for later download (this will save progress in case any interruptions happen while exporting

Check the box next to Bulk Edit Re-Import

Edit the Link Import Fields to match the headers in your CSV spreadsheet (if you used the Bulk Edit option this isn’t necessary)

Options will come up click More Information to check for any warnings found during the import process

 When adding a new product there are some things that are required. Required fields for a new product:

Leave this field blank otherwise the product will not upload correctly

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

 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. 

 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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

 folder. Then drag and drop the images from your computer into the 

In your product CSV, locate the column for product images. If you are using the Bulk Edit template, this column is called 

If you are using a template other than Bulk Edit, match the 

 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:

Click the checkbox to the left of the product or products you want to export

How To Import And Export On BigCommerce

Being able to manage orders and respond to messages is an important part of running a BigCommerce store. The steps below will help you understand and use the actions and different types of correspondence on your BigCommerce site.

To view order actions go to the View Orders page and on the far right side of the menu, there will be an Action button. Click that to view all actions such as editing the details of the order, shipping the products, and refunding a payment, just to name a few.

Performing actions on an order will change the 

 of the order, but manually changing the order status will not perform an action. For example, if you want to refund a customer’s order, you will need to use the refund action in this menu. Just changing the order status in the drop-down menu will not refund the order.

 will give you a rundown of order management. At 2:28 it talks about the order actions menu.

Here is a list of all actions you can see in the Order Actions menu:

Edit Order — Edit the billing address, cart contents, shipping address, shipping method, payment method and discount charges on an existing order.

Print Invoice — Print a paper or PDF invoice containing pertinent order information. See 

Print Packing Slip — Print a paper or PDF packing slip containing pertinent shipment information. See 

Resend Invoice — Send a copy of the invoice to the email address associated with the customer.

Send Message* — Send an order message to a customer.

View Notes* — Add and see any Order Comments and Staff Notes about the order. Order Comments are visible on invoices; Staff Notes are only viewable in the control panel and are not seen by customers.

Refund — Allows you to partially or fully refund an order. This action will only appear if the order was placed using a compatible payment gateway.

Void Transaction — Will cancel the order and release any funds that may have been authorized. This action will only appear if the order was placed using 

an authorize only compatible payment gateway

Ship Items — Create a shipment which specifies a carrier, service, tracking number, and shipping notes.

View Shipments* — View details, update tracking numbers, and print packing slips for order shipments. This action will only appear if the Ship Items action has been used.

View Order Timeline* — View timeline events pertaining to the order such as when the payment was authorized, the amount that was captured, or past refunds.

Some actions you’ll likely see more than others. It’s important to know as much as possible about these actions as possible. These actions are the 

Customers can send you messages from their Account page if they have signed up. These messages will be sent to the email of your choice. This email can be reviewed or changed in the Order Notifications. When you receive a message they will be displayed in the View Orders page.

Clicking the message notification will take you to the 

 button. In the control panel, the sender of the order message is the user’s email address, unless it's the Store Owner user, in which case it appears as 

 provides details about an order's transactional history. Here you will find tax calculations and notifications of when payment authorization or capture took place, as well as the specifics of past refunds.

Orders will display this icon to indicate a timeline is available:

The View Notes option allows you to add order comments or staff notes to an order without having to go through the edit an order workflow. Comments are visible on invoices while Staff Notes are only visible in the control panel and are not seen by customers.

Orders will display these icons to indicate a staff note or comment has been added:

The View Shipments option will only appear if the 

 action has been used. View Shipments allows you to see the details of the shipment, update the tracking number, and print a packing slip — all without the need to visit the View Shipments page.

Skip to the 4:07 timestamp to learn more about the Ship Items action.

To perform a bulk action, check the box to the left of each desired order, then select the action from the 

Resources for Success

Learn BigCommerce

How to Add a Product to BigCommerce

How to Get Your BigCommerce API Key

How to Create a BigCommerce API Access Token

How To Import And Export On BigCommerce

How To Manage Orders On BigCommerce

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