Importing CSV files

Onboarding vs. dashboard

Both use the same upload, mapping, validation and saving steps, and the same rules on this page. The differences:

• During onboarding, progress and results are shown on the setup screen itself. In the dashboard, starting an import opens that import's own page, and every import is listed under Imports in the dashboard.
• Onboarding presents the Customers step as optional and also lets you create a pricing rule by hand instead of importing a file. Hand-made rules don't need customers — but a pricing-rules file still does.
• Onboarding also offers sample data, which is imported through the same pipeline.

1. 01

   Choose a file

   Open the import for Products, Customers or Pricing rules (during onboarding, or from the Import button on each page in the dashboard). The browser only accepts .csv files up to 50 MB, reads the header row, detects the delimiter and previews the first rows.

2. 02

   Map your columns

   PriceRules suggests which column fills each field, based on the header names. Check every suggestion and change any that are wrong. Required fields (marked *) must be mapped before you can start; optional fields can be set to Unmapped. Columns you don't map are ignored.

3. 03

   Start the import

   Your file is uploaded and the server checks that the import can start: pricing-rule files need products and customers to exist, only one import of each type can run at a time, and your plan's monthly import allowance must not be used up. If a check fails, nothing is queued and the reason is shown next to the Start button.

4. 04

   Queued

   Imports in the same workspace are processed one at a time; an import started while another is running waits its turn.

5. 05

   Plan capacity check

   Before any row is saved, PriceRules checks that the records in the file fit your plan (see Limits). If they don't, the whole file is rejected.

6. 06

   Validation

   Every row is checked against the rules on this page — including duplicates and, for pricing rules, references to existing customers, products and rules. If any row has a problem, the whole file is rejected and nothing is saved.

7. 07

   Saving

   Rows are saved in batches of 1,000. Products and customers are created or updated; pricing rules are always created as new rules. The progress bar follows the batches.

8. 08

   Pricing engine update

   For products and pricing rules, the pricing engine is refreshed so the API returns the new prices. Customer imports skip this step. An import is only marked Completed after this step succeeds.

How it ends

Reading the error log

• Download Error Log (.csv) contains every invalid row — not just the sample shown on screen — with an extra pricing_error column listing that row's problems (for example SKU: Missing).
• Row numbers count data rows: row 1 is the first line after the header (line 2 in a spreadsheet). Blank lines are skipped but still counted, so the numbers match your file.
• The products error log is separated with semicolons (;); the customers and pricing-rules logs use the same delimiter as your file.
• The on-screen results group problems under Errors and Duplicates. Both block the import.

File format

• A .csv file of at most 50 MB. Excel workbooks (.xlsx) aren't accepted — export them as CSV.
• The first line is the header row; every following line is one record.
• The delimiter is detected automatically from your file: comma (,), semicolon (;), tab or pipe (|). Use one delimiter throughout the file.
• Wrap a value in double quotes when it contains the delimiter, for example "Hex Bolt M8 x 40, box of 100". Write a quote inside a quoted value as two quotes ("").
• Save as UTF-8. A byte-order mark (BOM), as added by Excel's CSV UTF-8 option, is fine.
• Blank lines — empty, or containing only delimiters and spaces — are skipped, including extra empty lines at the end.
• Spaces around values are removed before they're checked and saved.

Headers and column mapping

Your headers don't have to match the field names exactly: after you choose a file, you map each PriceRules field to one of your columns. PriceRules pre-fills the mapping from your header names, so using the field names on this page as headers gives the best results. Header matching is not case-sensitive for the suggestions, and you can always change a suggestion by hand.

• Each field can be mapped to one column. Extra columns you don't map are ignored and never saved.
• Some optional fields are validated more strictly once mapped: a mapped category or country column must have a value on every row.
• Products and customers have no other fields than the ones listed below — currencies, emails, external IDs and metadata can't be imported.

Examples

sku,name,base_price
FAS-1001,Hex Bolt M8 x 40 (box of 100),18.50
TOL-2001,Cordless Drill 18V,149.00
SAF-4001,Safety Gloves Cut Level C (pair),6.80

sku,name,base_price,category
FAS-1001,"Hex Bolt M8 x 40, box of 100",18.50,Fasteners
TOL-2001,Cordless Drill 18V,149.00,Power Tools
SAF-4001,Safety Gloves Cut Level C (pair),6.80,Safety
LUB-6002,Industrial Degreaser 5L,36.00,Maintenance

The first name in the complete example contains a comma, so it's wrapped in double quotes.

Error log messages

Examples

code,name
ACME-BUILD,Acme Construction GmbH
NORDIC-FAB,Nordic Fabrication AS

code,name,country
ACME-BUILD,Acme Construction GmbH,DE
NORDIC-FAB,Nordic Fabrication AS,NO
ATLAS-MRO,Atlas Maintenance Services,NL

Error log messages

Duplicate rules

A rule is identified by four values together: code, sku, minimum_quantity and priority. Code and SKU are compared ignoring upper/lower case and surrounding spaces; a blank minimum quantity counts as 0; a blank priority counts as 1. name, type, value and statusare not part of the identity, so an inactive rule still counts. Deleted rules don't.

• Two rows in the file with the same identity: the later row is reported as PRICING_RULE: Duplicate in import.
• A row matching a rule already in your workspace: PRICING_RULE: Already exists.
• To have several rules for the same customer and product, give them different minimum quantities (volume tiers) or priorities.

How imported rules are chosen

In the default pricing mode, when a price is resolved for a customer, product and quantity, only active rules whose minimum quantity is reached are considered. Among them, the rules with the highest minimum quantity are kept, then the most specific rule wins, then the highest priority, then the lowest resulting price. Imported rules always name both a customer and a product, which is the most specific kind.

How references are saved

• Customer codes and SKUs are matched ignoring upper/lower case and spaces around the value in your file: acme-build finds the customer ACME-BUILD.
• The rule is saved with the stored spelling — ACME-BUILD — so it matches the customer and product exactly when prices are resolved.
• A product or customer whose stored SKU or code has spaces around it (for example "SKU-9 ") can't be referenced by an import: the row is reported as not found. Correct the stored value on the Products or Customers page first.

Examples

The minimal example uses the minimal products and customers examples above; the complete example uses the complete ones. They don't overlap, so you can import both.

name,code,sku,type,value
Acme fixed price - drill,ACME-BUILD,TOL-2001,fixed,129
,NORDIC-FAB,FAS-1001,discount,8

name is optional: the second rule leaves it empty, and you can also leave the column out. Without minimum_quantity, priority and status columns, both rules apply from quantity 1, have priority 1 and are active.

name,code,sku,type,value,minimum_quantity,priority,status
Acme contract - fasteners,ACME-BUILD,FAS-1001,discount,12,,1,true
Acme volume - bolts 50+,ACME-BUILD,FAS-1001,discount,18,50,1,true
Nordic gloves bulk,NORDIC-FAB,SAF-4001,discount,25,100,1,true
Atlas degreaser contract,ATLAS-MRO,LUB-6002,fixed,31.50,,2,true
Atlas drill (paused),ATLAS-MRO,TOL-2001,fixed,139,,1,false

• Rows 1–2: Acme gets 12% off FAS-1001, and 18% off from 50 units. Same code, SKU and priority, but different minimum quantities — so they aren't duplicates.
• Row 3: a volume discount of 25% from 100 units.
• Row 4: a fixed unit price of 31.50 with priority 2.
• Row 5: status is false, so the rule is saved but inactive.
• Empty cells (two commas in a row) mean “no value”: the default for that column applies.

Error log messages

• Write each SKU and customer code exactly the same way, including upper/lower case, every time you import it. A SKU or code that differs only in case from an active one rejects the file.
• If a SKU or code exactly matches a product or customer you deleted, the deleted record is updated but stays deleted — it doesn't reappear in your lists.
• Re-importing products and customers counts toward your monthly import allowance like any other import, but updates don't use up plan capacity.

• File size: up to 50 MB per file. There is no separate row limit — your plan's capacity is the limit.
• One import of each type can run at a time per workspace, and imports in a workspace are processed one after another.
• Plan capacity: products and customers count only records the file would create (updates are free); every row of a pricing-rules file is a new rule. If the total would exceed your plan, the whole file is rejected before anything is saved.
• Monthly import allowance: each completed import counts as one. Rejected and failed imports don't count, but imports still running are reserved.

Import can't start: nothing was queued. Whole file rejected: nothing was saved. Import failed: processing stopped on an unexpected error. Saved, not yet live: rows are saved, the pricing engine isn't updated yet. Not rejected: the import succeeds, but the data may not behave as you expect.