How do I use the bulk product import tool?

From the admin control panel, go to Products › Import to import your product catalogue from a CSV file.

How It Works

1. Prepare your CSV file (see the column reference below).
2. Choose your file and the field delimiter (comma or tab), then upload it.
3. Use the dropdown menus to map each CSV column to the correct CubeCart field.
4. If your file has a header row, tick the headers option so the first row is treated as column names and not imported as a product. When those headers match the field names below, CubeCart maps them for you automatically.

CSV Column Reference

Only name and price are required. Map any of the columns below that are relevant to your products; unmapped columns are ignored.

Column	Description	Required
name	Product name.	Yes
price	Product price. Currency symbols and other non-numeric characters are stripped automatically.	Yes
cat_id	Category. Accepts a numeric category ID or a category name path, using / for subcategories (e.g. Tools/Cutting/Saws). Separate multiple categories with commas; the first becomes the primary category.	Recommended
product_code	SKU / product code. Generated automatically from the product name if left blank.	No
description	Full product description (HTML supported).	No
description_short	Short description.	No
manufacturer	Manufacturer name. Matched to an existing manufacturer, or created automatically if it does not exist.	No
brand	Brand name, stored as a product attribute (e.g. for product feeds). This is separate from manufacturer.	No
image	Product image(s). One or more filenames located in images/source/, separated by commas; the first is used as the main image.	No
sale_price	Sale / discounted price.	No
cost_price	Cost price (for profit reporting).	No
tax_type	Tax class ID.	No
tax_inclusive	Price already includes tax (1 = yes, 0 = no).	No
use_stock_level	Enable stock control for the product (1 or true = track stock).	No
stock_level	Quantity in stock.	No
stock_warning	Low-stock warning threshold.	No
status	Product enabled (1 = enabled, 0 = disabled).	No
available	Available for purchase (1 = yes, 0 = no).	No
featured	Featured product (1 = yes, 0 = no). Defaults to 1 if not supplied.	No
latest	Show in latest products (1 = yes, 0 = no). Defaults to 1 if not supplied.	No
digital	Digital product (1 = yes, 0 = no).	No
digital_path	Path / filename of the downloadable file for digital products.	No
product_weight	Product weight.	No
product_width	Product width.	No
product_height	Product height.	No
product_depth	Product depth.	No
dimension_unit	Unit used for the width / height / depth values (e.g. cm, in).	No
upc	UPC / barcode.	No
ean	EAN code.	No
jan	JAN code.	No
isbn	ISBN code.	No
gtin	Global Trade Item Number.	No
mpn	Manufacturer Part Number.	No
condition	Product condition (new, refurbished, used).	No
seo_path	Custom SEO URL slug.	No
seo_meta_title	SEO meta title.	No
seo_meta_description	SEO meta description.	No

Categories

The cat_id column accepts either a numeric category ID or a category name. To place a product in a subcategory, write the full path using / as the separator, for example Tools/Cutting/Saws.

Any categories in the path that do not already exist are created automatically during the import. Name matching is exact, so watch for differences in spelling, capitalisation or spacing to avoid creating duplicate categories.

To assign a product to more than one category, separate them with commas (e.g. Tools/Saws, Clearance). The first category listed becomes the product’s primary category.

Importing Images

Upload your product images to the images/source/ directory first (via FTP or the admin File Manager), then reference them in the image column of your CSV.

To add more than one image to a product, separate the filenames with commas — the first becomes the main product image:

front.jpg, back.jpg, detail.jpg

If you keep images in subfolders of images/source/, include the relative path, for example widgets/front.jpg. Any filename that does not exist in images/source/ is skipped.

Adding or Replacing Products

The bulk import tool adds products — every row creates a new product. It does not match or update existing products by SKU or ID, so re-importing the same file creates duplicates.

To replace your catalogue rather than add to it, tick Replace existing inventory on the import options screen. This deletes all current products (along with their category and image assignments, options, reviews and quantity/group pricing) before importing the new file.

Every import is grouped by date so it can be undone: open the Revert tab on the Import screen and remove a previous import in one step.

Tips

• Start with a small test import (5–10 products) to verify your column mapping is correct.
• Save your CSV in UTF-8 encoding to avoid character issues.
• Use a spreadsheet application (Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc) to prepare your CSV.
• For large imports (thousands of products), increase PHP max_execution_time and memory_limit.
• Back up your database before importing.