How to list Shopify products without barcodes to Amazon

Sending Shopify products to Amazon might be a tricky thing. In this post, we will show an example of how to list Shopify products with variants when these products do not have barcodes. For exporting products we will use our application Salestio — Shopify Amazon Integration

Amazon uses UPC/EAN codes to identify a product. Therefore, Amazon expects that you provide barcodes for the products you want to sell. However, there might be the case when your products do not have barcodes. In this case, you can apply for GTIN Exemption from Amazon. More details on this in our support article — How to activate GTIN exemption. Here we will deal with the case when GTIN exemption has already been obtained.

The product that we are going to use in this example is the following: Leather Belt in 3 variants in sizes S, M, L. For the purpose of this guide, we will use the brand name ‘Generic’.

Step 1. Add needed data to the Product page in Shopify

First of all, we need to make sure that all necessary data are added to the Product page in Shopify. We have set 3 variants with a unique SKU each. Depending on the product options, you will need to select the Variation Theme later on in the Creation Profile. We have variations in Color in our example product.

Another important thing is to add the Product Type and Vendor name. The Vendor name should be exactly the same name that you obtained a GTIN exemption for. We use the ‘Generic’ vendor name in our example.

Step 2. Add Creation Profile

The next step is to add the Creation Profile in Salestio. To do so, navigate to the Profiles tab, select Creation Profiles, and click the ‘Add Creation Profile’ button.

At this point, you should put a name for your Creation Profile, select Amazon marketplace, and define a maximum number of images. Let’s take 4 images as average. We use only one image in our example. However, the same Creation Profile might be used to export other items to Amazon. All other fields should be left as they are by default. They define the fields from the Shopify product page that are used to take the data.

Please note, you will not be able to save the profile at this point as we did not set any mapping yet. So, simply proceed to the next step.

Step 3. Set the mapping in Creation Profile

Conditions and Category

The needed mapping depends on the product specifications you want to send to Amazon. It defines the exact values that will be sent to Amazon along with your product.

First of all, you need to define a condition or conditions that will be used to select the needed product from your Shopify products. There are 2 ways to select these products: by Product type or by Collection. We will use ‘Product Type’ in our example, and select ‘Belt’.

Salestio allows combining conditions. You can use Product Type AND/OR Collection. It might be useful when you have the same Product type for a couple of products but they require different rules to export to Amazon. With Belts, it might be a different material. This might be the case when you have both leather and metal belts, for example. You can add tags to Shopify products to create the needed Collections ‘Leather’ and ‘Metal’. So, you might combine conditions to be like ‘Product type equals Belt’, AND ‘Collection equals Leather’. In this case, Salestio will select only those products which correspond to both conditions. It will allow setting another mapping for the Metal Belts.

Category and Department depend both on the Product type and Amazon marketplace. Please keep in mind that Amazon might show a bit different products classification for different marketplaces. Here you should simply select what is relevant for your Product.

Required Fields

The next thing is to set the required fields. Salestio takes this data from Amazon API. Amazon does not always show the correct information about what fields are required. The easiest way to find out about the needed fields is to check in your Seller Central account and see what fields are required for your product type.

In our cases, besides the fields defined at the top of the Creation Profile form, these are Department, Material and Fabric, Color Map, and Size. As you remember, our product has variations in Size. Therefore, we select Variation Theme as ‘Size’, and set Size mapping to ‘Product option: Size’. Our product does not have variations in Color. So, the needed field here should be Color Map. In case your product has variations in Color as well, then Color should be defined in Variants, and Variation Theme should be set to ColorSize

In case any of the required fields are not added, Salestio will show an error when you try exporting the Product to Amazon. The error might indicate what other required fields have not yet been added. You will need to go back to this form and update the mapping and save changes to the Creation Profile.

After the required fields are selected, simply click the ‘Add new mapping’ button. The selected mapping for our product looks like this.

Save Creation Profile

After the mapping is set, it is important to go back to the top of the page and save the Creation Profile.

Step 4. Activate GTIN exemption, variation, and product creation in Amazon profile

The next step is to activate the newly added Creation Profile in Amazon Profile. You should navigate to the Profiles tab in Salestio, and go to the ‘Amazon Profiles’ tab. Select the Amazon profile that has already been created or add a new one. Please note that only one Creation Profile can be used in one Amazon Profile. If you need to use different Creation Profiles for various products, you will need to add Amazon Profile for each Creation Profile. More information on Amazon Profiles is in our support article.

After the name and marketplace in the Amazon profile are set, you should put a checkmark in front of ‘Allow Product creation’ and select the needed Creation Profile. The targeted marketplace should be the same as in the Creation Profile. Otherwise, the Creation Profile will not be shown on the Amazon profile form.

As our example product has variants, we need to select ‘Allow variations’. This option will be available only after ‘Allow Product creation’ is checked.

As you remember, our example product does not have a barcode. However, we have a GTIN exemption from Amazon. Here is the exact place where we can activate it. Simply put a checkmark in front of ‘Amazon GTIN exemption’. It will allow creating a new Amazon listing without UPC/EAN code.

Then you should save the form.

Step 5. Create Selling List and add a Selling Product

The next step is to activate Amazon Profile in the Selling List. Simply navigate to the Selling Lists tab in Salestio. You can use any of the already created Selling Lists. Just keep in mind that one Selling List can use only one Amazon profile. So, in case you have different products that need to use different Amazon Profiles, you should create a separate Selling List for each profile. For more information on Selling Lists, please refer to our support article.

Here where you can find a place to activate the needed Amazon Profile in the Selling List.

Then you should add the Selling Product to the Selling List. Remember that you can add items to the Selling List manually, only if the selected Mode is ‘Product’ in the Selling List settings. To add a new item to the Selling List, click the ‘Add Products’ button in the Selling List. Then use search to select the needed items, and click the ‘Add’ button.

Step 6. Send the item to Amazon

After the Selling Product is added to the Selling List, it should look like this. This product does not have a UPC/EAN code but we have a GTIN exemption. Please note that the message about missing UPC/EANs will still be shown even after the product is sent to Amazon.

The current status is ‘Not Linked’, So, we need to send this item to Amazon. To do so, put a checkmark in front of the item in the Selling List and click the ‘Send to Amazon’ button. The status should change to ‘Pending Linking’.

Give Salestio about 20 mins to send the item and create the connection. As this product has not been known to Amazon, it might take even up to 30 mins to create a new listing. When the operation is successfully completed, the status should change to ‘Linked’.

You can log in to your Amazon Seller Central account and check if the product is active. Sometimes, the item might be suppressed by Amazon in case the images are not of the needed specifications or anything else. Anyway, if the item is not active for some reason, Amazon will show you the message why.

Possible errors

In case the ‘Send to Amazon’ operation was not completed successfully, the product status will be ‘Linking Error’. You should click the ‘Logs’ button at the end of the Product row in the Selling List.

It will show the possible reason for the error. Most likely it will indicate that some fields are missing. To fix the error, you will need to add the needed fields to the mapping, save changes in Creation Profile and repeat ‘Send to Amazon’.

Please refer to this support article on possible Common Errors while Exporting products to Amazon. It might help with any other errors.