Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2008, ©2009
| Visit our Etsy shop: GoTo |
Stop–Please read first: There is currently an issue with the Let’s Ets feed that is making the upload fail.
If you already use Let’s Ets for your feed: You need to follow one of the fixes in the following link or your feed will fail and your stock won’t be updated: Let’s Ets–fixes here
If you are setting up your Google Base feed for the first time: I recommend using the Etsy RSS & Google Base method (click here) instead of using the method below because of the current issues with Let’s Ets. I have edited the info below to include the fix mentioned above–but if you use the Etsy RSS method instead you won’t have to upload your stock monthly to Google Base, you’ll be able to use an automated scheduler to do it.
Update–new method: For those that have missed it, you can now set it up to automatically update your products–see this blog post for more: Etsy RSS and Google Base
Getting your items in Google Base is not about getting your products in the regular Google search results.
Don’t know what Google Base is for? See here: What is Google Base?
The directions below assume that you have already registered with Google Base. Update: Google Base is now: Google Merchant Center
Another great service from Google is Google Checkout. We have it as an alternative to Paypal for accepting credit cards online. It’s available to US and UK sellers, and buyers in 140+ countries. See more here: Google Checkout
Download Your Shop’s Info
1. Go to the Let’s Ets site and put your Etsy ID in the text box:
Click the Fetch My Items button.
(Thanks to takenbyrobinlynne for letting us know about the great site!)
2. Go to the end of the page and click the Download Bulk file button.
3. A window will pop up giving you the option to open or save the file. Choose save.
4. The “save as” window will pop up–at the top of the window it allows you to choose where on your computer you would like to save it. Save the file in any folder you’d like, just be sure you know how to get to it on your computer after you have downloaded it. Some have chosen to save it to the desktop so they are sure to be able to find it. We save ours in our Etsy folder.
~ The following should happen automatically: ~
At the bottom of the “save as” window you should see the name of the file. It should be your Etsy ID followed by .xml. For example, one of our Etsy IDs is GoTo, the other is GoToSupplies, so the names of our files are:
GoTo.xml
GoToSupplies.xml
Below the name of the file is the type of file. It should be anXML document.
~ End of the part that should happen automatically. ~
Be sure the .xml is at the end of the name, if not–type it in, click save.
The file is now on your computer, and you need to edit it before it can be used by Google Base.
5. Manually edit your Let’s Ets feed:
That’s the file titled SHOPNAME.xml (of course, it has your shop’s name in the spot where it says “SHOPNAME”).
You should be able to open it with an HMTL editor or a plain text program like notepad or WordPad. Right-click on the file name and select “Open with” and pick a program.
b. Make sure the cursor is at the top of the page, then hold down the control button on your keyboard and click H.
c. When the pop up opens put USD in the “Find what” box, and leave the “Replace with” box empty. Click the “Replace All” button.
d. Save the file, and continue below.
Upload your file to Google Base
6. Go to Google Base and log in (link at the top right of the following page):
7. Once you are logged in, click the My Items at the top right of the page, then click the Settings link tab.
8. The third text box is Website URL (Optional). It’s not optional for uploading your items to Google Base. It should be your Etsy shop’s address. For example, our Etsy IDs are “GoTo” and “GoToSupplies”, so the URLs are:
http://GoTo.etsy.com
http://GoToSupplies.etsy.com
You can only put in one, so we used the first one.
Put your URL in and click the save changes button at the bottom of the page.
9. Now click the My Items tab, and then the Data feeds link. If there isn’t a data feed listed yet, click the New Data Feed button. If you have one already, make sure it is named appropriately–see #3 below.
The numbers 1, 2 and 3 below refer to the text boxes on the “New Data Feed” page.
- Select your target country–it will have to be the United States as our prices are in US dollars. (If you choose to edit your file so the prices are in pounds sterling you can submit to the United Kingdom. If you choose to edit your file so the prices are in euros you can submit to Germany.)
- Select the item type. Most choose product, which needs to be renewed every 30 days (or more often) or your items will no longer be in the Google Base results. If you choose to create a custom type, the listings will stay in the results indefinitely, but may send shoppers to already sold items over time.
- Name the data feed the same thing you named the file, since that is your data feed. We have two Etsy shops, so we have two feeds, they are named the same as the files we downloaded:
GoTo.xml
GoToSupplies.xml
Click the Register Data Feed button.
10. This puts you back on the page where you can upload the file. Next to the file name, under the “Uploads” column you’ll see the Manual: upload file link. Click it to open the window where you upload the file.
11. Click the Choose button, which pops open a window that allows you to access your computer folders. Go to the folder that has the feed you saved in step 4, and double click the file name. The file location will now be in the manual upload window, click the Upload and process this file button.
This should result in the file being uploaded to Google Base. The Last upload date & status column should now say “Processing”.
It can take a few minutes or a few hours to process your file.
After the Upload
See these Google Base “Frequently Asked Question” posts for what to expect next:
# 1: I’ve set up Google Base, now what?
# 2: My feed uploaded and it says items were inserted!
# 3: My feed processed but shows a 0 items inserted message!
General Info
~~When you update your shop–sell items/add new items–you can update your data feed through the same process as described above.
~~All items may not come up in a Google Products search, but they should all show up when you go to your active items page and click this link at the bottom of the active items list: View all searchable items. Google doesn’t guarantee search results.
~~Feeds in non-custom categories expire after 30 days.
~~When you re-upload your data feed in 30 or less days, keep the same file name and data feed name–it will just replace the old data.
~~You won’t lose the clicks because each item has a unique id number, and it will just recognize that it is renewing (not replacing).
~~You cannot use the scheduler with Let’s Ets to automatically update your items, you need to use the Etsy RSS & Google Base method as mentioned at the top of this post.
~~You can name your downloaded file and your data feed anything you want, as long as they both have the same name.
| Visit our Etsy Supply Shop: GoToSupplies |
106 Comments | Add your own
Hi there! I’m Robin Lynne (aka takenbyrobinlynne
)
Google let me know my shop name was mentioned here – so I thought I’d stop by.
Great post & very useful information here. I hope it helps a lot of sellers!
-Robin Lynne
http://www.robinlynne.org
Wow, thank you sooo much for this tutorial!
I had been failing over and over again trying to load my items but I used your ideas and finally got it!
Yippee!
and don’t forget, some words are not acceptable. Like fetishes! It will not accept the item.
great post, however i did this & i am a bit confused. i keep searching for my products & nothing comes up?
Once your datafeed is processed and approved, it takes a little while for the data to become published and searchable. See the “After the Upload” section, and the second note in the “General Info” section.
Did you also see the section at the top that says “Getting your items in Google Base is not about getting your products in the regular Google search results” and the details below it about where your items will come up?
Great info. GoTo! Thanks for putting this together and for all your help in the forums.
Thanks! I had no idea this even existed. You gave great step-by-step instructions!
Wonderful information. I like how it is so easy to follow!
Wow…
thanks so much for posting all this info.
Fabulous!
Kristy
This was fantastic…thank you very much.
-d
Thank you so much for the tutorial. I have a question. I already have a google base acct and use it to feed my products from my website. Do I need another google acct to upload my etsy products or can I have 2 separate feeds on one acct? You say “We have two Etsy shops, so we have two feeds, they are named the same as the files we downloaded”. so do you just add 2 different feeds in the one google acct? Thanks!
Your welcome!
You need one Google Base account per domain unless you change your account to a “multi-client account”. Since all Etsy shops are on the same domain, you can have several on one account, but your won website can’t be added to your account the way it currently stands.
http://base.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=29893
We chose to set up a second account, though at the moment I can’t remember why I thought it was better for us.
Saw a link to this site on the CCCOE Flickr group. I’d tried GoogleBase a couple years ago, but didn’t stick with it … so thought I’d give it another shot now.
Thanks for the EXCELLENT instructions!!
Your welcome! Thanks for letting us know how you found it!
Thanks for the great info!
Thank you so much for this invaluable information!
It was so easy to follow – I got lost right away when trying to follow another’s instructions.
Thank you much
Oh, wow! This is so good to know! Thank you! I’m just getting my new Etsy shop up and running, and this is was really helpful.
Thanks so much! Instructions worked like a charm – very easy to understand and do. Thanks for taking the time to share with us!
Thanks for this tutorial! It really helped me.
Thank you so much for this super tutorial! It certainly made it so easy to upload my paintings! Now I shall hope for the sales!!
thank you! great tutorial, and so great to get my site onto google.
Thanks so much. This is a very easy to understand tutorial.
Thank you so much! Step by step instructions are great!!!
Thanks so much – you are very generous and your instructions made perfect sense!
actually, I just checked and it didn’t work after all – it said: “the domain of this URL doesn’t match the domain registered on the Settings page of this account.”
Did you put the correct URL in during Step 7?
Thanks so much for the tutorial! I have never understood Google Base before, but with your great tutorial I understand how to upload my items to google base!!
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for the info. I found the instructions so easy to follow. Looking forward to additional sales
Thanks so much for the fantastic help. I had tried to place my shop items in google feed one at a time and had never gotton them all in there. Now they are all there and in one simple try, thanks to your fantastic detailed step by step help. Again, Thank You!!
Once again, an excellent blogpost. Thank you so very much.
Karen
Thank you so much for making all this make sense! I followed your wonderful instructions and it all worked!!
It all made great sense and was very logical in its explanation.
Many thanks indeed!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I had no idea this even exsisted. And you made it so easy to do. I dont think I would have figured it out on my own lol. Thank you very much
Thanks SOOOOOOOOO much. I don’t think I would have ever figured all of this out without this helpful tutorial.
Thanks again!
Mel
What a great tutorial! I was suprised that it only took me one time to do this. Great work and much appreciated!
WoW! Thanks so much. Worked great, it did take like 5 hours for all my stuff to be searchable, so be patient.
I have a question tho. If I make a sale and then relist will that item no longer come up in a search? What if I just relist? Thanks
Either the sold item will come up or it will be removed–I’m not sure.
Each Etsy item has a unique id number, so relisting won’t keep it in the search results, but if it has the exact same name as the sold item there will be a link to the active listing at the top of the sold item page on Etsy, you know, if the item isn’t removed by Google when sold…
Thanks so much! Couldn’t have done it without you!
Okay, So I did a test. I relisted an item that I had seen in the google search, and guess what? It still came up, and the link worked! Horray! Another question tho (a little off topic)… When I relist does it still show up as a persons favorite if they bookmarked it? What if it sells and is then relisted? Thanks
Thank you so much! I have done this once before, but couldn’t find the instructions I used. I searched the Etsy Forums and found your very comprehensive and easy to follow instructions. You are a life saver! Again, thank you so much!
dancing tree–Did it still come up in Google’s “Shopping” results when you relisted a sold item? Google Base uploads are only for the “Shopping” search results, not regular Google searches–those are automatic as the Google bot crawls the web.
If you just renew a currently live item in your shop it keeps its hearts. If you relist a sold item it doesn’t, but they still have the heart to the sold item.
~ Admin~ Yes! It came up in the \shopping\ results when I relisted an item that didn’t sell, and also when I sold an item and relisted. However, the sold item links to the sold items page, not the new listing. ~Thanks~ D
Wow! I’ve never even heard of this before! Thanks
Thank you so much. I have my fingers crossed that it helps my sales! Thank you. You made it so easy!
Thanks for such great info.
I’m in the middle of processing right now. Your information is great and so easy to follow! Wish me luck and thank you so much!!
Thanks, I was able to follow your instructions easily. I have a questions about the RSS feed. You said you can’t use the scheduler to automatically update items with Etsy’s RSS function because it doesn’t have the item prices.
A few weeks ago I found a forum post where there were instructions on how to get a shop RSS feed with photos. I did it for my shop and it has the price of the item in it as well as images.
Here’s the link: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5913177
I’m interesting in using it to try the scheduler but after poking around in Google base I can’t seem to find it. Any ideas?
Shanna–thanks for the tip! I gave it a shot but the file failed. While the RSS function showed nicely for the page it was displayed on, it didn’t pull all the right information the right way for Google Base to use it.
As for the scheduler–it’s just above the manual upload file link for the data feed.
Thanks for checking anyway! It was worth a shot
Thank you so much for this info. I’ve been trying to figure out Google Base and basically just gave up a year ago. This is awesome.
Thanks so much! I am going to try this!
Great post. I struggled so much at first getting my items into Google Base. Finally I got it to work for my Etsy shop, still can’t get it to work for my website but I’ll worry about that another day!
thank you so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate this!!!
Thank you..I finally was able to understand what to do!!!
this was so easy to follow..you rock….seriously.
Thanks for putting this info out for others to have, it is much appreciated!
This is a lot of great information. I am going to try to get my items on Google.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Amazing information, so easy to follow. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us out with this.
Mary
MakingsByMary.etsy.com
I’ve tried without success for months to do this — thanks for such a clear tutorial! I’m going to give it another shot after dinner.
Thanks so much! I just stumbled across this in the Etsy forums, I had never heard of Google Base before. I just signed up and your instructions made it very easy. Thanks for the link to the LetsEts site too!
Thanks for the great Tutorial-I did it last night and it worked perfectly. One question-after the 30 days it says to renew-do you go all the way back and start with letsets.com?
Thanks again-GREAT!
You’re welcome!
To renew your items
This can be done before the 30 days are up too, like when you’ve added a few new items to your shop, it will extend the length of items currently in Google Base
1. Get a new download from Let’s Ets.
2. Log in to Google Base and upload the new file.
just wanted to say thanks, i kept having the upload failed. when i followed your instructions it worked. thanks.
Excellent tutorial. I did my feed upload last month with no problems, but now it’s failing no matter what I do. Is this due to Etsy’s new RSS feed announcement this morning? THANKS in advance!
~~Lisa of TinkerAndPo
Lisa–see the purple text that’s at the top of the post–hopefully Let’s Ets will update their site soon!
I received an email from googlebase:
Note that Product Search truncates display names longer than 20 characters. Does that mean I have to change all the titles of all my items sold on Etsy to only 20 characters in order to download them to googlebase. I can’t find that info on googlebase and thought you might know. I have not had this message the last three times I downloaded to googlebase. Thank you for any info on it you may have.
As far as I know that just means they will only show the first 20 characters, so make those useful!
I received an email from them myself this week–a similar message about the length of my account name. (I had our web page address and business name listed.)
Thank you so much. I will go in and change all my listed items (over 200 of them) though I am still confused.
In google search are the tags taken from the title as well as the tags within the etsy body of the product? Or just the title?
If I were searching for a stained glass item, that alone is 13 characters……not enough to describe the actual item.
If you can help me with this, it will make it easier to change my lsitings.
Thank you,
This was incredibly helpful. Thanks so much for posting this tutorial!!
-Susan
Thanks so much! this was really helpful.
This is fantastic information especially for a newbie like me selling on Etsy. Thanks so much for the easy step-by-step instruction on how to set up Let’s Ets & Google Base!!!
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. You made it very clear and easy to use. Thanks for sharing!!
Why do I get an error page when I enter my etsy ID in the text box? Because of this I can’t even fetch my items. Thanks in advance for any help.
Audrey–sometimes it’s just a glitch and you have to try again. The first time I used your id it failed, but the second time it worked.
Ellen–Let’s Ets doesn’t upload tags from your listings, just titles and descriptions (and prices and photos).
I just follow your clearly instruction for google base today.
Finally it succeed!
Thank you very much for you help.
I’m so glad I found your instructions after being frustrated with following GB directions. All your posts contain invaluable information. Most of all, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your very simple and detailed explanation! I had no issues or problems whatsoever! Keep up the good work!
Vicki
RaVena Relics
thanks for this help! I have to remember to do it every month!
You’re welcome everyone!
terryann–Have you seen the new Etsy RSS method? You can set it up to automatically update:
Etsy RSS and Google Base
Thanks you soooo much for your wonderful step by step instructions. It made it so easy for me to get my google base up and running. When I decided to start an Etsy shop I had no idea what all was involved with everything. I have found it a bit over whelming, not to mention finding out I’ve half done things when I thought I was finished. I see that I am not the only one who feels that way. Your tutorial just made my life lots easier!
Thanks so much!
Shelly
Thx so much!!
This is a great information for all of us etsians. I have one question though. Under uploads where it says schedule, do I need to edit it? and what shell I put for url of file?
Thanks for your help!
You can only use the scheduler if you have used the Etsy RSS method for your shop (not with the Let’s Ets method).
See here for how:
Etsy RSS and Google Base
It automatically updates you store content–give it a try!
This was great! Had trouble getting it set up with the Etsy instructions – this worked! Thanks for posting it
Hi,
I keep receiving an error message on the Lets Ets site – You’ve entered an invalid store name. Please try again – any idea on how to fix that? I did register for Google Base.
Thanks!
Jan–it worked fine with your Etsy name for me. (Not the whole shop address, just your Etsy ID.) Maybe it was a temporary glitch?
Have you seen the new Etsy RSS method that you can set to update automatically?
Etsy RSS and Google Base
This was very helpful and easy to follow. Thanks
This was very helpful and easy to read. Thanks!
I’ve been selling on Etsy for almost two years and i am just learning about Google Base!!
I found this awesome tutorial in Etsy Forums and just in time as I was scratching my head about how to Register my data feed! Ha;-)
Thanks so much GoTo..this is a great resource for anyone! I will refer your blog on my blog so folks can come and learn as well.
Ny
I can’t thank you enough for this FANTASTIC tutorial on how to place your shop items in Google Base in order to make them searchable on Google.
This tutorial was very helpful to me. But when I was done I got an email saying it failed because it had too many values and too many commas. Then it also had duplicates of everything and that was a problem. – Huh?! I have no idea what it is talking about. Can you help me?
Thank you for your time.
You’re welcome!
See this more recent post for fixes:
Temporary Google Base Issues–cilck here for fixes
Still have trouble after trying those? Post in the Etsy forum thread below and I’ll try to help:
Get into Google’s “Shopping” search results–use Google Base
Your instructions are wonderful, but I’m so frustrated! The first time I did this, it worked fine, but I just tried to do it again to update, following the same instructions, and it keeps saying “Failed–no items were live.” Any suggestions? I’m tearing my hair out!
Hi Whitney–see the comment above yours for the link to why that happened and the fixes.
The link it gave me for the manual upload has nothing to do with my shop–it is for a different completely unrelated website about networking, email, etc. I did the steps twice and got the same link from the upload.
Not sure what to do next.
I don’t know what page you got to, but I recommend trying the newer method linked to just above this tutorial–the “Etsy RSS and Google Base” method.
**Be sure to start from Step 1 of that tutorial as some account setting need to be changed.**
.
Thanks for your help!
Hello , Thank you for all you have taught us with this site. You have helped so many of us:).
I see a notice that lets ets is having a error . I have been trying to update since 6/3/09 and google pane is just not having it. lol. Diana
LOL Diana! Have you clicked the “Temporary Google Base Issues–fixes here” link at the top of the page to fix your feed?
I was so glad to find this blog post to solve my feed problem. It was the USD that ETSY added to it that caused the problem. Million thanks!
Thank you so very much for this info. I’ve tried it and my loads are processing right now.
Thanks for all the detailed info. I tried to do this myself without Lets Ets and you – I failed and gave up to try again later.
THANK YOU
You’re welcome everyone!
SweetwaterGifts–Be sure to read the Stop–Please read first section above before trying again with Let’s Ets!
Thank you, thank you, thankful for this amazing tutorial! So easy to understand. I would have never figured it out otherwise.
Help me!! I followed your tutorial to set this up, and it worked great. Two days later, an error came up, and I don’t know how to fix it. It says my deliminater in the feed doesn’t match the specifications. I’ve gone back through your instructions and haven’t been able to fix anything or find out what’s wrong. Any ideas? If you have any idea, I would so greatly appreciate it if you shot me an e-mail.
Thank you so much!!!
Jaclyn1423.etsy.com
Jaclyn–Are you still using Let’s Ets? If so, I highly recommend switching over to the Etsy RSS method. It will update your items automatically with the scheduler.
If you want to trouble shoot the current issue, see FAQ # 3.
.
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