Supplier CSV Wholesale Cost vs Shopify Retail Price: Avoid Bad Mappings
Supplier spreadsheets often contain multiple prices: wholesale unit cost, suggested retail price, promotional price and a quoted cost in a supplier currency. A converter can recognize a column named Price, but only the merchant knows which number should become the storefront selling price.
Example: why this problem happens
A supplier file includes Unit Cost 12.00 and MSRP 29.99. If the wrong source field is mapped into Shopify's Price column, customers may see the wholesale cost as the retail price.
Diagnose the issue
| Supplier field | Meaning | Import decision |
|---|---|---|
| Unit cost | What the merchant pays | Do not map to retail Price without a pricing decision. |
| MSRP | Supplier suggested retail | Review against actual intended selling price. |
| Sale price | Possible temporary offer | Verify valid timing, store currency and compare-at relationship. |
| Currency code | Context for amount | Do not silently assume supplier currency equals store currency. |
Step-by-step: what to do
- Identify the currency and meaning of every supplier financial column.
- Decide an explicit retail pricing policy (margin, competition, tax implications and distribution terms) before file conversion.
- Map the selected approved retail field to Shopify Price. Leave irrelevant cost-only fields unmapped rather than exposing them.
- Check a few high and low priced products; unusual prices may indicate unit, quantity pack or decimal separator errors.
- Review warnings from the supplier CSV converter, especially if values include currency symbols or invalid decimals.
- Test a small catalog sample in a controlled store and independently verify customer-visible prices.
The current tool does not calculate margins, currency conversion, taxes, compare-at promotions or legal pricing compliance. It only prepares data using the source columns you select.
Can our free tools help?
Common question
Can SellerFile Studio suggest a profitable retail price?
No. The beta respects explicit source values. Pricing policy is a business decision requiring actual costs, currency and margin information.
Official source and further reading
This explanation is independent and is not an official Shopify specification. Confirm current product import requirements in Shopify Help Center: product CSV Price fields before changing a production catalog.
Browse the SellerFile CSV guide library or practice with synthetic CSV sample files.