Use reports to update inventory

You can modify inventory reports to update your listings. The data fields in many of Amazon's inventory reports are the same as the fields used in inventory files for product matching and quick updates. After adjusting column headers and deleting unneeded fields, you can make changes to your listing data and upload your new file.

Inventory reports provide near-real-time data about your available listings. When you need to make quick updates, it may be faster to modify an inventory report instead of using the inventory file you uploaded most recently. If you created some or all of your listings using the Add a Product feature, an inventory report will allow you to make changes to your listings using a spreadsheet or database program.

To modify a report to update your inventory, follow the steps below:

Request and download the report

To create a Price & Quantity File, request an inventory report. To create an Inventory Loader File, request an Active Listings Report. For more instructions, see Download an Inventory Report.

The report will be in a .txt (tab-delimited) format. If you open the report in Microsoft Excel, the leading zeroes from the product ID column will be dropped by Excel. You can prevent this by using the import wizard and forcing the product-id column to be imported as text. Please see Microsoft Excel help for more information on this feature.

If you are using only ISBNs or ASINs for your product-id's you can also format the column to insert the leading zeros.

1. Select the product-id column.
2. Choose Format Cells.
3. Select the Custom category under the Number tab.
4. In the Type field, enter 10 zeroes.
5. Click OK.

Modify the information in the report

Before making changes to the information reflected in your report, delete unnecessary data and adjust the column headers in the file to create the type of inventory file you will use for your upload. You must create a Price & Quantity File.

The column headers must appear exactly as shown, in lower-case letters with no spaces or quotation marks. Make sure to include the dashes in any multi-word field names.

Use the Inventory Report

1. Delete the ASIN column.
2. Change the remaining column headers to use lower-case letters only:
   • Change 'SKU' to 'sku'
   • Change 'Price' to 'price'
   • Change 'Quantity' to 'quantity'

Once you've modified your spreadsheet columns, use the appropriate fields to update your listing information.

Save the new file

After you finish populating the Template tab with your product data, you are ready to create the inventory file you will upload to Seller Central.

1. Save your work as an Excel workbook one final time. We suggest creating a back-up copy and add a date to the file name to keep a history of your work if you want to refer to prior versions or in case there is an error in processing.
2. Make sure you are on the worksheet tab that contains your data.
3. On the File menu, click Save As.

   The Save As dialogue box appears.

4. In the Save As Type list Text (Tab-delimited) (*.txt).

   Browse to where you would like to save the file, rename the file, and click Save.

5. You might see a warning that the selected file format (the tab-delimited file type) does not support workbooks containing multiple worksheets. Click Yes.
6. You might see a warning that your file contains features incompatible with the selected Text (Tab delimited) file format. Click Yes.

Make sure to note the file name and the location to which you're saving it, as you'll need to browse for it to make your upload.

Upload the new file

For the Inventory Report, upload it as a "Price & Quantity" file. For more information, see Upload My Inventory File.