Shopify Product CSV Errors: What Breaks Imports and How to Fix It

The 7 CSV issues to check before import

1. Missing or malformed headers.
2. Missing handles.
3. Missing root product titles.
4. Bad prices.
5. Duplicate non-empty SKUs.
6. Duplicate variant option combinations.
7. Conflicting product-level fields under one handle.

Bad CSV row examples

# missing handle
Handle,Title,Variant SKU,Variant Price
,Trail Hat,TRAIL-HAT-BLK,32

# non-numeric price
Handle,Title,Variant SKU,Variant Price
trail-hat,Trail Hat,TRAIL-HAT-BLK,free

# compare-at price <= price
Handle,Title,Variant Price,Variant Compare At Price
trail-hat,Trail Hat,32,32

# duplicate option combo
Handle,Title,Option1 Name,Option1 Value,Option2 Name,Option2 Value
linen-shirt,Linen Shirt,Size,Small,Color,Navy
linen-shirt,,Size,Small,Color,Navy

Repeated handles are normal

Good repeated handle example:

linen-shirt,Linen Shirt,Size,Small,LINEN-S,64
linen-shirt,,Size,Medium,LINEN-M,64

Bad repeated handle example (conflicting title under one handle):

linen-shirt,Linen Shirt,Size,Small,LINEN-S,64
linen-shirt,Cotton Shirt,Size,Medium,COTTON-M,64

What Shopify may do

• Shopify product CSV imports are bulk operations.
• Option columns can affect variant generation and interpretation.
• StoreOpsCheck is a preflight checker, not Shopify's importer.
• Shopify is still the final boss for import behavior.

Useful Shopify references

• Product CSV import/export
• Common product CSV import issues