A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Listings in the SHEIN Channel
This article walks you through the process of list products on SHEIN via StoreAutomator (SA). The steps are broadly as follows:
- Create and connect the SHEIN US channel in SA
- Include the products to the channel
a) Connect Listing for the existing listings
b) Create and Include new Product - Create New Single Products
- Create New Parent Products
- Complete category mapping
- Include/sync all products with the SHEIN channel
Step 1: Create and Connect Your Channel
The first step is to create your channel and enter your credentials securely in SA - this will establish the connection.
Create Your Channel:
- Go to All Channels and click on Manage Your Channels
- Click on Add Channel and select the SHEIN channel icon.
- Enter a name for your SHEIN channel e.g. SHEIN US, and then click “+Create”.
Connect Your Channel:
- Click Give Permission to StoreAutomator
- Enter your credentials securely in StoreAutomator to establish the connection.
Step 2: Include Your Products in the New SHEIN Channel
For Existing Products in the SHEIN Portal
- If your products are already listed in SA and they are already created in SHEIN, you can do a connect listing from Import from SHEIN.
- Follow our guide on How to use Connect Listing from the Remote Channel
Create and Include New Products in the SHEIN Channel:
Prepare Your Products:
- Products will be created in SA. There are several ways to do this - manually, in bulk, via our API, syncing with an existing channel or via our DX Channel. Click here for a guide on how to do this
- After creating the new products in SA inventory, before including/syncing them with SHEIN for the first time, these must (1) have a local category assigned to them and (2) you must complete category mapping. For example: your local category might be Men Fragrances Perfume, which you may choose to map to the SHEIN default categories of either Perfume or Solid Perfume. The category mapping process for SHEIN is the same as mapping for other channels that you may have already completed in SA. Please refer to this article Map Categories to Amazon Channel Taxonomy for guidance.
Bulk Upload for Category mapping:
If you have the SA Local Category Path and SHEIN Remote Category ID (End level Category ID), we can upload the category mapping in bulk from the backend. You just need to provide us with the full path and the SHEIN End-level category ID. Those 2 fields will be enough.
Note: Fullpath is your local category path that is created in StoreAutomator. End Level Category ID is the SHEIN last leaf category ID.
Create New Single Products:
If your products are single, you need to create a custom field starting with the “saleattribute” prefix for the main specification for SHEIN. For example; saleattribute-scent-type. The main specification field is required and you must ensure that it is field out. You can check your SHEIN account to see the main specification requirements for any leaf category. Please be aware that once the item is listed, it is not possible to change the main specification unless you exclude the item from the channel first.
Also, you can send the other specifications in addition to the main spec. In that time, you must construct a custom field that begins with the prefix “saleattributelist-”. For example; saleattributelist-size
You can utilize any of the choices available in the main specification for a given category in SHEIN to build a custom field in StoreAutomator and add valid values via a dropdown menu.
For example from Perfume Category in SHEIN. As you can see in the screenshot below, the main specifications can be either color or scent type. So, you need to create the custom field either as saleattribute-scent-type or saleattribute-color in StoreAutomator. The display name can be changed as you want.
When you create the custom fields for the main and other specifications, you can create them as a line text.
or if you want to see what the values are mapped to in SHEIN, you can create them as a dropdown menu. In that case, the dropdown menu values must be manually added from the Inventory>Custom Field. Then it can be uploaded with bulk files like other custom fields.
The next step for single items is to complete custom field mapping in the channel product editor.(You need to only map for the Default map by selecting the category. You mostly do not need to do this for each category, and you do not need to do value mapping for each value. However, in certain cases, for specific categories, this may need to be done. For example, if there is any error like “main_specification/specification_info: Color， The attribute value is not enabled under current categoryid = 6887637”, then, you need to click on add this product category and map to the related spec.
Click the edit icon of a product in the channel level and hit the custom field mapping tab. From Spec, select the necessary mapping. For this example, it will be the scent type.
Your values will be created in SHEIN without value mapping. In certain cases, if the value is a sensitive wording for SHEIN, then either you will change the value of the field (if you create the custom field as linetext, then you need to change the value) or you need to do option value mapping (if you created the custom field as dropdown, this is doable).
Additionally, only one main specification can be sent to SHEIN, you cannot send both main specs, that’s why you need to have the data in one of the main spec fields. If you want to send another specification, you can send it as Other Specification to SHEIN, in that case, the attribute name will start with saleattributelist- for example, besides the main spec scent type, you want to send size as other specification, then you will create a custom field called saleattributelist-size as a line text or a dropdown menu and map this to Size spec in Custom field mapping.
Create New Parent Products:
If your products are in a parent group, in that case, you need to do the Option Type mapping for each category. Variation options will be sent as the main specification.
For example, if the variation type is shade which can be mapped to color specs of SHEIN and color is one of the accepted main specification fields in SHEIN.
No need for option value mapping for the variations within the Option mapping as well. We will send your value to SHEIN.
If your variation does not match with the main specification, then we need to do a variation theme override.
For example, your items have only one option which is size but the main specification does not have a size option; only color spec is available for the main spec. Then, we will do a variation theme override by using your custom fields and the option values will be pulled from those custom fields. In that scenario, we will do theme override using the custom fields color and size and send the color as the main spec and the size will be sent as the other spec. To do this, custom field mapping needs to be completed for color and size custom fields.
After completing custom field mapping for singles and parents (if there is a variation theme override), and option mapping for parent groups, next is to create category product attributes if there is any required. Because some categories require some attributes depending on your category mapping. If you map your category to Women Dresses in SHEIN category, this category requires an attribute called Style Features, then you will create a custom field like style-features as linetext, have the value in the field and do the custom field mapping.
Lastly, you include the products in your SHEIN channel in SA and click on the sync button on the channel.
If the products are sent successfully, it means it was sent to SHEIN and if you check your SHEIN UI, you will see the products in the pending for review status. This may take some time like a day or so, please be aware of it.
Please note that if the products are in the pending status in SHEIN, you cannot send any update to the product. To be able to update any data (except specifications), the products must be approved and listed successfully.
Important Notes:
- Mandatory Information: Include product dimensions, weight, description, and at least one image. Brand approval is required.
- Category-Specific Attributes: Some categories may require additional attributes e.g. Style Features for the Women’s Dresses category. They can be found from SHEIN Portal. You will click on Add New Product and select the specific category in SHEIN Portal and scroll down to Category Attributes. If there is any red star near the field, that means it is required. For Example, Men Sneakers require Power Supply and Product Features. These Category Specific attributes go from Parent Sku if you have a parentage, so this custom field value must be in the Parent sku.
- If your items are rejected for some reason, maybe because of brands, after you make sure that you got the approval from SHEIN, those items can be resent by recreating them by using our recreate function. The rejection reason may differ. For example, it can be due to a blurry image, then you need to change your image in SA, and recreate to send it to SHEIN as a new item with a new remote-id.
- To recreate them,fix necessary data, select items, click on three dots, go to Advanced Sync Option, and hit Recreate and sync the channel. This recreation function is only for the rejected items.
- If your items are not even created (if it is in the screenshot below), then you need to fix the related field according to error, send a product data update and sync the channel.
- If you need to fix the main specification or other specifications, you must exclude the items and sync the channel. Make sure that there is no error on the item before excluding any item from the channel. If there is any error like in the below screenshot,
First, fix those errors and send an update and sync. There will be no error left in the item. After that, you can exclude an item from the channel and sync it. Only one green light will be on when it is not in channel status. Next, check SHEIN UI to make sure if the item is unlisted, fix the specs in SA and you can reinclude the item and sync the channel.
Disconnect & Exclude Rejected Items:
Rejected items cannot be directly excluded from Exclusion. Since the items are not deleted in SHEIN, and the delete is sent as an update, rejected items cannot be updated because they do not exist in SHEIN listings.
Select items, go to Advanced Sync Options, and click Disconnect & Exclude to remove them from the SHEIN channel in SA.
This function only works on the selected items, and “select all matching” does not work for this feature. In this function, we do not send anything to SHEIN, SA just disconnects the item between SA and SHEIN and excludes it from the channel in SA. Therefore, there is no need to sync the channel. If you reinclude this item, it will be sent as a new item.
By following these steps, you can efficiently list and manage your products on SHEIN through StoreAutomator. Ensure to follow the guidelines for custom fields, mapping, and syncing to avoid common errors and streamline the listing process.