Sample product CSV to download
50 made-up products in the columns your WP store's importer reads, free to use. The plugin below is free too: a chat for your WP site that can tell you what's out of stock.
sample-products.csv · CSV · 50 rows · 10 KB
- Nothing changes without your OK
- Undo in one click, or a warning first
- No account, no password to share
Needs WP 6.3 to 7.1, PHP 8.0 or newer, and an administrator login. One site per install.
The download is a plugin. Turning it on connects your site to cmshands.com and adds 3 small rescue files. Deleting the plugin removes them and everything it stored. What we send
What's in the sample product CSV file
sample-products.csv holds 50 simple products for a made-up pottery shop: mugs, bowls, plates, kitchen pieces, vases, planters and gift sets. Each row is one product. It's for stores built with WooCommerce, the shop plugin for WP, which has a product importer built in. The 13 columns use the names the store's own export writes, so the importer matches every column by itself. Every product is set to come in as a draft, so a test import never shows made-up mugs to your customers. WooCommerce is a trademark of Automattic Inc. CMSHands is not affiliated with it.
How to import this product CSV file
1. Open the importer. In your WP dashboard, the screens you log in to at yoursite.com/wp-admin, go to Products › All Products and press Import.
2. Choose the file. Under Choose a CSV file from your computer, pick sample-products.csv. Leave the other options as they are and press Continue.
3. Check the columns and run it. On Map CSV fields to products, each column already has its match. Press Run the importer.
That screen is the one in the picture at the top of this page. When it says Import complete!, the 50 products wait as drafts in Products › All Products.
We imported it on our test site first
On Oct 11, 2026 we ran this file through the store's own importer on our test site. That's a WP site we run to try every task before we write about it, on WP 7.1 and WooCommerce 11.2.1. It said Import complete! 50 products imported. None failed, and all 50 arrived as drafts. Then we took them all out again.
How to take the sample products out again
In Products › All Products, press sample in the Tags column. Now the list shows only these products. Tick the box at the top of the list, choose Move to Trash under Bulk actions and press Apply. The list usually shows 20 at a time, so repeat until they're gone. The new categories stay until you delete them in Products › Categories.
What each column means
Codes, words and prices
SKU is each product's own code. Every one here starts with SAMPLE-, so you can tell them apart from your real products. Name, Short description and Description are the words on the product page. Regular price and Sale price are plain numbers with a dot, like 32.00. There's no currency sign: your store adds its own. 6 products have a sale price.
Who sees them
Published decides who can see a product. The importer reads 1 as published, 0 as private, -1 as draft and 2 as pending review. Every row here says -1. Is featured? is 1 for 7 products and 0 for the rest. Type is simple for all 50: one product, with no sizes or colors to pick from.
Stock and categories
In stock? is 1 or 0, and Stock is how many you have. When Stock holds a number, the store starts counting stock for that product. 5 products here have 0 and show as out of stock. In Categories, a comma separates two categories, and > puts one inside another, as in Mugs > Espresso cups. The importer creates any category you don't have yet. Tags are separated by commas too, and every product has the tag sample.
Use it as your product CSV template
Keep the first row, delete the sample rows and type your own products under the same column names. The importer matches columns by their names, so don't rename them. Need a column this file doesn't have? In Products › All Products, press Export next to Import, then Generate CSV. Copy the column's name from the file you get. Weight and size columns carry your store's unit, like Weight (lbs).
A supplier's list with its own column names can go in too. On the Map CSV fields to products screen, open the list next to each column. Pick the field it belongs to, or Do not import for a column you don't need. Save an Excel file as CSV first: the importer reads CSV files, not Excel ones.
What the free plugin does for your store
CMSHands is a free plugin that adds a chat to your WP dashboard. Once your products are in, ask it things like “Which of my products are out of stock? List them with their prices.” On our test shop it answered 8 seconds later, with the 3 that had run out and their prices. A question changes nothing on your site. Up to 30 questions a day are free, 100 with your email.
On the paid plan, which isn't open yet, the chat can run an import like this one for you. It takes simple products, with no images or variations yet, up to 2,000 in one import, and new products start as drafts. You attach the file and get one card, a box in the chat that shows exactly what would change. Nothing is added until you press its button. Changed your mind? Undo in one click, and the new products go to the trash.
To ask your own store what's out of stock, get the free plugin below.
- Nothing changes without your OK
- Undo in one click, or a warning first
- No account, no password to share
Needs WP 6.3 to 7.1, PHP 8.0 or newer, and an administrator login. One site per install.
The download is a plugin. Turning it on connects your site to cmshands.com and adds 3 small rescue files. Deleting the plugin removes them and everything it stored. What we send
What it won't do here
Imports from the chat wait for the paid plan
No pictures or variations in chat imports
It doesn't export your products to a CSV
Questions
Where can I download a sample product CSV file?
Right here: press Download the sample CSV near the top of this page. It's free, there's no email to give, and you may use, change and share it however you like. The file is sample-products.csv: 50 products in 13 columns, about 10 KB.
Does WooCommerce come with its own sample products CSV?
Yes. It sits in the WooCommerce plugin folder, at sample-data/sample_products.csv, so you reach it through your host's file manager. In version 11.2.1 it has 25 rows of clothes and music, with variations, and every product is set to publish. Its pictures download from demo sites on the web. Ours is simpler: 50 simple products, no pictures, all set to come in as drafts.
Which columns does a product CSV need?
Name and Regular price matter most: a product without a price can't be bought. Add SKU too. It gives each product its own code, so a later import with Update existing products ticked can find those products and change them. Every other column in the sample is optional.
Why does Excel put everything in one column?
Your Excel expects semicolons between values, which is common where a comma is the decimal sign. Don't double-click the file. Open Excel first, use its import instead, and choose Comma as the separator. If a file you save ends up with semicolons, the store importer still reads it: set CSV Delimiter under Show advanced options.
Can a product CSV add images or variations?
With the store's own importer, yes. Put image web addresses in an Images column, separated by commas, and it downloads them. Variations need a parent row of type variable and one row per variation. This sample keeps to simple products without images. When CMSHands imports for you, on the paid plan that isn't open yet, it takes simple products only, with no images or variations yet.
Can CMSHands import this file for me?
Not on the free plan. Importing is part of the paid plan, which isn't open yet. It takes simple products only, with no images or variations yet. New products start as drafts, and you can undo the import in one click. The free chat in your WP dashboard answers store questions today, like which products are out of stock.
Written by CMSHands team. Checked on WP 7.1, Oct 11, 2026.
Try it on your own site
Needs WP 6.3 to 7.1, PHP 8.0 or newer, and an administrator login. One site per install.
The download is a plugin. Turning it on connects your site to cmshands.com and adds 3 small rescue files. Deleting the plugin removes them and everything it stored. What we send
Download the plugin.
It's free: 3 changes to try it. No account, no card.
Upload and activate it.
In your dashboard: Plugins › Add Plugin › Upload Plugin (Add New Plugin on older WP). Choose the file, press Install Now, then Activate Plugin.
Press Turn on.
Press Turn on CMSHands. No account, no key, no password.