CSV format — Category Listing Report (flat file)
The most important columns RankASIN ingests from Amazon's Category Listing Report flat file.
The Category Listing Report (also called a flat file or category listing template) is downloaded from Seller Central under Inventory → Add Products via Upload. It is an XLSM or TSV file containing every attribute for your listings in a given category. RankASIN uses it as the source for the listing editor and for round-trip export back to Amazon.
The file has 100+ columns. RankASIN parses all of them for round-trip fidelity but only surfaces the SEO-relevant subset in the editor UI. The table below covers the ~20 most important columns. Parser handles additional optional columns silently — they are preserved in raw_data for export but hidden from the editor.
Amazon includes example/template rows in the file (rows with placeholder text like "example" or guidance text). RankASIN filters these out automatically via EXAMPLE_ROW_FILTERS before processing.
Fields
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| sku | text | yes | Seller SKU. Primary identifier for each listing row in the flat file. |
| product_id_type | text | no | Type of product identifier: ASIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN. Used to determine how to route the product_id_value. |
| product_id_value | text | no | The actual product identifier value corresponding to product_id_type. For existing listings this is typically the ASIN. |
| item_name | text | no | The submittable listing title (Amazon attribute item_name). This is what gets pushed to Amazon on upload. Labeled "Title" in the RankASIN editor. Maximum 200 characters; mobile truncation at approximately 80 characters. |
| display_title | text | no | The current live title as shown on Amazon's catalog (::title). Read-only reference only — not editable in RankASIN. A mismatch between display_title and item_name surfaces as a warning in the editor. |
| brand | text | no | Brand name as registered in Brand Registry. Not editable in the listing editor (identity field). |
| bullet_point_1 | textarea | no | First bullet point. Up to 5 bullets total (bullet_point_1 through bullet_point_5). Displayed as feature highlights on the detail page. |
| bullet_point_2 | textarea | no | Second bullet point. |
| bullet_point_3 | textarea | no | Third bullet point. |
| bullet_point_4 | textarea | no | Fourth bullet point. |
| bullet_point_5 | textarea | no | Fifth bullet point. |
| product_description | textarea | no | The long-form product description shown below the fold. Supports basic HTML. Up to 2,000 characters. Largely superseded by A+ Content for Brand-Registered sellers, but still indexed. |
| generic_keyword_1 | text | no | First backend keyword field. Up to 5 fields (generic_keyword_1 through generic_keyword_5). Not visible to shoppers; indexed by Amazon's search engine. Do not repeat terms already in the title or bullets. |
| generic_keyword_2 | text | no | Second backend keyword field. |
| generic_keyword_3 | text | no | Third backend keyword field. |
| generic_keyword_4 | text | no | Fourth backend keyword field. |
| generic_keyword_5 | text | no | Fifth backend keyword field. |
| image_main | readonly | no | URL of the main product image. Displayed as read-only in RankASIN — images are managed in Seller Central or via the image upload workflow. |
| image_2 | readonly | no | Secondary image URL (slot 2 of 9). |
| item_type_keyword | text | no | Amazon's browse-tree classification keyword that places your product in the correct sub-category. |
| product_type | text | no | Product type code for the category template (e.g. SKIN_MOISTURIZER). Determines which attributes are required or optional. |
| color | text | no | Color variation value. Part of the variation theme for color-differentiated child ASINs. |
| size | text | no | Size variation value. |
| fulfillment_channel | text | no | FBA or MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network). Determines which fulfillment program handles this SKU. |
Round-trip export
After editing fields in RankASIN's listing editor, you export the file back as an XLSM using the Amazon template. RankASIN uses JSZip to strip VBA macros and ExcelJS to write the updated values, then re-packages the file for upload to Seller Central.
See also: Listing editor · Backend keywords