How do I find the product feed for my Shopify store May 07, 2023at 00:47 am By: James Byrne After Dark Grafx Ok, so I was searching online for “How to Find the Shopify Product Feed”. I then tried “How to Find ALL Products for Product Feed Shopify”, then “How to Connect Share a Sale Product Feed to Shopify”. All of the results sent me to several forum posts that recommended I use apps like Flexify or Google Shopping or Facebook Product Feed apps. However, I wanted to find out how to get the Shopify product feed without an app because I didn’t need a feed for any of these websites. I needed one for Share a Sale and did not want to pay for yet another Shopify App. Note: The process below is for individuals who have technical knowledge and are use to using apis for coding. See Shopify API Docs Here DISCLAIMER: The store that I was doing this for only had 1000 products. So, doing it manually didn’t take long. So, if you have a lot of products, it would be better to have a developer create a LOOP for you to obtain thousands of products OR to use an app from the Shopify App Store. The Shopify forums suggest this ( NOTE: (they don’t say this, but Shopify has a product limit for this url feed) only if you have 25 products in the store or only 25 products or less in the collection) If you attempt to use Postman and the api to pull the products, the limit is 50. yourstorename.com/collections/all.atom yourstorename.com/collections/collectionname.atom Using any of the above urls will only show 25 products for Shopify. So, what do we do to get a product feed from Shopify? You can get a product feed app from the Shopify App Store or click this link and find an app that suits your needs or do what I did and do it manually because I didn’t want to pay for another Shopify App for something I could do manually. You will have to determine how often you need this data. If you need it more frequently than a few months, I would recommend using an app for this, otherwise, I just do it manually and takes about 30 minutes start to finish. Want to take Shopify for a Spin? Click this link for a Free Trial or One that costs a buck. Who knows what promo is going on now but click my affiliate link and try it out so I can receive some of your hard earned money. HOW TO CREATE A PRODUCT FEED FOR ALL PRODUCTS WITH SHOPIFY MANUALLY You can hire After Dark Grafx to do this for you (recommended) OR do it yourself, you will need time, some technical know how, a lot of coffee and to create a private/custom app Get the API access ( https://YOURSTORENAMEHERE.myshopify.com/admin/settings/apps/development ) Download Postman Here Add the Authorization Information to Postman Use this URL and replace the api_key, api_password, store_name and api_version: https:/{{api_key}}:{{api_password}}@{{store_name}}.myshopify.com/api/{{api-_version}}/Products.json – Postman will connect and grab the first 50 products, this is Shopify’s Products.json default limit You can add this to the end of the url ?limit=250 so your entire url would be https:/{{api_key}}:{{api_password}}@{{store_name}}.myshopify.com/api/{{api-_version}}/Products.json?limit=250 So it would look something like this https://a-bunch-of-numbers-and-letters-from-the-api(this is the store access token): then a colon then the store access api password@YOURNAMESTORE.myshopify.com/api/2023-04/products.json So, the full url for a store named cool-store would be https://ert2……..:fghj……….@cool-store.myshopify.com/api/2023-04/Products.json This will grab only the first 50 products from your store So, we need to add the limit 250 (Shopify does not allow more than this) So, our Postman GET request would be: https://ert2……..:fghj……….@cool-store.myshopify.com/api/2023-04/Products.json?limit=250 This will get the first 250 products from our store. If you have more than 250 products, you will have to send the first request then scroll to the bottom of Postman and view the HEADERS for the request then scroll down to the LINK row and you will see something like this: <https://cool-store.myshopify.com/admin/api/2023-04/products.json?limit=250&page_info=eyJffrtyka…..hc2gifQ>; rel=”next” You will need to COPY this link and paste it into the URL bar for Postman GET so that you can GET the next 250 products. AND IMPORTANT: Remove the < and > in the url (see the RED bolded < and > in previous URL above. Note – url above does not work. Final Url would look like this: https://cool-store.myshopify.com/admin/api/2023-04/products.json?limit=250&page_info=eyJffrtyka…..hc2gifQ; rel=”next” So, as of this blog post the stable API is 2023-04 Once you GET the first request, it will place all of the contents into the BODY You will copy the BODY of this content and then CONVERT this JSON response to a CSV (or whatever you need). There are multiple converters online. Choose the one that works the best for you. This is a good one for CSVs but has a lot of ads (not affiliated with) – so be careful to read between the ads as the STEPS are within all of the garbage but it works great. https://www.convertcsv.com/json-to-csv.htm Paste your JSON request into this URL then download the CSV. You will now have the first 250 products. After remitting the first request, Postman will kick back a response so that you can get the next 250 products from the header as described above in the HEADERS of the response. Then just proceed through the same steps above until you have all the CSVs you need. In my case it was 5. See Shopify API Docs Here Once I had my 5 CSVs I combined them in Excel (ie: MAC –> Numbers) Please note that the URL to the products is not included in the responses. Once I combined the CSVs into one CSV I then added another column called PRODUCT_LINK. In this I added a column called PRODUCT_START_LINK and place https://www.my-cool-domain.com/products/ in it then copied this to all of the rows for the thousand products I had I then created a new column and copied the PRODUCT_HANDLE to this column and pasted down to all 1000 products. So now I have the starting link and then the product handle. In EXCEL or NUMBERS you can combine rows with Function but I just created the FINAL url for the products by COPYING the 2 columns together for all 1000 products. Pasted them into a TEXT editor like NOTEPAD or in my case SUBLIME TEXT for Mac and then REMOVED the SPACE after the first url. So, my initial paste looked like this: https://mycoolstore.com/products/ /name-of-my-product-handle after I removed the space after the /products/ and before the product handle, it created one URL for the product url. I then pasted this NEW url into a new column for the PRODUCT_URL then saved the CSV file. At this point, I have all of my products, the links to the images, skus, handles, and product links all in one document. You can use this as the master doc now. So, in order to MAP this data to Share a Sale or Google or Other Platform, you would download their example CSV for their feeds then MAP your data to their data by copying and pasting. I will cover HOW TO MAP PRODUCT DATA or HOW TO CREATE A SHARE A SALE PRODUCT FEED FOR SHOPIFY In my next post. Let me know if you have any questions or need any paid consulting help. Want to take Shopify for a Spin? Click this link for a Free Trial or One that costs a buck. Who knows what promo is going on now but click my affiliate link and try it out so I can receive some of your hard earned money. Thank you, James Byrne, Information Architect (USMC VET) Over 30 years of providing web solutions for businesses large and small. After Dark Grafx Website Design, SEO Services in San Diego, App Development and Consulting – Since 1992
Migrate Miva to Shopify May 01, 2023at 18:57 pm By: James Byrne After Dark Grafx Migrating from Miva to Shopify? There are many things to consider when migrating your website from Miva Merchant to Shopify. Before you begin this process, it is best to contact After Dark Grafx via Chat (bottom right of this website), via our Contact Form – click here or via Phone Toll Free (888) 578-8300 or if in San Diego (619) 702-7377. This will save you in both time and money and the 30 minute consultation is FREE! TAKE AN INVENTORY OF YOUR MIVA STORE: You will want to take an inventory of what functionality is currently in place within Miva and see if this same type of functionality is available within Shopify. In some cases, you can change or alter the the functionality to best suit your needs but in some cases, you will either need to add a paid or free app from the Shopify App Store or contact a developer (like After Dark Grafx wink! wink!). To perform the upgrade or add advanced custom coding that Shopify or the theme that you choose does not offer. WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SHOPIFY BEFORE MOVING (PROS, CONS, LIMITATIONS & BENEFITS) VIEW EXISTING SHOPIFY THEMES VIEW EXISTING APPS CONTACT A SHOPIFY DEVELOPER (We are Shopify Experts) USING A THIRD PARTY MIGRATION SERVICE PROS & CONS EXPORTING AND IMPORTING DATA INTEGRATING DESIGN CHANGES CODE FUNCTIONALITY CHANGES INSTALLING FREE AND PAID APPS SETTING UP THIRD PARTY SHIPPING AND THE COSTS INVOLVED SETTING UP PAYMENT GATEWAYS AND THE COSTS POINTING YOUR DOMAIN NAME LAUNCHING YOUR NEW STORE UPDATING THE SITE MAP WITH GOOGLE USING REDIRECTS SO YOU DO NOT LOSE “*SEO JUICE” This is just a basic list of what needs to be done before, during and after a migration from Miva Merchant Shopping Cart to the Shopify Platform. You can Sign Up for a 14 Day Free Trial with Shopify – Click Here! Contact us today click here for a FREE, 30 MINUTE, NO OBLIGATION consultation. Toll Free (888) 578-8300 Local: (619) 702-7377 Shopify’s post about Migrating to Shopify Click Here After Dark Tip: Make a Backup of your entire site and database before starting or making any changes or migrations. In your Miva Control Panel (not admin.mvc) you can export the database and all files from within Miva’s ecosystem. Their my.miva.com control panel allows you to login to the server and export the database and files OR just contact Miva Tech Support and they will do this for you. *SEO JUICE = Your current SEO standings or what links you currently have within the search engines. You should also take into consideration the age of your Miva website. Was it developed recently or years ago. Sometimes, performing a migration will not grab all of the data correctly. Utilizing an online utility to migrate your data, in most cases, does not grab all of the data you need because there is no “face-to-face” or human interaction analyzing what your site actually needs. Over the years, as you utilize Miva for your eCommerce website, you have probably added modules and custom code to make the website perform in a certain fashion needed for your company. Some of these modules or functionality will need to be re-added to your Shopify store in the form of paid or free apps plus custom coding. So, what do you do? Call After Dark Grafx for a FREE, No Obligation Migration Consultation and Cost Analysis. This way, you can understand what exactly you need and how your website will be affected by the move. It is best to spin up a test store, put it onto a paid plan and integrate and add the apps you need before moving the entire website. Note: All existing customers will have to RECREATE their passwords. You can send them out an invite one-by-one (Shopify Plus allows for mass invites) otherwise, you can use your email system like Mail Chimp, Constant Contact or other to send emails to your existing customers notifying them that you are moving to a new system and they will have to recreate their password on your website. Have a Rewards System in place? We should talk. What about Email? We should talk. Have other special coding or integrations that you may have forgotten about? We should talk. It is always best to keep your Miva Merchant account live as you transition away for the first few weeks to make sure everything is running efficiently. There are a multitude of other things to consider when migrating pertaining to orders, customers, categories and so forth so you should do yourself a favor and contact After Dark Grafx for a FREE Miva to Shopify Migration Consultation!
How to use the Dawn Shopify Theme Start to Finish August 24, 2022at 21:01 pm By: James Byrne After Dark Grafx In this video I will show you how to use the basic Dawn Theme for Shopify which is now installed by default whenever you sign up for Shopify. You will need to skip ahead in the video if you want to just jump to editing the Dawn Theme. How to Use the Dawn Theme with Shopify Speaking on signing up for Shopify, if you are interested in a 14 FREE Trial you can click here: https://shopify.pxf.io/dojygQ (affiliate link of course) Pros of using Shopify: – Quickly Start and Launch a Store – Thousands of FREE Apps to help you sell and run your store – Inexpensive if using free apps but can get expensive if you use a lot of paid apps. – Low Learning Curve – No Need for a Merchant Account – No Need for a Shipping Carrier Account – Easy to Add Apps, Change Themes and Update – Easily Add other Sales Channels (ie: Facebook, Instagram, etc.) – Easily Add a Buy Now Button onto an EXTERNAL website. (You can add a product button called BUY NOW to a website that is not hosted with Shopify but would process the checkout through Shopify Cons of using Shopify: – There is a 3 option limit for products. Example: If you sell t-shirts and have Size, Color, Material (you can add all kinds of variants to these options like small, medium, large, etc.) but Shopify has a 100 variant limit for these so you would need an app to extend the OPTIONS to get you past the 3 options threshold and the 100 variant threshold. – You use Shopify Payments, otherwise, if you use your own merchant account, then they add additional fee to your monthly plan plus you will pay a percentage to Shopify in addition to your existing Merchant Account and Gateway Fees. – If you add another Shipping Carrier (Shopify’s built-in carrier is USPS) if you add: FEDEX, UPS or other carrier there is an additional monthly fee approx $20 per month as of today’s date but this is cheaper than upgrading to the next plan on Shopify. – No direct access to the Shopify database without an app via Api – No direct backup mechanism without an app. You can export the products, customers and orders within Shopify but that is it. You would need an app to extend this functionality. ( excellent paid app to back up Shopify Rewind – https://rewindio.grsm.io/afterdarkgrafx (affiliate link ) ) If you need a Shopify Expert or just want ask some questions, please feel free to contact me at any of the links below. Main Website: https://www.afterdarkgrafx.com TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/afterdarkgrafx FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/afterdarkgrafx INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/afterdarkgrafx/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-byrne-755b9217/ PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/afterdarkgrafx/after-dark-grafx-portfolio/ YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesByrneusa/videos We Use Quicktime Player To Record My Screencast Videos and edit them with: https://fxhome.com/hitfilm-express (its freeish) and Premiere Pro. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial of Shopify Here and Try it out as well as make sales before you even have to pay them their monthly fee: https://shopify.pxf.io/dojygQ Questions? Contact Us Call Toll Free (888) 578-8300
How to Set Up Shopify From Scratch Start to Finish July 15, 2022at 16:49 pm By: James Byrne After Dark Grafx In this video I will show you how to set up Shopify’s back end as well as configure and use the basic Dawn Theme for Shopify which is now installed by default whenever you sign up for Shopify start to finish. How to Use the Dawn Theme with Shopify Speaking on signing up for Shopify, if you are interested in a 14 FREE Trial you can click here: https://shopify.pxf.io/dojygQ (affiliate link of course) Pros of using Shopify: – Quickly Start and Launch a Store – Thousands of FREE Apps to help you sell and run your store – Inexpensive if using free apps but can get expensive if you use a lot of paid apps. – Low Learning Curve – No Need for a Merchant Account – No Need for a Shipping Carrier Account – Easy to Add Apps, Change Themes and Update – Easily Add other Sales Channels (ie: Facebook, Instagram, etc.) – Easily Add a Buy Now Button onto an EXTERNAL website. (You can add a product button called BUY NOW to a website that is not hosted with Shopify but would process the checkout through Shopify Cons of using Shopify: – There is a 3 option limit for products. Example: If you sell t-shirts and have Size, Color, Material (you can add all kinds of variants to these options like small, medium, large, etc.) but Shopify has a 100 variant limit for these so you would need an app to extend the OPTIONS to get you past the 3 options threshold and the 100 variant threshold. – You use Shopify Payments, otherwise, if you use your own merchant account, then they add additional fee to your monthly plan plus you will pay a percentage to Shopify in addition to your existing Merchant Account and Gateway Fees. – If you add another Shipping Carrier (Shopify’s built-in carrier is USPS) if you add: FEDEX, UPS or other carrier there is an additional monthly fee approx $20 per month as of today’s date but this is cheaper than upgrading to the next plan on Shopify. – No direct access to the Shopify database without an app via Api – No direct backup mechanism without an app. You can export the products, customers and orders within Shopify but that is it. You would need an app to extend this functionality. ( excellent paid app to back up Shopify Rewind – https://rewindio.grsm.io/afterdarkgrafx (affiliate link ) ) If you need a Shopify Expert or just want ask some questions, please feel free to contact me at any of the links below. Main Website: https://www.afterdarkgrafx.com TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/afterdarkgrafx FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/afterdarkgrafx INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/afterdarkgrafx/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-byrne-755b9217/ PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/afterdarkgrafx/after-dark-grafx-portfolio/ YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesByrneusa/videos We Use Quicktime Player To Record My Screencast Videos and edit them with: https://fxhome.com/hitfilm-express (its freeish) and Premiere Pro. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial of Shopify Here and Try it out as well as make sales before you even have to pay them their monthly fee: https://shopify.pxf.io/dojygQ Questions? Contact Us Call Toll Free (888) 578-8300
How To Use The Debut Shopify Theme Part 1 of 2 September 06, 2021at 17:15 pm By: James Byrne After Dark Grafx Part 1: How To Edit and Setup Debut Theme for Shopify v2.0 In this video, I am going to show you how to SETUP Shopify SETTINGS for your Shopify Account. We usually do this first before working on a store so that these items are completed and ready for use once the site is ready to launch. Sign Up for a Free 14 Day Free Trial with Shopify Here Yes, the above link is an affiliate link and we will get a small commission if you decide to sign up for a Shopify Paid plan. We ARE Shopify Experts, so if you do not feel like doing this yourself, contact us and we will do it for you.