Vendors rarely send their product and price lists in Gaia's format. An AI assistant can take whatever the vendor sent you, a spreadsheet, a PDF price sheet, a monthly price change report, a bid award, even an email, and turn it into a file you can upload on the vendor's Products tab. See Bulk Upload a Vendor's Product List for the upload itself.
Paste the prompt below into an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT, and attach:
The vendor's file, whatever format it's in.
Your current products for this vendor: on the vendor's page, go to Products and click Export CSV. This is how the assistant finds the products you already have, so it updates them instead of adding duplicates.
A blank Vendor Product Import template, downloaded from the same Products tab. It carries the unit names your district can use.
A Pantry export with the Gaia Code, Name, Manufacturer and Manufacturer Code columns. Only needed if the vendor's file has products you don't buy from this vendor yet.
Every vendor product has to attach to an item that's already in your Pantry. If the vendor's file has products you don't have as items yet, add those items first, see Use AI to Get Your Item Data Ready for Bulk Upload.
Always review the converted file yourself before uploading it, and check the import preview carefully. It flags every row Gaia can't match or read, and nothing saves until you confirm.
The prompt
You are turning a vendor's product or price list into Gaia's Vendor Product Import template, so I can upload it on this one vendor's Products tab in Gaia. I'm giving you: the vendor's file (a spreadsheet, a PDF, a scanned document, or plain text); my Products export for this vendor from Gaia (the products I already buy from them); a blank Vendor Product Import template; and possibly a Pantry export from Gaia. Follow these rules exactly. Don't guess anywhere: when you aren't sure, leave the row out and list it at the end with the reason.
The output file. Use the blank template exactly as it is: same columns, headers spelled exactly as they appear, and delete the grey example row. Keep its hidden "Dropdown Lists" sheet. Type plain values into every cell, no formulas. Each row is one product this vendor sells me.
Step 1, find the products I already have. For each product in the vendor's file, look for it in my Products export by the vendor's own item or product number, which is the Vendor Code column in my export. Compare the numbers with any extra spaces removed, and treat leading zeros carefully (00123 and 123 may be the same item, so check the description before matching). If it's there, this row is an update of that product:
Copy Gaia Code, Name, Pack Size Amount, Pack Size Unit and Packaging Unit exactly from my export.
Copy Vendor Code exactly from my export, with one exception: if the Vendor Code in my export has a space before or after it, leave Vendor Code blank on that row, as long as that Gaia Code has only one product in my export. If it has more than one, leave the row out and list it.
Leave Order Guides and Tax Rate blank. Blank keeps whatever is in Gaia today.
If two products in my export have the same Gaia Code and the same Vendor Code, leave both out and list them. Gaia can't tell them apart on upload and would add a duplicate.
If the vendor's price is the same as the Price in my export, leave the row out. Count these and tell me how many.
Step 2, the price. Price is for one Packaging Unit in Gaia, which isn't always what the vendor prices. Compare the vendor's pack (for example "6/#10", "96/4.5z", "8/16z", "25#") with Gaia's Pack Size Amount, Pack Size Unit and Packaging Unit for that product:
If Gaia's Packaging Unit is the vendor's case, use the vendor's case price as is.
If Gaia buys a smaller unit inside the vendor's case (for example Gaia has "bag of 16 ounces" and the vendor sells "8/16z" by the case), divide the case price by the number of units in the case. Round to the cent.
If the vendor sells a single unit (for example "18z", "25#", "5 GAL", "EA") and it matches Gaia's pack size, use the price as is.
If the vendor's pack is a weight range (for example "2/8-10#" or "45-50#") and the price looks like a price per pound rather than per case, leave the row out and list it.
If you can't tell how Gaia's pack lines up with the vendor's, leave the row out and list it.
Numbers only in Price, no dollar signs. Never enter 0 as a price.
Step 3, products I don't have yet for this vendor. If a product isn't in my Products export, check whether it's an item in my Pantry export. If it is, and you can match it to exactly one item by the manufacturer's product code first, then the description, add a new row:
Gaia Code: from my Pantry export. Leave Manufacturer and Manufacturer Code blank when Gaia Code is filled in.
Name: the vendor's description of the product.
Vendor Code: the vendor's own item number, never the manufacturer's code.
Packaging Unit: what I order in, almost always a case. It must be a count unit, never a weight or volume like pound or gallon.
Pack Size Amount and Pack Size Unit: what one Packaging Unit holds. "Case of 6 #10 cans" is Packaging Unit case, Pack Size Amount 6, Pack Size Unit #10 can. "40 lb case" is Packaging Unit case, Pack Size Amount 40, Pack Size Unit pound. Pack Size Amount must be a positive number.
Price: per Packaging Unit, as in Step 2.
If it isn't in my Pantry export, or matches more than one item, leave it out and list it under "Not in Gaia." Never invent a Gaia Code or Manufacturer Code.
Unit names. Pack Size Unit must be a name from the "Pack Size Unit" column of the template's hidden "Dropdown Lists" sheet, and Packaging Unit must be a name from its "Packaging Unit" column, spelled exactly, including capitals. For products copied from my export, the names are already right.
Don't include products from any other vendor, and don't delete or change anything for products the vendor no longer lists. Leave those as they are and list them separately.
Before you hand back the file, check: every row has a Name, Pack Size Amount, Pack Size Unit and Packaging Unit; every row has a Gaia Code, or both Manufacturer and Manufacturer Code; every unit name is in the Dropdown Lists sheet; no Gaia Code and Vendor Code pair appears twice; Price and Tax Rate are plain numbers.
Then give me a second spreadsheet with these tabs, and a short summary of the counts:
Big price moves: rows in the upload whose new price is more than 40% higher or lower than the Price in my export, with old price, new price, the vendor's pack and Gaia's pack.
Needs manual update: products in my export with a new price that you left out, and why.
Not in Gaia: products in the vendor's file you couldn't match to any item, with the vendor's item number, description, brand, pack and price.
No longer on the vendor's list: products in my export that aren't in the vendor's file.
After the assistant hands back the files
Scan the big price moves. Most are old prices in Gaia catching up, but a big jump can also mean the price is for a different unit than Gaia's pack. Delete any row that looks wrong before you upload.
Check the preview. For a price update, almost every row should be under Changed. A product you expected under Changed that shows under New usually has a Vendor Code that doesn't exactly match Gaia's; cancel and fix it rather than confirming, or you'll get a duplicate product.
Products that need a manual update can be updated on the item page, see Add Vendor Products to an Item.
Products not in Gaia need a pantry item first. Once the item exists, they'll come through with the next file.