Every build starts with a product. You can pick one you already sell, or paste a URL from almost any product page on the web and let Atlas read it. By the end of this you will know which method to use, what Atlas can and cannot read, and how to give it a source page that produces good copy.
In this article:
The two methods
From your Shopify catalog. Under Browse your Shopify products, search with Search for your product and tick the products you want. Atlas uses your existing title, description, images, variants and price. Use this whenever the product is already in Shopify: it is faster, and everything already matches your store.
From a URL. Select Import from AliExpress or Amazon URL, paste the address of a product page into Paste a product page URL and select Add product. Atlas fetches the page, reads it, and creates the product for you. You can add several links before selecting Done. Each imported product appears ticked at the top of the product list. You can also paste a link straight into the search box and select Import this URL.
You can mix both in the same build.
Which sites Atlas can read
The import window names Amazon, Etsy, AliExpress and Other supplier.
In practice Atlas attempts any product page you give it. The named platforms are the ones it reads most reliably.
ℹ️ Atlas reads a product page. It does not read a collection page, a search results page, a store home page, or a blog post. Give it the URL of one specific product.
How many products at once
Up to 20 products in a single build, counting catalog picks and links together. The counter under the product list shows how many you have selected.
That is a limit per build, not per day or per store. Build twenty, then build twenty more.
💡 Smaller builds finish faster and fail less often. If a large build times out, splitting it into two is usually quicker than retrying the whole thing.
What Atlas takes from a source page
Taken | Not taken |
Product title | Supplier pricing or your cost |
Description text | Stock levels |
Images | Shipping times |
Price | Reviews as reviews, though their content informs the copy |
Variants where they can be read | Anything behind a login |
Atlas uses this material to write new copy for your customer. It does not copy the source page's wording onto your page.
What makes a good source page
Pages with full descriptions and images give the best results.
A good source has:
A full written description rather than a bullet list of specifications
Several clear product images
Visible variant options if the product has them
Genuine customer reviews on the page
A thin source produces thin copy. Atlas can only work with what the page tells it.
If your source is thin, you have two good options: write what is missing into your project's customer research so Atlas has more to work with, or fill the gaps yourself in the Atlas editor after the build.
What happens to your Shopify catalog
When you import from a URL, Atlas creates a product in your Shopify catalog so there is something for the page to sell. That product is yours: edit its price, variants, inventory and shipping in Shopify as normal.
⚠️ Atlas does not manage that product after creating it. Price, stock, shipping and fulfillment are yours to set. Check the imported price before you publish, because a price read from a supplier listing is unlikely to be the price you want to sell at. Atlas reads AliExpress prices in US dollars, including for items that are not sold to the US. If Atlas cannot read a price from an AliExpress listing at all, it creates the product at 4.97 as a placeholder.
If a product fails to load
Couldn't import on a product's row means Atlas could not read the page. A banner above the list says Couldn't import one of the URLs — check the link or remove it, and Continue setup stays disabled while that product is ticked. Untick it to build without it, or fix it:
Open the link in a normal browser tab and confirm it loads without signing in.
Confirm it is a single product page, not a collection or search page.
Remove any tracking parameters after the question mark in the URL.
Select
Import from AliExpress or Amazon URL, remove the failed product with its delete icon, and paste the link again.If it still fails, add the product to your Shopify catalog manually and build from there.
A link that failed here never reaches the build. Atlas builds from what it read when you added the link, so a product that imported cleanly is not fetched a second time.
Full guidance in Why couldn't Atlas import my product URL?