A listing template in Alomations holds everything about a product that stays the same from one Etsy listing to the next: the product and category, price, sizes and colours, materials, SKUs, and your shipping, return and processing profiles. You build it once, every run that uses it applies those settings, and each new design then only needs artwork and mockups.
This guide is for sellers setting up Alomations for the first time, and for anyone who has filled in Etsy's listing form by hand and is tired of entering the same fields again. A careful first template is the difference between a run you trust and a run you have to fix afterwards.
What a template is, and why you build it once
Etsy's listing form has 7 tabs you must fill out before you can publish (Etsy Help Center). Most of what goes into them does not depend on the design. A Gildan 5000 tee in your usual sizes has the same category, materials, shipping and return settings whether it shows a cat, a teacher joke or a birthday number.
A template captures those product settings. The parts that belong to one design (the title, all 13 tags, the description and the mockups) are created in the run for that design. Keeping the two apart is what lets one template serve hundreds of listings. Mockups are not stored in the template: you pick them in each run.
Before you start: set up your Etsy profiles
A template points to profiles that live in your Etsy shop, so create these in Shop Manager first:
Shipping profile: "A listing can only be connected to one shipping profile" (Etsy Help Center), so make one per product type and shipping origin.
Return policy: physical listings need one, even when it says no returns or exchanges (Etsy Help Center).
Processing profile: the time you need to get an order ready to ship, with a "Made to order" or "Ready to ship" label (Etsy Help Center).
If you add or change a profile on Etsy after connecting, use Refresh from Etsy in Alomations to pull the latest list. Our guides to Etsy shipping profiles for POD and what processing time to set for POD help you choose the values. If a production partner prints your items, add it in Shop Manager under Settings, Partners you work with, since Etsy requires sellers to disclose production partners on the relevant listings (Etsy Help Center).
The fields, one by one
| Field | What you set | Why it matters on Etsy |
|---|---|---|
| Product | The catalog product you sell | Ties orders to a product partners can make and fills listing attributes |
| Category | The most specific Etsy category | Decides which sections of Etsy the item appears in |
| Price | A price per size, arranged across sizes | Each size has to cover its own cost, shipping and fees |
| Sizes and colours | The options buyers choose from | Become the listing's variations |
| Materials | Fabric and blend | Stored as an attribute and used in the copy |
| SKUs | Your code for each variant | Keeps inventory and orders readable |
| Shipping, return, processing profiles | Profiles from your Etsy shop | Set the shipping price, return policy and ship-by date |
Product and category
Start with the product. Choosing one from the catalog, such as a Gildan 5000 or a Comfort Colors 1717, ties the listing to an item our production partners can print and ship, and Etsy listing attributes are filled from the product. Then pick the most specific category you can. Etsy says the category "determines which sections of Etsy's marketplace your item appears in" (Etsy Help Center), and its search visibility checks look for the most specific category possible (Etsy Help Center).
Price, sizes and colours
Set a price for each size rather than one price for all. Larger sizes usually cost more to make, and the template lets you arrange prices across sizes so 2XL and 3XL carry their own price. Etsy allows price to vary by variation when that option is switched on (Etsy Help Center).
Sizes and colours become the listing's variations. If you sell the same size and colour sets on several products, save them once as a variation profile and reuse it in every template (saved variation profiles come with paid plans). See what a variation is on Etsy for how buyers see them.
Materials and SKUs
Enter materials exactly. Gildan's spec sheet lists the 5000 as 100% cotton, but heathers such as Dark Heather and Graphite Heather are 50/50 cotton/polyester (Gildan 5000 spec sheet), so "100% cotton" on a heather colour misleads buyers. Etsy removed the separate Materials tag field in March 2026, and materials now live only as an attribute (Etsy Help Center). Alomations also reads the template's materials when it writes the description, so the fabric claims in the copy match.
SKUs are your own codes for each variant. A consistent pattern (product, colour, size) makes orders easier to read, and our explainer on SKUs on Etsy has examples.
One template per product, and per shop
Build one template per product and setup. If you sell the same tee with two shipping origins or two return policies, that is two templates. With several connected shops you can make per-shop templates, and a multi-shop run sends one design to several shops, each with its own template, mockups and shop section (multi-shop runs come with paid plans). When a profile changes across many templates, the bulk Etsy-profile editor updates them together instead of one by one.
Using the template in a run
A run brings the pieces together:
Upload a design or generate one with AI.
Pick the mockups and the template.
Choose whether the listing goes live or is saved as an Etsy draft.
Start the run.
The run delivers print-ready files, renders the mockups, writes a title within Etsy's 140 characters, all 13 tags and the description, applies your template and publishes to your shop, live or as a draft. Getting started with Alomations walks through the whole flow, and how it works shows it in one page.
First-template mistakes to avoid
One price for every size, so the largest sizes can lose money.
A broad category when a more specific one exists.
Materials copied from another product without checking the blend.
Profiles created on Etsy after connecting but never refreshed in Alomations.
Too many colours at once. Start with the colours you can show well in mockups and add more later.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a new template for every design?
No. A template describes a product, not a design. One template serves every design you put on that product.
Can I change a template later?
Yes, and the change applies to the runs that use it afterwards. For listings that are already live, the listings manager bulk edits prices, tags and variations. On Etsy's side, editing a processing profile updates every listing linked to it (Etsy Help Center).
Can I use templates on the Free plan?
Yes. Templates are part of the core listing run, which works on Free. Saved variation profiles and multi-shop runs need a paid plan.
How many variations can an Etsy listing have?
A template sets the sizes and colours that become the listing's variations. On Etsy's side, a listing can now have up to three variation types (Etsy Help Center), and you can set unique prices, SKUs and quantities for up to 400 option combinations (Etsy Help Center).
Build your first template and run your first listing on the Alomations free plan.