Migration guide
Moving to Esoltec from a Custom-Built E-commerce Site
How do you move to Esoltec from a custom-built site? When you move to Esoltec from a custom-built site, products are brought over with an Excel or CSV file your software agency exports from the database; the file should include product name, price, stock, category path and image URLs. Customer accounts, passwords and order history are not moved. Because the old URL format is specific to the software, a complete URL list is drawn up and every URL is 301-redirected to its new URL.
Last updated: · Owner: Esoltec product team
Migration at a glance
- Imported
- Products, variants, images, categories, and SEO titles and descriptions
- Not imported
- Customer accounts, passwords, order history and old product URLs
- In the panel
- Product Catalog › Bulk Import
- Step-by-step guide
- Step-by-step guide (in Turkish)
Getting your data out of the old platform
- Products: ask your software agency for an Excel or CSV export of your products, with product name, description, stock code, barcode, price, stock, category path, variant details and publicly accessible image URLs.
- URLs: ask for a list of every URL on the site; if there is no sitemap, product, category and page URLs can be generated from the database.
- Customers and orders: back up these records; they are not moved to Esoltec, but you need them for accounting and customer communication.
- Contract: check the data hand-over and hosting clauses in your contract with the software agency.
Preparing the product file
On a plan with migration support, the Esoltec team does this preparation.
- Naming your columns after the ready-made template you can download on the Bulk Import page speeds up mapping: product name, parent product code, stock code, barcode, colour, size, sale price, stock, category, brand, weight, description and image URL.
- Put each variant on its own row; a product's rows share the same parent product code and the same product name, with options such as colour and size in separate columns.
- Separate multiple images in one cell with “|”, and enter weight in grams.
- A file can be up to 50 MB and 50,000 rows; split a bigger catalog into several files.
Importing products step by step
Products are imported in the panel with Bulk Import. On a plan with migration support, the Esoltec team does these steps.
- 01
On the Product Catalog › Bulk Import page, choose your file (.xlsx, .xls, .csv or .xml; up to 50 MB and 50,000 rows) or enter an address with the import-from-XML-URL option. You can download the ready-made template for the column layout.
- 02
In the mapping step, match the columns in your file to the target fields; the product name is required. The AI auto-mapping option suggests a mapping.
- 03
Choose the default category, warehouse, tax rule, shipping profile and status. For products already in your store, choose whether to update them, skip them or add them as new.
- 04
You can upload images in a ZIP file; if the image names match the stock codes, tick the option that matches image names to stock codes (SKU).
- 05
Check the result with the preview, which writes nothing, fix the flagged rows in your file and start the import. When it finishes, you can download the result file.
Full details, including file preparation and undo (in Turkish)
Migration plan and switch-over
Your domain is connected last: until then the old site stays up and sales don't stop.
- 01
Keep the old site running
You set up your store on its Esoltec platform address (storecode.esoltecweb.com). Your domain stays with the old site until migration day, so sales don't stop.
- 02
Import your products
Check the product file under Product Catalog › Bulk Import with the preview, which writes nothing, then import it; if your plan includes migration support, send the file to the Esoltec team. Don't go on until you have fixed the rows the preview flags.
- 03
Get ready to sell
Connect payment, shipping and invoicing, finish your legal pages and theme, and place a test order on the platform address.
- 04
Add the redirects
List the old URLs, match each one with its new URL and add the rules under SEO › Redirects; the details are in the redirect checklist.
- 05
Connect your domain
Add your domain under Website › Domain Settings; adding it doesn't take your site offline. Enter the DNS records shown at your domain provider and click Verify, then click Make Primary once the DNS and SSL badges turn green. The panel asks for A, CNAME and, if needed, TXT records; don't change your email (MX) records.
- 06
Keep the switch-over short
If your domain provider allows it, lower the TTL of the records a day before migration. While the DNS change spreads, some visitors still see the old site; handle any orders that land on the old site during that time separately.
- 07
Monitor after launch
Submit the new sitemap (yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) in Search Console, check the 404 Log regularly for a few weeks, and switch ad and social media links to the new URLs. Don't close your old platform account until the redirects have been checked.
SEO redirect checklist
URLs change on the new site. If an old URL isn't 301-redirected to its new URL, the visits and the search ranking it brings are lost.
If the number is part of the URL path (e.g. /p/42 or /product-42.html), a rule can be added for each URL; if the number comes after a question mark (e.g. /product.aspx?id=42), the URLs can't be redirected one by one.
Old URLs ending in .asp, .aspx or .php don't appear in the 404 Log; get the list of those URLs from your software agency or from Search Console.
Draw up the complete list of old URLs: the old site's sitemap, the page reports in Search Console and your most-visited pages. List product, category, page and blog URLs separately.
Before adding rules, choose the “Product URL Pattern” under SEO › SEO Settings: “Standard — /urun/product-name-123”, “Flat — /product-name” or “Prefixed, no number — /urun/product-name”. Changing the pattern later changes every product URL again.
Write the new URL next to each old one. A new product URL is generated from the product name, and category URLs take the form /category-name; you can get the new URLs by opening the product in the storefront or from your platform address's sitemap.
Add rules under SEO › Redirects › Add Redirect with Old URL, New URL and the type “301 — Permanent”. You can paste the full old URL: the domain, the trailing slash and anything after the question mark are dropped, and capitals are lowercased.
There is no bulk upload and no wildcard rule; every old URL is a separate rule. If you have many products, start with the URLs that get the most visits and external links.
Old URLs with a question mark (e.g. ?id=42) can't be redirected one by one; anything after the question mark is ignored when matching. Replace the ad and social media links you pointed at those URLs with the new URLs.
If your old product URLs start with /urun/ and end in a number, choose the “Prefixed, no number” pattern or add rules for all of them: under the “Standard” and “Flat” patterns, such a URL without a rule can redirect to another product with the same number.
Don't add a rule for the URL of a live page: the rule comes before the page, so the page won't open.
After adding a rule, open the old URL in your browser and check that it reaches the right page. Crawl tools may show 308 instead of 301; 308 is a permanent redirect too.
Image URLs change: images are re-hosted on Esoltec, and old image URLs are not redirected.
If your Search Console verification used an HTML file or meta tag on the old site, switch to domain (DNS) verification after migrating and submit the new sitemap.
After launch, check the 404 Log regularly and redirect missing URLs with Create 301. Bot requests and image URLs don't appear in that list; track them in Search Console.
If you use Google Merchant Center, update the product feed to its new URL (yourdomain.com/feed/products.xml). The product ID is taken from the stock code; if the IDs in your old feed were different, the products are seen as new products.
Support model
Product import and support channel by plan; the values come from the plan comparison table.
| Plan | Product import (Esoltec team) | Support channel |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Not included | |
| Professional | For a fee | Email + phone |
| Enterprise | Included | Email + phone + representative |
On a plan with migration support, the Esoltec team imports your products: product details, variants, images, categories, and SEO titles and descriptions. You provide the product file you exported from your old platform (Excel, CSV or XML) or a product XML URL.
Customer lists, order history, blog posts, content pages and redirect rules are not part of the team's import; you add the redirects yourself with the checklist.
On a plan without migration support, you import your products yourself with Product Catalog › Bulk Import; the step-by-step guide is in the help center (in Turkish). Step-by-step guide (in Turkish)
Frequently asked questions
What do I do if my software agency won't hand over the data?
First check the data hand-over and intellectual property clauses in your contract. If you can't get a file, you add products with the Bulk Import template or one by one in the panel; you can upload images in a ZIP, named after their stock codes, with the option that matches image names to stock codes (SKU).
Will the custom features on my site work in Esoltec?
Custom features are not moved. Check one by one whether Esoltec's features or integrations cover each one's job; if something isn't covered, write to us before you migrate.
When can I end the hosting for my old site?
Once your domain points to Esoltec, the old site gets no visitors. Images are downloaded from the old server during the import, so don't end the hosting before the import is finished; keep it until the redirects have been checked and your records are backed up.
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