# How to import your Instagram or existing store

> Turn an Instagram profile, a website/Shopify store, or a product PDF into a ready-made store — or import those products into a store you already have — then the checklist to review before you publish.

Guide: https://sitesplaced.com/help/how-to-guides/import-your-existing-store · Section: How-To Guides · Last reviewed: 2026-10-08

If you already sell somewhere, you don't have to start from scratch. Go to [sitesplaced.com/import](https://sitesplaced.com/import), point the **Importer** at your Instagram handle, your existing website or a PDF catalog, pick a template, and it builds a store — name, logo, colours, copy and products — and publishes it in one click. You then tidy prices, photos and settings from the dashboard. The whole thing takes a few minutes and is free.

> **Already have a store? Import into it instead:** Open your store, go to **Products** and click **Import** (next to **Add Product**). Pick a PDF, a photo of your menu, your website or your Instagram, tick the products you want, and they are added to that store — nothing else about it changes. See [Importing into a store you already have](#into-existing) below.

## Step 1 — Run the importer

1. Open [sitesplaced.com/import](https://sitesplaced.com/import) and pick where your content lives: **Instagram** (enter your handle without the @), **Website / Shopify** (enter the store link, like `yourstore.com`), **PDF / Doc** (upload a catalog or price list — PDF or DOCX), or one of the other source tiles. Click **Continue**.
2. Choose what to build. For a shop pick **Online store — Sell products: cart, checkout, orders** (it is pre-selected for product-shaped sources).
3. Pick a template from the gallery, or leave it on **Let AI pick** so the importer chooses a fitting one. Click **Build my online store**.
4. Wait while it reads your profile, pulls your content, writes the copy and lays it out — usually under a minute.
5. You land on a preview titled **Your store is ready**. Check the products and branding, then click **Sign up & publish** (new account) or **Publish my store** (already signed in).

> **Publishing makes it live immediately:** Unlike a store you build by hand, an imported store is published the moment you click Publish, and you are taken straight to the live site. That's fine — it has a free SitesPlaced address nobody knows yet. Review it before you share the link, or press **Unpublish** in the dashboard while you tidy.

## What gets imported

- **Instagram** — your bio and profile picture, plus recent image posts turned into products with the caption as the description. Prices are read from captions only when they are clearly stated; otherwise the product is created at **₹0** for you to fill in. The profile must be **public**.
- **Website / Shopify** — product names, prices, original prices, photos, categories and (where the site exposes them) sizes and stock, plus your logo and colours.
- **PDF / Doc** — every product the catalog lists, with prices where printed. Image-only PDFs import names and prices but rarely photos.
- Photos are copied onto SitesPlaced hosting so they keep working if the original source goes offline. A product whose images can't be fetched is **skipped** rather than published blank — so the product count may be lower than your source.

> **It's a starting point, not the finish line:** Imported data is auto-detected, so expect to fix a few prices, photos or names. That's normal — the importer saves you the heavy lifting of typing everything in.

## Step 2 — Review your products

- Open your store from the dashboard and go to **Products**. Check each item's **Product name**, **Price** and **Photos** — anything at ₹0 needs a real price before you share the link.
- Delete posts that aren't products (giveaways, memes, reposts) — the importer keeps what looks like an item, but Instagram captions are ambiguous.
- Set up options if you sell sizes/colours — see [How to sell sizes & colours](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/how-to-guides/sell-sizes-and-colours.md). Do this before editing many products, because the catalog model changes the product form.
- Tidy your **categories** under **Settings → Categories** — the importer may create rough ones or none. Every product can then be re-tagged from its **Categories** picker.
- Decide your **stock** approach in [Catalog & fields](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/online-stores/catalog-and-fields.md) — imported products start with unlimited stock unless the source carried counts.

## Step 3 — Finish the setup

- Set how you [get paid](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/how-to-guides/set-up-payments-the-right-way.md) — the importer doesn't connect Razorpay or fill in your UPI details.
- Confirm your **WhatsApp number** under **Settings → Store details** (with the country code) and your **Store link** — the importer chooses a slug from your brand name, and you can change it once before sharing.
- Check your [menu & navigation](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/online-stores/store-menu-navigation.md), [branding](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/online-stores/branding-and-colours.md) and the **About** text the importer wrote — it's a good draft, not gospel.
- Run the [go-live checklist](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/how-to-guides/go-live-checklist.md), place a test order, and share the link.

## Importing into a store you already have

The importer on sitesplaced.com/import always builds a **new** store. To add products to a store that already exists — one you set up by hand, or one you want to load a second catalogue into — use the **Import** button on the Products page instead.

1. Open your store from the dashboard and go to **Products**. Click **Import**, next to **Add Product** (on a store with no products yet it is the **Import from PDF or website** button).
2. Pick where the products are: **PDF / Photo** (a catalogue, a price list, or a photo of your menu board — PDF, DOCX, JPG, PNG or HEIC, up to 10MB), **Website / Shopify**, **Instagram**, **DM2Buy** or **Shopexer**. Enter the link or handle, or choose the file, and click **Find products**.
3. Wait 10–30 seconds. You get a list of everything it found, with the name, price and photo of each product. Untick anything you don't want. Products with the same name as one already in your store start **unticked** and are marked **Already in store**, so importing an updated catalogue adds what is new without doubling what you have.
4. Click **Add N products**. Photos are copied onto your store, and the new products appear at the top of your list — edit any of them as usual.

- Your store's name, template, colours, pages and existing products are not touched. Only products are added.
- The products count towards your plan's product limit. If you tick more than there is room for, the first ones are added and the rest are left out — the button tells you how many fit.
- A product listed without a price is added at **0** so it cannot be sold for the wrong amount. Fix those before sharing your link.
- From a PDF or a photo the products come without pictures (a placeholder shows). Add photos from each product's page.
- You can run the import as many times as you like, from different files or sites.

## Good to know

- **The preview expires after an hour.** If you see **Preview Expired**, run the import again — it only takes a minute.
- **Running sitesplaced.com/import again creates a second store**, it doesn't update the first. To add products to a store you already have, use **Products → Import** inside that store (see above). The free plan allows up to 5 sites, so delete any store you don't want from the dashboard.
- **Instagram import failed?** Try again in a few minutes, or use the **Website / Shopify** tile with your link-in-bio shop instead.
- **The template is fixed once the store is created.** The **Active template** card under **Settings → Branding** shows which one you are on. To try a different one, run the import again and pick it — you get a second store, so delete the one you do not want. Colours, fonts, text and sections stay editable on any template.
- **Editor looks emptier than the live preview?** If a section's editor looks blank while the live page shows content, open and re-save that section — it backfills from your imported content. Still odd after that? [Contact support](https://sitesplaced.com/contact).

Want to see what an imported Instagram store looks like before you start? Browse the [templates](https://sitesplaced.com/templates) or read [Instagram to website](https://sitesplaced.com/instagram-to-website). If you are moving a large catalog and would rather someone else did the cleanup, the Growth plan includes a setup person — see [Pricing](https://sitesplaced.com/pricing).

**Q: Is the importer free?**

Yes. Building, previewing and publishing an imported store costs nothing, and the store runs on the free plan with unlimited products and 0% commission.

**Q: My Instagram import found no products.**

Either the profile is private, it has very few image posts, or nothing in the captions looked like a product. Make the profile public, or import from your website / a PDF catalog instead. You can always add products by hand afterwards.

**Q: Do the prices come through?**

From websites and PDFs, usually yes. From Instagram only when the caption states a price clearly; otherwise the product is created at ₹0 so you can't accidentally sell it for the wrong amount. Check the Products tab before sharing your link.

**Q: Will my old store keep working?**

Yes. The importer only reads your source; it doesn't change, unpublish or redirect anything there. Switch over whenever you're ready by updating your Instagram bio link.

**Q: Can I import orders or customers?**

No — only products, photos and branding. Orders start fresh in your SitesPlaced store.

**Q: I already made my store. Can I still import my PDF?**

Yes. Open the store, go to Products and click Import. Choose the PDF (or a photo, your website or Instagram), tick the products you want, and they are added to that store. The importer on sitesplaced.com/import would make a second store instead.