Catalog Machine

Catalog Machine — Product Catalog & Showroom Software

Catalog Machine is an all-in-one platform for building professional product catalogs and online showrooms. Here's a quick tour of what it can do.

Catalog Machine is a B2B SaaS platform for creating professional product catalogs and showrooms.

Primary Features

1. Product Management

  • Import from Shopify, CSV, or manual entry
  • Product categories define field structure
  • Product collections for organization
  • Multiple images per product, variants support

2. Catalog Designer

  • Drag-and-drop page builder with canvas, sidebar (elements/products/settings), toolbar
  • Product Cards for consistent layouts, reusable across catalogs
  • Page types: Standard Page, AutoGrid (multi-page product grids), Product List (tabular data), Table of Contents, Sub Catalog (embed another catalog)
  • Starting options: Templates, Layouts, Blank, or AutoGrid
  • Settings: Page size (A4/Letter/Custom), PDF options (margins, compression, original images), headers/footers with dynamic fields ({{Page Number}}, {{Name}}), viewer customization
  • Preview, PDF export, and online interactive catalog publishing
  • Duplicate catalogs to create variations (pages are independent, products/cards are shared)

3. Product Showrooms

  • Live product microsite (auto-updating)
  • Customer-driven search and filtering
  • Optional ordering with Stripe payments
  • Embeddable in existing websites

4. Integrations

  • Shopify: One-way import, manual or scheduled re-import
  • Stripe: Payment processing for showroom/catalog orders
  • Zapier: Automation workflows (Triggers: New Order, Product Updated; Actions: Create/Update Product, Sync Shopify)
  • CSV Import/Export: Bulk operations
  • PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Etsy, eBay, Magento: Available in V1 only — see "Features Available in V1 Only" article

User Workflows

Setup: Import products → Organize with categories/collections → Create Product Cards → Build catalog (Designer or AutoGrid) → Configure Showroom → Share (online link or PDF)

Ordering: Customer browses Showroom → Adds to cart → Submits order or pays via Stripe → Business receives notification → Process in system

Key Concepts

Products: Core inventory with customizable fields, multiple images, and variants (size, color options).

Categories: Define product structure (ONE category per product). Category determines available fields.

Collections: Organizational groupings (products can belong to MULTIPLE collections). Use for filtering and organization.

Product Cards: Reusable design templates with field placeholders ({{Name}}, {{Price}}). Define once, use everywhere.

Catalogs: Curated, page-based presentations. Fixed layout with designed pages, PDF export, interactive viewer.

Showrooms: Live, searchable product microsites with product selection by category/collection. Customer-driven discovery, real-time updates, optional ordering.

Product Expressions: Dynamic content syntax using {{FieldName}} placeholders for product data in cards, catalogs, and showrooms.

Parameters: Dynamic placeholders for shared content — formatted product fragments with expressions, currency rates for prices, shared images. Can vary per catalog or product category.

Catalog vs Showroom: Catalog = curated selection (designed, controlled). Showroom = live product site (comprehensive, customer-driven).

Showroom Configuration

Setup Path: Showrooms > Select showroom > Configure tabs

Essential Settings:

  • Properties: Name, permalink, privacy level, orders on/off
  • Products: Select which products to include (by category, collection, or individual)
  • Display: Navigation style (categories/collections), theme, branding colors
  • Cards: Design how products appear in list and detail views
  • Content: Home page message, custom pages (About, Contact, Terms)

Ordering & Payments:

  • Enable orders in Properties tab
  • Payment options: Request only, Stripe (credit cards, Apple/Google Pay), or both
  • Setup Stripe: Settings > Integrations > Connect Stripe > Enable in showroom
  • Manage orders: Products > Orders (view, process, export)

Embedding & Sharing:

  • Direct link: www.catalogmachine.com/<namespace>/showroom (see Catalog Site Namespace under Account below)
  • Embed in website: Enable in Properties tab, copy iframe code
  • Privacy: Public, Direct Link Only, Password Protected, Closed

Multiple Showrooms: Create separate showrooms for different product lines, customer segments (wholesale vs retail), regional markets, or seasonal collections. Each has independent product selection, branding, pricing, and privacy.

FAQ

Pricing & Plans

  • Free: 20 products, 2 catalogs, 10 MB storage, 1 user, 5 variants/product, a small monthly AI credit allocation. No time limit while you keep using it
  • Lite: $19/month - 100 products, 5 catalogs, 100 MB, 1 user, 500 variants/product, monthly AI credits included
  • Pro: $49+/month - Configurable (500-6,000 products, 10-30 catalogs, 1-5 GB, 2-6 users), 500 variants/product, larger monthly AI credit allocation
    • Pro monthly price by product limit (base 10 catalogs, 1 GB, 2 users): 500 products = $49 · 1,000 = $59 · 2,000 = $79 · 4,000 = $119 · 6,000 = $149 ($0.02 per product above 500)
    • Pro add-ons on top: +$1 per catalog above 10 (20 catalogs = +$10, 30 = +$20) · +$5 per GB above 1 GB (2 GB = +$5, 5 GB = +$20) · +$5 per user above 2 (4 users = +$10, 6 = +$20)
  • Premium: $199/month - 10,000 products, 50 catalogs, 10 GB, 10 users, 500 variants/product, the largest monthly AI credit allocation
  • Variants per product: Free = 5, all paid plans = 500.
  • Save 40% with annual billing. Upgrade/downgrade/cancel anytime.

AI Credits

AI Concierge (product imports, catalog generation, AI data editing) runs on credits. Credits are billed in dollars — e.g. a typical Concierge session costs about $1 – $5, and bigger imports cost more.

  • Monthly allocation — included with every plan, larger on higher plans; the exact amount is shown when choosing a plan. Resets on the 1st of each month; unused monthly credits do not roll over.
  • Top-ups — purchase additional credits on top of your monthly allocation (packs in several sizes, often with bonus credits). Top-up credits never expire and roll over between months.
  • When exhausted — options: buy a top-up (quick, keeps current plan), or upgrade plan (more monthly credits + higher platform limits).
  • Free plan welcome bonus — new users get an additional one-time bonus when they first use Concierge. Bonus amount varies by region.
  • What uses credits — only AI Concierge. Manual add/edit, CSV import, Shopify sync, catalog design without AI, and AI Help (support chat) are free and don't consume credits.
  • Receipts for top-ups — go to Account → Billing → AI Credit Purchases. Every credit purchase is listed there with a Receipt link to its Stripe receipt. Credit packs are one-time payments, so they do not appear on your subscription invoices or in the Stripe billing portal, which is where people usually look first. If your plan is billed through Shopify, your credit purchases appear on your Shopify invoice instead.

Product limits = total products in account. Same products reusable across catalogs.

Inactive Free accounts: a Free account that has never had a paid plan is removed after 20 days without a login. A warning email goes out first, and logging in within 10 days of it keeps the account. A Free account that has had a paid plan before (for example, cancelled back to Free) gets a year (366 days) without a login before that warning. Paid and Parked accounts are never removed for inactivity, and logging in at any point resets the clock.

Check plan/invoices: Account > Billing (current plan, usage, limits, payment history).

Refund policy: Two different cases. Never mix them, and never predict the outcome of either.

  • Subscription charges (plan payments): if a user wants a refund, tell them to ask and that a person will look at their account and reply either way, so the user does not need to work out which case they are in. Do not quote a day-count, decide eligibility, or say what the answer will probably be: you cannot see the charge date, and this applies to renewals as well as first charges.
  • AI credit purchases (credit top-ups): credits are prepaid and purchases are final. Credits never expire and any unused balance stays on the account, but they are not refundable or exchangeable for cash. Call get_credit_balance and tell the user what they actually have left before saying anything else - a user who says credits were "lost" usually still has a balance. Then offer to help them get value from it. If they still want a person to review the charge, say a person will look and reply either way. Never promise a refund and never say one will probably be approved.

Support

  • Chat support: In-app (bottom-right corner)
  • Schedule call: catalogmachine.com/contact/booking
  • AI Copilot: Ask questions directly in-app
  • Help center: help.catalogmachine.com

Account

Multiple users: Account > Users — add team members with Admin, Editor, or Viewer roles. Limits vary by plan.

Catalog Site Namespace — your public web address. The namespace is the slug in every link you share:

catalogmachine.com/<namespace>/catalogs/<catalog>.html   ← catalogs (and .pdf)
catalogmachine.com/<namespace>/showroom                  ← showroom
catalogmachine.com/<namespace>/embed/showroom            ← embed code

To change it: Account > Business > Catalog Site Namespace (edit the field, Save). The read-only "Your Catalog Site Address" box directly below shows the resulting URL. Letters, numbers, and dashes; it must be unique across Catalog Machine.

⚠️ Changing it breaks every link you have already shared — existing catalog links, showroom links, embed codes, and QR codes all stop working, and PDFs already downloaded keep the old address. Re-send the new links to anyone who has the old ones. Change it early, or not at all.

Namespace is NOT the Business Name — two separate fields, both on Account > Business. Business Name is display text (headers, footers, showroom branding, the {{Business Name}} field); the namespace is the URL only. Fixing one does not change the other — a corrected business name still leaves the old spelling in every link. If a name is still showing the old version, check where you are seeing it: in the URL or permalink it is the namespace; on a page it is either the Business Name field or text typed directly into the design (re-publishing won't fix text that was typed in by hand).

Cancel: Account > Billing > Plan tab. Scroll to the bottom; the red CANCEL YOUR PLAN button is in the Free plan row (below the paid tier cards). Canceling switches you to the Free plan right away (data kept, Free plan limits apply, no further charge); to use time you have already paid for, cancel just before your renewal date instead. Alternative: Park your account to keep catalogs and data live for a small fee.

Pause instead (Park plan): Not ready to cancel but want a break? Users can park the account instead. The Park plan keeps the account and all data (catalogs, products, line sheets, price lists) safe and ready indefinitely for a small monthly or yearly fee, so they can return anytime. Park is offered inside the cancellation flow, not as a card on the plan grid: click Cancel Plan, choose a reason, then on the Options step pick Park your account (the monthly and yearly price are shown there). Parking is not the same as cancelling to Free, which keeps the account under Free limits and removes it after a year with no login; parking preserves everything with no inactivity limit.

Close (delete) the account: Account > Admin tab > red Close account button (account admins only). A paid plan must be cancelled to Free first; the button stays disabled until then. The dialog has two steps (a warning, then a short survey and Close My Account and Delete All Data). This permanently deletes all catalogs, products, images and showrooms and cannot be undone. When someone asks to delete their account, give this path directly; Park is an option for someone cancelling a paid plan, not a substitute for a deletion they asked for.