Amazon Error 90117: Fix Character Limit Exceeded

Error 90117 is one of the most common rejections Amazon returns when you upload a flat file. The full message reads: “The value provided exceeds the maximum character limit for this attribute.” In plain terms, a text field in your spreadsheet is longer than Amazon allows for that column, and the entire row is rejected until you shorten it.

The fix is straightforward once you know which field is over the limit and what the limit actually is. This guide covers the character caps that trip sellers up most often, the byte-vs-character distinction that catches out backend search terms, and how to check your content before uploading so the error never fires.

What Error 90117 means

Amazon validates every cell in your flat file against a maximum length defined in the template's Data Definitions tab. When a value exceeds that cap, the upload fails for that SKU with Error 90117. The error applies to any text attribute: titles, bullet points, descriptions, search terms, or category-specific fields like flavour_name or target_audience_keyword.

A single SKU can trigger the error on multiple fields at once. The processing summary usually identifies the offending attribute, but if it only gives the error code and SKU, you will need to check each text field manually. For a broader look at flat file rejections, see our flat file errors guide.

Character limits that cause Error 90117 most often

These are the fields where sellers most frequently exceed the limit. The exact cap can vary by category, so treat these as the general maximums and always verify against your own template.

Product title (item_name)

The technical maximum is 200 characters, but Amazon recommends keeping titles under 80 characters. As of July 2026, Amazon enforces a 75-character cap on many categories and will automatically rewrite titles that exceed it. If your title triggers Error 90117, it is almost certainly over the category-specific limit, not just the 200-character ceiling. Our 75-character title limit guide covers this in detail.

Bullet points (bullet_point / generic_keyword)

Each of the five bullet points (key product features) allows up to 500 characters in most categories. Some categories cap bullets at 250 characters. Sellers who write long, paragraph-style bullets or paste in marketing copy from a product page frequently hit this limit.

Backend search terms (generic_keywords)

The limit is 250 bytes, not 250 characters. This distinction matters because non-ASCII characters, such as accented letters (e, u, a), umlauts, or characters from non-Latin scripts, consume two to four bytes each. A search terms field that looks like 230 characters in Excel might actually be 280 bytes once Amazon counts the multibyte characters. See our backend search terms guide for the full rules on what to include and how to stay under the byte limit.

Product description (product_description)

The standard limit is 2,000 characters. This is rarely the field that causes Error 90117 unless you are pasting in HTML-formatted descriptions from another platform, where the markup tags count toward the character total.

Generic keywords and other category fields

Fields like target_audience_keyword, subject_keyword, and platinum_keywords each have their own limits that vary by product type. The only reliable source is the Data Definitions tab in the template you downloaded from Seller Central for your specific category.

Why byte count matters for search terms

Amazon measures backend search terms in bytes, not characters. Standard ASCII characters (English letters, numbers, spaces) use one byte each. But accented characters common in European languages use two bytes, and characters from East Asian scripts can use three or four bytes.

This catches sellers who list across multiple European marketplaces. A German search term containing words like “Kuhlschrank” (with the umlaut u) or a French term with accented vowels will use more bytes than a plain English equivalent of the same visible length. If you sell in the UK and EU, count bytes, not characters.

How to check character counts before uploading

Catching over-limit fields before you upload saves a round trip with Amazon and avoids the processing delay of a rejected file. Here are three ways to check.

Excel: the LEN and LENB functions

For character counts, add a column next to each text field with the formula =LEN(D7) (adjusting the cell reference to your data). This returns the number of characters including spaces.

For byte counts on the search terms field, use =LENB(D7) in Excel on Windows. On Mac, LENB counts characters rather than bytes in some versions. A more reliable cross-platform approach is to save the cell contents to a UTF-8 text file and check the file size in bytes.

Google Sheets

Google Sheets' LEN function counts characters. There is no built-in LENB equivalent for byte counting. For search terms, use the formula =SUMPRODUCT(IF(CODE(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1))>127,2,1)) as a rough byte estimate for text that mixes ASCII and two-byte characters.

Let your tooling enforce limits

Manual counting works but does not scale when you manage dozens of SKUs. Rufusly enforces character limits automatically during the rewrite process, flagging any field that would exceed the cap before you ever touch a flat file.

How to fix Error 90117

Once you know which field is over the limit, the fix is to shorten the content. That sounds obvious, but how you shorten it matters.

1. Identify the offending field. Check the processing summary for the attribute name. If it is not listed, compare every text field in the rejected row against the limits in your template's Data Definitions tab.
2. Prioritise the most important information. For titles, lead with brand name, product type, and the one or two details a buyer needs to click (size, quantity, colour). For bullets, put the strongest benefit first.
3. Remove filler. Words like “premium quality,” “perfect for,” and “great for” consume characters without adding searchable value. Cut them first.
4. Move keywords to backend search terms. If trimming a title means losing important keywords, add them to the generic_keywords field instead. They are still indexed for search but do not need to be visible to the buyer.
5. Re-check the byte count for search terms. After editing, verify the field is under 250 bytes, not just 250 characters.

Why shorter is often better

Amazon's own Style Guide recommends concise, readable titles and bullets. Keyword stuffing was a viable tactic years ago, but Amazon now penalises listings with unreadable titles, and the A10 algorithm weighs click-through rate and conversion more heavily than raw keyword density. A clear, scannable listing that converts well will outrank a bloated one that gets scrolled past.

The 75-character title enforcement that rolled out in July 2026 is a clear signal of where Amazon is heading. Writing to fit character limits is not just about avoiding Error 90117. It is about writing listings that perform.