Hika mass product uploads - images

I'm setting up and am looking for a method for vendors to upload large volumes of items w/images. Can this be done en masse rather than incrementally? For example, if they have a database elsewhere containing all images, descriptions, etc. can we import from there for central updating or is there an API in the multivendor component?

Hi Jerome,
If we consider that in a multi-vendor environment the participating vendors probably list their images elsewhere, it makes sense that they would need/want a method to easily get images and other product info added. But once added, they need to maintain it as efficiently as possible.

For structure, I'd look at cXML because it's so commonly used. But for content I'd look at the ANSI EDI 832. Many attributes won't be applicable, but most will be useful.