You can create listings in three different ways:

1. The add product interface in Seller Center. This is easy, and it works well when creating stand-alone listings.

2. The variation wizard. If you are creating variation listings, you can pull up the parent in the Variation Wizard and add the basic info there (check out Level 1, using the Variation Wizard if you aren't familiar with it yet). You'll still have to fill out the template and add bullet points and images, but it'll fill in most of the info for you.

3. The blank flat file. This method works best when you're creating multiple variation listings and there is no existing parent. You can create the parent and the variations at the same time.