diff --git a/includes/api/class-wc-api-products.php b/includes/api/class-wc-api-products.php
index 3e044aa4481..dc14d916eb7 100644
--- a/includes/api/class-wc-api-products.php
+++ b/includes/api/class-wc-api-products.php
@@ -207,11 +207,17 @@ class WC_API_Products extends WC_API_Resource {
 				throw new WC_API_Exception( 'woocommerce_api_invalid_product_type', sprintf( __( 'Invalid product type - the product type must be any of these: %s', 'woocommerce' ), implode( ', ', array_keys( wc_get_product_types() ) ) ), 400 );
 			}
 
-			// enable description html tags.
-			$post_content = ( isset( $data['enable_html_description'] ) && 'true' === $data['enable_html_description'] ) ? $data['description'] : wc_clean( $data['description'] );
+			// Enable description html tags.
+			$post_content = isset( $data['description'] ) ? wc_clean( $data['description'] ) : '';
+			if ( $post_content && isset( $data['enable_html_description'] ) && 'true' === $data['enable_html_description'] ) {
+				$post_content = $data['description'];
+			}
 
-			// enable short description html tags.
-			$post_excerpt = ( isset( $data['enable_html_short_description'] ) && 'true' === $data['enable_html_short_description'] ) ? $data['short_description'] : wc_clean( $data['short_description'] );
+			// Enable short description html tags.
+			$post_excerpt = isset( $data['short_description'] ) ? wc_clean( $data['short_description'] ) : '';
+			if ( $post_excerpt && isset( $data['enable_html_short_description'] ) && 'true' === $data['enable_html_short_description'] ) {
+				$post_excerpt = $data['short_description'];
+			}
 
 			$new_product = array(
 				'post_title'   => wc_clean( $data['title'] ),