thread Re: Variations showing in store that do not exist on the item in Feedback Discussions

Variations showing in store that do not exist on the item

lisa_n — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 03:33:23 GMT

In my online store, I have item variations showing (and showing "out of stock") that don't actually exist on the item (they were variations that existed at one time, but some not for a very long time). Below, the left shows what we see in our online store, the items outlined in red do not exist on the item. The actual items are on the right.

Items in red should not be showing Actual variations on the item

Re: Variations showing in store that do not exist on the item

Donnie-M — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:21:07 GMT

@lisa_n I have encountered these "ghost" variations, and I think they are bug linked to where an item was upgraded as square has upgraded over time. What I have done to fix it is.."Duplicate" the item, save it. Then you should have 2 exact copies, but I think this will clear the ghost variations on the 2nd item. You can then delete the first one, and rename the copy to the same name as it was, and that should get rid of it.

Square may want to bump this up to let engineering look at it unless I have missed a post. It could be anything, something to do with archiving, item getting updated in the catalog in 2 places at same time, etc. I am not sure what the trigger is for this just yet.

Re: Variations showing in store that do not exist on the item

lisa_n — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 20:17:12 GMT

Thank you @Donnie-M! I just had a chance to try this now and making a duplicate of the original has solved the problem. Agreed that Square should investigate why it happens in the first place & resolve. Thanks again for the suggestion!