SKU's Duplicating Not Updating

[PHistoricSounds]

Hi,

I'm sure this has probably been covered before, but perhaps I'm using the wrong search terms in the forums?

The basic question is how do you update SKU's when new stock arrives?

When you go to import the excel file it says "Add new items and update your existing ones. Existing items will be revised, not deleted."

But the problem I'm having is it doesn't update existing items. When I import the excel file it Duplicates SKU's and creates a 2nd product?

The workaround is that I go through each list and update each existing products manually prior to uploading the "new" products, but sometimes I miss a couple (as I'm basically using my own memory) and quite frankly it's time-consuming, whereas a file upload would be much more efficient.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers 

Shane

[Seamus]

Hey @PHistoricSounds,

Thanks for getting in touch!

So I can understand a little more about what's happening, why exactly are you updating the SKU when new stock arrives? An SKU would generally be something like a barcode number, which will usually stay constant, as opposed to things like stock levels. If you're editing in a new SKU for an item then uploading that via a spreadsheet, I'm thinking the system doesn't want to overwrite the item listed under the old SKU (which is a unique identifier for the item), so instead creates an additional item for the new SKU/barcode.

If you're a record store (I googled your website, love what you've got going there!), you might typically change the SKU if you receive stock of an LP you've had in the past, but from a different label (with a different barcode).

So if you've got the older Southern Lord pressing of "Amplifier Worship" by Boris on the system already, and it comes back in stock, you'd ideally be updating stock levels only. But if you've instead received a shipment of the new pressing by Third Man Records (and you're entering a new SKU for the LP) I think what the system is doing is intentionally not overwriting that older item with the different SKU, instead noting you have two similar items that have different SKUs and listing them as such.

That said, let me know a bit more about why you're changing the SKU so I can better understand what's happening, if the above example doesn't help! Feel free to provide any examples/screenshots if you're able to and I'll try and work out what's going on 👍

Or let me know if I've got this completely wrong - if you're just attempting to add new item counts and the system is creating duplicate items with the exact same SKU it sounds like there is possibly a bug at play here.

[PHistoricSounds]

Thanks for your reply Seamus.

Maybe I haven't explained that right.

I want to update Quantities of the items and sometimes prices. I use Barcode Numbers as the SKU as it makes reordering easier.

Let use this example.

Last week I got 10 copies of the new Nick Cave album, I sell 8 pretty quickly so I order 5 more. If I import the file I get a duplicate of the original with 5 copies, while the original SKU has 2 copies. I also get a warning that there are duplicate SKU's. 

But my question is why doesn't it update the original and make 7 copies?

Like I said when I go to import the file it does say "Add new items and update your existing ones. Existing items will be revised, not deleted." But it's adding new ones not updating.

[Seamus]

Hey @PHistoricSounds,

Apologies I misinterpreted your original post!

When you say you ordered 5 more - was this done via creating a purchase order via Square? Would it be fair to say that the duplicate item is occurring based on what was entered for the purchase order?

It does sound like something is up here, but it's going to be difficult for me to get to the bottom of it via our forum - I'd say this one may require some further investigation by looking into your account and/or testing with your spreadsheets. You call support on 1800 760 137 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Melbourne time) or email via this form. Keep in mind we'll be closed on public holidays coming up so response times may be slower than normal.

Also happy to keep talking it through here in the meantime to try and get to the bottom of it!