Merging and Linking Products & Quantities

Overview

In this guide, we will show you how to manually merge your products, or link quantities, on Expandly, to ensure accurate stock levels when sales orders import, or quantities are updated. 

What is merging and linking? 

If you have a product that appears differently on each of your sales channels (i.e. because of a different SKU, product title or variation option), when importing your listings to Expandly, we will not recognise that this is the same product, and will create separate products within Expandly based on each listing. 

To avoid overselling, where products are the same but appear differently, you can manually merge products, or link quantities, to ensure quantities are automatically adjusted when sales orders import or stock levels are changed. 

There are 3 merge and link options available:

1. Product Merge - This would be used if you sell an individual product (with no variations), and this has a different SKU or product title on different sales channels.

2. Variation Merge - If a product with variations has different SKUs or product titles on different sales channels, you'll need to do a variation merge

3. Linking Quantities - You will be required to link quantities if your products appears on one sales channel as part of a variation, and on another sales channel individually.

For example:

I sell pink socks, one size fits all, under SKU 123 on Amazon and SKU 321 on eBay. I'll need to do a product merge to link the quantities.

I sell blue socks with variations (adult or kids), under SKUs 12A and 12K on Amazon, and SKUs 21A and 21K on eBay. I'll need to do a variation merge to link the quantities.

I sell yellow socks with variations (adult or kids) under SKUs 13A and 13K on Amazon, but I only sell kids yellow socks on eBay (13K). I'll need to link quantities to to link the quantities.

Thing to note before merging products:

Before merging products and variations, it's important to note:

• If using Amazon, select the Amazon product as the primary product. Their quantity updates works based on SKU so if this is removed from the product during the merging process, this will cause issues with inventory updates.
• If merging variations, ensure attributes are an exact match across channels. If they do not match, we recommend linking the quantities instead. 
• You can only merge a maximum of 2x variation products together. If you need to merge more than 2x variations together, our recommendation will be to manually link this together instead. 
• Once Product and Variation Merges have been saved on Expandly, only the primary product selected will appear on your Expandly account. The other product/variations will be merged into the primary product and listings will become linked based on this merge. 
• Product/Variation merges are irreversible. Once merged, you will not be able to unmerge the products/Listings on Expandly and will instead be required to delete the product(s) from Expandly and reimport to reimport the separate products and listings into Expandly

Merging products on Expandly

1. Click Products & Listings (left menu) and then Manage Products:

2. On the Manage Products page, find and select the products that you wish to merge together using the search bar or filters:

3. Click (top right) and select from the following:

Product Merge - Linking a product without variations that has a different SKU or product title

Variation Merge - Linking a product with variations that has different SKUs or product titles

4. If Product Merge is selected, on the Merge Products page, select the primary product and click

5. Confirm that the merge does not infringe the rules of your sales channels by clicking

6. On the Editing Product page, make changes (if required) to product details and then click (top right). From here you can select from the following:

Save - Product merge and changes will be saved on Expandly only.

Save & List Now - This option will allow you to save the merge and also get the product (if not already) listed online.

Save & Revise - This will save the merge and will also allow you to push out any product changes you have made, to listings that already exist. 

7. If Variation Merge is selected on the Warning popup, click (this is a warning to recommend that you link quantities instead of merge if attributes are not similar across the products)

8. On the Merge Products page, select the primary product and click

9. On the Map your Variations pop up, map your variations accordingly, using the dropdown. Once complete, click

10. Confirm that the merge does not infringe the rules of your sales channels by clicking

11. On the Editing Product page, make changes (if required) to product details and then click (top right). From here you can select from the following:

Save - Product merge and changes will be saved on Expandly only.

Save & List Now - This option will allow you to save the merge and also get the product (if not already) listed online.

Save & Revise - This will save the merge and will also allow you to push out any product changes you have made, to listings that already exist. 

Linking quantities on Expandly

1. Click Products & Listings (left menu) and then Manage Products:

2. On the Manage Products page, find and select the products that you wish to link together using the search bar or filters:

3. Click (top right) and select

4. On the Link Quantities pop up, select the product and variations you wish to link together (variations can be viewed by clicking the icon):

5. In the Total Quantity field, add the quantity and click

6. Once you have saved the manual link, you will be able to view linked products on your Manage Products page - These are identifiable by the linked icon, or alternatively you can apply a filter to show any 'Linked Quantity' that exist on your account:

Please Note: You are unable to add additional products/SKUs to an existing link in Expandly. In this scenario, if you need to add more products to the link, you will be required to unlink the quantities and re-link together, including all SKUs you wish to control stock levels across. 

Updating Linked Quantities

1. Click Products & Listings (left menu) and then Manage Products:

2. On the Manage Products page, find and select the products that you wish to unlink using the search bar or filters.

3. Click on the linked icon

4. On the Update or Unlink Quantities pop up, make the required changes and click to save.

Unlinking Quantities

1. Click Products & Listings (left menu) and then Manage Products:

2. On the Manage Products page, find and select the products that you wish to unlink using the search bar or filters.

3. Click on the linked icon

4. On the Update or Unlink Quantities pop up, click

Need more help?

If you need a little extra help, no problem. Contact us, and we'll be happy to help. 

Multi-Channel eCommerce Software | Expandly