Catalog Manager: Other Tools
In this help doc, we will go over all the other tools you can find within your Catalog Manager.
Table of Contents:
- Catalog Filter vs. Builder Mode
- Creating Tags
- Product Customizations
- Unlinking SKUs and Products
- Download Product Catalog
- Category Filter Sidebar
Catalog Filter vs. Builder Mode
See Catalog Manager: Builder vs. Filter Mode
Creating Tags
Product Customizations
Some suppliers offer limited product descriptions. Maybe you want to indicate that some items are on sale this week by adding special verbiage in the product title. Or perhaps you want to replace an existing image with a more attractive image that will grab your buyers' attention. Check out the following video to learn how you can customize the products in your Store Catalog:
Product Details that can be customized included:
Titles | Descriptions | Images |
UPCs | ISBNs | ASINs |
Manufacturer/ID | Weight | Length |
Height | Width | Firearm (Y/N) |
Supported Sales Channels:Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce API, Magento API, Amazon (ASINs only) and GunBroker.
You can customize products either in the Product Queue or in the Store Catalog. Once your products have been customized and added to the Store Catalog, you will see the changes reflected after your next scheduled update runs.
Bulk Customizations
If you need to customize a large number of products at once, you can create a .csv file and upload it to the Catalog instead of manually going through each individual product and updating those one at a time. To access this tool, you'll need to access your Catalog Rules and select the Bulk tab:
Here you can upload your .csv file. There is a template provided under the "Bulk" tab that you can download and edit to use as a guide to creating your product file. Note that the file size should not exceed 10MB.
Modifying ASINs
When products are loaded to Amazon, they are loaded by UPC and Amazon then assigns product details to the loaded product. No matter what data we send to Amazon they will load their own data if they have the UPC stored in their database. In some cases Amazon "assigns" the product you've loaded to the wrong Amazon ASIN. An Amazon ASIN is the unique identification number that Amazon has created for internally identifying products.
This is more common in products that come in different sizes and variations of the products. For example, Amazon can often have the same UPC stored for a pair of standard binoculars, the XL binoculars that are more expensive, and the combo pack that is much more expensive. More specifically, Amazon will take the UPC and choose an ASIN that it has determined to be most fitting.
If you find that your product has been assigned an incorrect ASIN in Amazon, you can reconcile this using the product customization tool.
For instance, if I added a product with only one bottle of cleaning solution, I may find that the current UPC is matching to an Amazon ASIN associated with the two-pack of the same product. This can cause confusion and frustration for both you and your customers:
To correct this grab the ASIN associated with the 1 count item (you can usually pull this straight from Amazon) and plug it in to the ASIN field in the product that you want to update:
Be sure to save your changes when finished. You'll see the ASIN matches up correctly once the next update runs.
Adding Variations
We make it simple to group variations of a product together in one singular listing. We also give you the option to pick and choose which variations you want to include in the product listing. See the video below to learn how to add variations of a product to your Store Catalog:
*Note that some suppliers may not support variations in their feeds.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- When will I see the changes on my store? Your changes will be reflected after your next update runs.
- Do I need to schedule a full update to make these changes? No. Your standard update will push the changes.
- I've customized my products. Why are they not updated on my site?You may not be integrated with a platform that supports product customizations.
- When editing a product with variations, do I have to edit each associated child product? No. Your customizations will apply across the board for all variations of a product.
- Why would I need to change my ASINs?In some cases Amazon "assigns" the product you've loaded to the wrong Amazon ASIN. Adding the correct ASIN to a product will ensure your products are being accurately listed on Amazon.
Unlinking SKUs and Products
Do you want to keep an item on your store, but out of your feed?
There may be some situations where you might want to "unlink" one or more SKUs from a supplier feed so that they no longer receive updates from our automated syncing jobs.
Possible reasons you may want to do this:
- You might keep your own physical inventory for one or more SKUs.
- You might need to handle certain SKUs manually.
- You might be using a third party tool to manage specific SKUs.
You have the option within your catalog manager to turn the unlink feature on or off. Here are a few things you should know first:
- The feature is turned on/off at the individual feed level. Meaning if you turn it on or off for one feed, it only applies to that feed.
- You will NOT have the ability to unlink a SKU until the feature is turned on.
- Unlinking a SKU will prevent Inventory Source from performing any updates (including deactivation) to that SKU on your platform.
- If an unlinked SKU already exists on your platform it will not be deactivated or removed once unlinked, it will simply be left alone.
- If an unlinked SKU doesn't yet exist on your platform it will never be uploaded via our automated processes.
- You can only unlink SKUs from your feed tab. Meaning, you will not see the option to unlink in your Queue or My Catalog.
- You can unlink AND relink SKUs on a per product, page, and bulk action level.
To enable the unlinking feature start by finding the Catalog Rules button. (In the inventory feed that you what to unlink products)
Go to the Controls tab and find the OFF/ON toggle for the "Enable Unlinking Products" setting. Once you turn it on, you will immediately have the option to unlink products in your feed view. Close your Catalog Rules and go to your Feed View.
Within your feed view, search for the product(s) you want to unlink. (Remember: You can only unlink products from within the feed view, not your Queue or My Catalog). Once you see the product(s) on the list, you can then select (with the checkbox) "all" on the page or just selected products. (In this example we are selecting more than one product, but in your case, you might only be interested in one product).
Once you have the product(s) selected click the blue "i" button to present the option to unlink. Then go ahead and click Unlink.
Once you have unlinked the product(s) you will see their status change to an orange Unlinked icon.
You can easily find all of your unlinked products (per feed) by selecting the Unlinked button from the Feed View Mode.
Don't worry if you unlinked a product by mistake. You can easily Relink the product by selecting the blue "i" button to present the option to Relink the product. (You can relink more than one product at a time in the same manner as unlinking more than one at a time).
If you want to disable the unlinking feature, go back to the Controls tab within your Catalog Rules. Find the "Enable Unlinking Products" setting and click OFF. When you do this, you will be presented with a warning to ensure you don't turn it off unintentionally. This is because turning this feature off when you already have unlinked products will relink all of those products. (Not a big deal if it's only one or a few products, but could be a real headache if you have a lot of products unlinked).
You will need to type in all caps OVERWRITE in the indicated field and click Disable Unlinking. The disable unlinking butting with remain grayed out until you have correctly typed in OVERWRITE.
If you clicked OFF by mistake or decide that you don't want to relink all the products, you can simply click cancel (below the Disable Unlinking button)
Download Product Catalog
There are several scenarios when you may want to download your product catalog or access a "live feed link" to your catalog in a CSV file format. You have two options when it comes to accessing this kind of file export.
See also: How can I export a copy of my entire Store Catalog?
1. Export via your Catalog Manager: All integrations come with the ability to download a CSV file of your product catalog.
2. Access a "Live Feed Link": In order to access a live link to your product catalog, you'll need to purchase the "IS Auto Export" platform when adding an integration.
See below for more details on how to access these product catalog files via these two methods.
1. Export via your Catalog Manager
To export your product catalog via the Catalog Manager, first click on Catalog Rules.
Then, click on the "Bulk" tab.
Here, you'll see where you can export your whole Store Catalog. An email will be sent to the main email on your account when the export has completed.
2. Automated Export Integration
The IS Auto Export platform is an additional integration that provides automated exports of your catalog that you can download via a link.
First, you have to add an integration to the IS Auto Export. You can learn how to add additional integrations here.
To obtain your automated export, go to the Catalog Manager of the integration and click "View Export" in the top right corner.
Here, you'll be able to see where you can either copy or download the link to your catalog export file.
How many times per day can I download the export file in my Catalog Manager?
You will be able to export your Store Catalog at a maximum of 2 times per day and is a snapshot of the data we have at the moment you initiate an export.
How often is the IS Auto Export file updated?
The IS Auto Export platform runs updates in the standard 2 times per day, just like other platforms. However, if you are on a plan that offers optimized sync, the export will update as often as the supplier allows.
Is the IS Auto Export a whole new integration?
Yes. The IS Auto Export is just like adding a new integration.