Details on how ShipStation records information about your products and an overview of all the tabs within a product record.
ShipStation stores information about products from your selling channels in Product Records, which you can view in the Products tab.
The Products tab displays a list of your product records in the Product Grid. Each row in the Products Grid contains a single product record.
Product records allow you to:
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Track product sales across multiple selling channels in Insights
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Apply tags to products so orders containing those products automatically receive those tags
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Use automation features like Product Defaults and Preset Groups (product automation can apply shipping and customs information to orders when the orders import)
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Set SKU aliases and determine product types (standalone, parent, or variant)
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Monitor and adjust ShipStation inventory stock levels
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Create more meaningful reports by categorizing products.
You can view details about each product record in each product's Details screen. The Product Details contain the SKU and Name of the product, as well as any defaults and other options set for that product.
Click the product SKU, or double-click the product line item in the grid, to open the Product Details window.
ShipStation stores details about products in product records, which you can then use to do things like automatically set an order's shipment configuration or track the product's inventory stock levels.
Select a tab below to learn about the settings in the corresponding tab of your Product Details screen.
General
The General tab of the Product Details screen includes attributes like product description, image URL, product reporting category, and the order tags you may have assigned to the product record.
Refer to the list below for details on each General field or setting.
|
Field or Setting |
Description |
|---|---|
|
SKU |
ShipStation identifies each product record by its unique SKU. Once saved or imported, the SKU for a product record cannot be changed. |
|
Name |
The common name for the product that ShipStation will display in orders you create manually. You can change the Name for a product record in ShipStation at any time. If the Override the imported name setting is enabled, ShipStation will also display this name for orders imported from a store or CSV. |
|
Override imported name |
Enable this setting to display the product's name as entered in ShipStation instead of the name imported from a store or CSV. |
|
Product Type |
Identifies the Product Type as either Standalone, Parent, or Variant. |
|
Active |
Identifies whether the product is active in ShipStation. Inactive products will not trigger any automation actions or inventory tracking. |
|
Description |
A short description of the product. While this field is not used for any automation in ShipStation, it can be used to provide information to your shipping staff. |
|
Image URL |
A URL for an image to override the default image pulled from the selling channel. ShipStation can display the image linked in the URL in Order Details, confirmation emails, branded tracking and returns pages, and on packing slips. |
|
Reporting Category |
Designate the Product Category for your product records to assist in product-based reports, organizing products, and better reporting. This field is not used for any automation in ShipStation. |
|
Order Tags |
Order Tags assigned to product records will automatically tag orders that include the product. You can then filter orders by tags to quickly identify special types of orders or use tags to trigger automation rules. |
|
UPC |
You can enter your products' Universal Product Codes (UPC) which can then be used for ShipStation's Scan to Verify feature and printed on packing slips. The UPC field does not apply any automation in ShipStation. |
|
Returnable |
When checked, this setting determines whether or not a product is eligible for returns initiated by a customer when using the Branded Return Portal. |
Shipping
The Shipping tab of the Product Details screen allows you to set the default domestic and international service, package type, confirmation, weight, and dimensions you wish to apply to an order that contains this product. It also includes the Warehouse Location and Fulfillment SKU fields for the product.
Defaults apply only to single-item products!
Defaults set in the Product Details Shipping tab will apply to orders that contain only that product. This means that if other products are present on the order, the defaults will not apply (the Weight default is the notable exception to this rule).
Additionally, the selections for carrier, service, confirmation, and dimensions will only apply to the order if the item has a quantity of 1.
Need to automate the shipping service for multi-item orders? You can do this using Service Mapping or Automation Rules.
Refer to the list below for details on each Shipping field or setting.
|
Field or Setting |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Preset Group |
Create Preset Groups if many of your items should use the same Shipping defaults. Preset Groups allow you to quickly assign the same settings to multiple products. |
|
Domestic |
Sets the default shipping service, package, and confirmation type to the order when the destination is considered domestic. Only applies to single-item orders. |
|
International |
Sets the default shipping service, package, and confirmation type to the order when the destination is considered international. Only applies to single-item orders. |
|
Weight |
This field sets the weight for a single quantity of the product. For multi-quantity or multi-item orders, ShipStation will calculate the weight for all items in the order and insert the total into the order's Weight field. |
|
Dimensions |
Sets the length, width, and height for a shipment. Only applies to single-item orders. |
|
Warehouse Location |
The product's physical location in your warehouse. This information will appear on Pick Lists by default and can be added to customized packing slips. The product warehouse location is not the same as the Inventory Warehouse Location that appears on inventory reports. |
|
Fulfilment SKU |
The SKU sent to the fulfilment centre to identify the product when using the Send to Fulfilment feature. |
Customs
The Customs tab of the Product Details screen allows you to set the default customs declarations for international shipments that include this product.
Refer to the list below for details on each Customs field or setting.
|
Field or Setting |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Do not create customs |
If this option is enabled, ShipStation will not add the product's customs details to the shipment's customs declaration fields. |
|
Description |
A short description that overrides the product description imported from the selling channel. This is useful if the imported product description is too long for a customs form. |
|
Declared Value |
The monetary value of the product for customs purposes. |
|
Harmonization Code |
The identification code used by a customs office to classify a product. Adding a harmonization code (also known as a Tariff Schedule) can help expedite the delivery of the shipment. Learn more about Harmonization Codes in our Customs Declarations help article. |
|
Origin Country |
Select a country of origin (the country where the product was created) from the drop-down. |
The customs defaults set here will only apply to orders if your account is set to create customs declarations based on items in an order. ShipStation is set to do this by default.
This option is available in Settings > Shipping > Internal Settings. The Custom Declaration option should be set to Create Declarations from order items.
Aliases
Aliases are typically used by multi-channel sellers who sell the same products on different channels, but use different SKU values for each store.
Product aliases allow you to link a single product record in ShipStation to multiple different SKU values from different stores. Use aliases if you have multiple SKUs from different stores that should be considered one SKU in ShipStation for reporting and product setting purposes.
Choose the Add Alias option to add a SKU as an alias for this product. Orders that import with the alias SKU will inherit this product record's defaults when the order imports.
Alternatively, ShipStation will add an alias SKU to a product if you Combine product records to merge multiple products together.
Alias SKU Example
Your prized product has sold on your personal Shopify site for years: a 16oz jar of Peter's Peppers & Pickles (SKU PPP001). You have already set up product automation for it in ShipStation. You decide to sell the same product on Amazon, but find that SKU PPP001 is already in use by another company. To avoid confusion with search engines, you opt to give the product a SKU of PPP-JAR16OZ so it stands out a little more.
Because of your historic Shopify orders, there's already a product record for SKU PPP001 in ShipStation. However, since Amazon is going to send a different SKU, PPP-JAR16OZ, ShipStation won't recognize it as the same product.
To remedy this issue, add PPP-JAR16OZ as an alias in the product details window for SKU PPP001. This will tell ShipStation it is the same product and to use the product automation you have already set up for SKU PPP001.
Inventory
The Inventory tab displays inventory stock levels for products if you use ShipStation's internal inventory feature. It also provides the ability to modify the stock levels for an individual product and add additional warehouse locations.
Refer to the list below for details on each Inventory field or setting.
|
Field or Setting |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Do Not Track Inventory |
Check this option if you do not wish to use internal inventory tracking for an individual item. |
|
Reorder Threshold |
When stock levels reach this quantity, an alert will appear in the Products Grid for this item. |
|
Add to Alternative Location |
Add inventory warehouse locations to the product record and set the stock levels for each location. |
Activity
Arrange the column headers by click-and-drag to sort grid information according to type (Name, SKU, Alias, Tags, Active, Warehouse Location, or other order information). Scroll the screen left or right to view all columns.
Click the title text (e.g., Name, SKU, or Weight) in a column header to sort that column's contents in either ascending or descending order (alphabetical, chronological).