Catalog

Create and edit catalog items

The catalog lists what your business sells and buys. A catalog item groups its variants: each variant is a sellable version of the item with its own SKU and price, such as the Jade single and the Jade six-pack of a Stone coaster.

Create a catalog item

1. Open Catalog, then select New item.
2. Enter the Item name and, if you like, a Description.
3. If the item comes in versions, add its options, such as Material and Packaging. See Set up options and classifications.
4. For the first variant, enter its SKU, variant name, online price and currency. Select Add variant for each other version.
5. If the item has options, choose one value of every option for each variant.
6. Select Create item.

The item opens beside the list. To sell or buy it through orders, set each variant’s stock source next; see Set a SKU’s stock source.

For example, Stone coaster could have the variants COAST-JADE-1 (Jade, Single, 8.00 USD) and COAST-JADE-6 (Jade, Six-pack, 42.00 USD).

Find a catalog item

Type in Search items or SKUs… at the top of Catalog. The search matches item names and SKUs, ignoring capital letters.

Each row shows up to three SKUs and how many more there are, the number of variants, the price range in each currency, how many variants have a stock source, the item’s role and status, and when it last changed. The list shows 100 items at a time; Load more items at the bottom shows the next set.

Edit a catalog item

1. Open the item from Catalog.
2. Select Edit.
3. Change the name, description, options or variants.
4. Select Save item.

If you close the editor with unsaved changes, Biosphere asks before discarding them.

Change a price in place

1. Open the item, then select Expand to full page.
2. In the variants table, type the new amount in the variant’s Online price, such as 39.99.
3. Press Enter or move to another field to save it. Press Escape to put back the saved amount.

You can change a price the same way on a variant’s own view. If your business uses an industry pack, its extra variant fields appear in the same table; money and yes/no fields are edited in place.

Open a variant

Select a variant’s SKU in the item’s Variants list. The variant opens inside its item, with its SKU, name, option values, online price, stock source and its own Activity. Use the back control at the top to return to the item.

Fix a duplicate item name

Catalog item names are unique in your business, ignoring capital letters and spaces at either end. If another item already has the name you enter, the editor shows An item with this name already exists in this business. Choose the existing item or enter a different name. beside the name.

• In Catalog, Open existing takes you to the item that has the name.
• When the editor opened from a selection field, such as an order line’s Variant, Select existing chooses that item’s first variant instead.

A matching name never combines two items. To combine duplicates, see Merge duplicate catalog items.

Create an item while adding an order line

1. In an order line’s Variant field, type the new item’s name.
2. When no item name or SKU matches, the list offers Create “Stone coaster” with the name you typed. Choose it to open the item editor with the name filled in.
3. Complete the item and select Create item.

The line’s Variant is set to the new item’s first variant.

What to know

• An item can have up to 100 variants and 12 options, and each option up to 100 values. Item names can be up to 300 characters, descriptions up to 5,000 and SKUs up to 200.
• SKUs are unique in your business, ignoring capital letters.
• A price is optional; a variant without one shows as Not priced. Each variant has its own currency, USD unless you change it.
• Order lines carry their own prices. Changing a catalog price never changes an existing order.
• Saved variants can’t be removed, and items can’t be deleted or archived on screen. Remove only clears a variant you haven’t saved yet. To combine two items, merge them.
• Items created on screen have the role Finished good. Role and status can’t be changed on screen; a catalog import that maps the item role can change it.
• A merged item says This item was merged. and links to the surviving item. It can’t be edited.