You can add a single product to your Acenda catalog straight from the admin, without preparing an import file. This guide walks you through creating the item, adding its details, and getting it ready to sell on your sales channels.
To add many products at once, use the Import feature instead.
Before you start: products and variants. Every item in Acenda has a Group. A variant is a sellable item with its own SKU, barcode, price and stock. Use it for standalone products too. A product is a parent that groups related variants together, such as one T-shirt in several sizes and colors. Parents aren't sold on their own, so they have no barcode, inventory or price. For more detail, see How to Use the Group Attribute to Set Products and Variants.
Step 1: Create the item
In the sidebar, under CATALOG, click Items.
Click + New Item in the top right.
Under Item Details, fill in:
Name (required): The product title.
Brand
Group: Choose variant (item) for a standalone product or a single variation, or product (group) for a parent with variations. If your account uses kits, you'll also see kit.
Description
SKU (required): A unique code for this item. Choose carefully, because marketplaces use the SKU to recognize your listing.
UPC, EAN, GTIN, MPN and ISBN: Enter any that apply. Most marketplaces need a valid barcode (usually a UPC) to list a variant.
Fill in any fields under Additional Attributes. These are your account's custom fields, such as product dimensions, weight, color or material. You can also add or change them after saving.
Click Save. You'll see Created Record and return to the Items list.
Tip: To find your new item, type its SKU or name in the search box on the Items list, then click the view (eye) icon on its row to open it.
Step 2 (parents only): Create variants in bulk
When Group is set to product (group), a Variants section appears below Item Details. You can use it to create all the variations at the same time as the parent:
Click Add option.
Enter an Option name, such as size or color.
In Option values, type each value and press Enter after each one (for example small, medium, large).
Repeat for a second option if you need one. A table appears with one row for every combination of values.
For each row, enter the Price, SKU and UPC.
Click Save.
Acenda creates the parent and one variant for each row. Each variant gets the parent's name with its option values added (for example Classic Tee - Small - Blue), the same brand and description, and its option values saved as fields.
Tip: Keep to one or two options, such as size and color. Most marketplaces only allow variations on a small set of attributes, and extra options can stop your variants from grouping correctly.
Step 3: Complete the item
Open the item from the Items list. The tabs you see depend on the item's group. Click the pencil (Edit) icon next to a field to change it, then the save icon (Save Changes) to keep your change.
Details: Edit the item's details and additional attributes. In Media, click the pencil icon, then Upload Image to add a file or Add from URL to add a link. Accepted formats: png, gif, jpg, svg and webp. For a parent, use Product Options to list the attributes its variants differ by (for example size and color).
Aliases: Give the item a different SKU, UPC, EAN, GTIN, MPN or ISBN for one sales channel. Click Add new alias, choose the subscription, enter the IDs and click Add. See Understanding Aliases.
Channel Status: Choose where the item is sold and check how it's doing on each channel, including any listing errors to fix. See Step 4 and What is Channel Status?
Variants (parents): The variants that belong to this parent.
Parents (variants): To add a variant to an existing parent, click Assign parent, search by name, SKU or brand, select the parent, and click Assign Parent.
Inventory (variants): Click Add new inventory detail, choose a warehouse, enter the quantity (and optionally the cost), and click Add. If your stock comes from a connected inventory or fulfillment system, it updates automatically and you don't need to enter it here. See How to Manually Adjust Inventory in Acenda.
Pricing (variants): Under Set base price, enter the Price, MSRP and MAPP. Click Add custom price to use a different price on one sales channel, or Add promotional price to schedule a sale price between two dates (Pacific time). See How to Set Up Price Promotions.
Channel Events and Change Log: See what was sent to each channel and who changed what. See How to View a Product's Change History.
Kits and bundles: If your account uses kits, kit items have a Kit Configuration tab. See Creating Kits and Bundles in Acenda.
Step 4: List the item on a sales channel
A new item isn't sent to any marketplace until you map it to a channel.
On the item, open the Channel Status tab and choose the sales channel.
Click Add Channel Mapping.
Choose the Subscription and the Posting Template (the marketplace category the item belongs to).
Choose a Listing Action:
FULL: Send the full listing and your available inventory.
ZERO: Send the full listing with 0 inventory, whatever your actual stock is.
UNLIST: Remove (retire) the listing from the channel.
Click Add Mapping.
After the next sync, any problems the marketplace reports appear on the Channel Status tab. See Channel Mapping & Listing Actions for Multi-Channel Syndication and How to Fix Marketplace Listing Errors.
Important: A channel only receives stock from the warehouses mapped to it. If an item is mapped as FULL but shows 0 on the marketplace, check that it has inventory in a warehouse that's mapped to that channel.
Troubleshooting
"This field is required!" when saving: Name and SKU are required for every new item.
"Create failed! - key: "value" … invalid value": A measurement field, such as a package weight or dimension, has a unit but no number. Enter a number, or clear the field and save it on its own, then try again. Curly quotes and text pasted from Word don't cause this error. Newer versions of the admin show it as "Update failed!". See this troubleshooting guide.
Another "Create failed!" message: Check that the SKU isn't already used by another item. Search for it on the Items list.
The UPC, EAN, GTIN and ISBN fields are greyed out: The Group is set to product (group). Parents don't carry barcodes, so enter them on each variant.
No Inventory or Pricing tab: These tabs only appear on variants (and kits). Open one of the parent's variants instead.
"There are no warehouses" when adding inventory: Create a warehouse first. See Adding and Managing Warehouses in Acenda.
"No Sales Channels Available" on the Channel Status tab: Your account doesn't have a sales channel connected yet. Contact Acenda Support to set one up.
Variants don't group under the parent on the marketplace: Check that each variant is assigned to the parent (Parents tab) and that the parent's Product Options match the fields the variants differ by.
Need to remove an item? See FAQ: Can I delete an item? To change a live listing's SKU, see Can I Change SKU Values for My Marketplace Listings?
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Still stuck? Contact Acenda Support and tell us the item's SKU and the sales channel involved.