Help › Inventory
Catalog SKUs
Your own master list of products, each linked to the vendor items you can buy it from and the channel listings you sell it on.
What it's for
A catalog SKU is your own record of one product. It sits in the middle:
- On one side, it links to one or more source SKUs: the same product as sold by each of your vendors.
- On the other side, it links to your channel SKUs: your listings on Amazon, Walmart, eBay or Shopify.
When a product is linked to several vendors, OrderPilot marks the vendor with the lowest cost per unit as the default vendor.
Catalog SKUs are usually named after the product's UPC with "_OP" added, for example 030768011420_OP.
Use this page to:
- Create catalog SKUs, by hand or automatically from vendor UPCs.
- Link and unlink vendor items.
- See which vendor is cheapest and whether any vendor is out of stock.
- Check and adjust warehouse stock by shelf.
- Restrict a product so it shows 0 stock on every channel.
Where to find it
In the left sidebar, open Inventory → Catalog SKUs.
The screen at a glance
At the top you see how many catalog SKUs match your search and filters. Below that is the toolbar:
- Search box: type a catalog SKU, UPC or part of a title.
- Filters: add filters. Each active filter shows as a green chip. Click a chip to change it, click its ✕ to remove it, or click Clear all.
- View: choose which columns to show and save the layout.
- Actions: bulk tasks, import, export and creating a new SKU.
Columns
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Checkbox | Select the row for a bulk action. |
| Status dot | Green = active. Red = restricted, with a red RESTRICTED label. Hover the label to see when and why. |
| Image | Product picture. |
| Catalog SKU | Your SKU. Click the copy icon to copy it. |
| UPC | The product barcode. |
| Title | Product name. |
| Sources | How many vendor items are linked. Green when there is more than one. |
| Cheapest cost | The lowest cost among the linked vendors. |
| Default vendor | The vendor OrderPilot uses by default. A red ⚠ OOS tag means one of the linked vendors is out of stock. |
| Actions | The ⋮ menu for this product. |
Click a column header to sort by it. Click again to reverse. Image and Actions can't be sorted.
Filters
| Filter | What it finds |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Products linked to the vendor you pick. |
| Status | Active or inactive (restricted) products. |
| Sources | Products with no vendor, one vendor, or several vendors linked. |
| Channel SKU | Products that are, or are not, linked to a channel listing. |
| Vendor OOS | Products where a linked vendor is out of stock, or became out of stock recently. |
| Price changed | Products whose vendor cost changed in the period you pick (past hour up to past month). |
| Cheapest cost | Products whose cheapest cost is below, above or equal to an amount you enter. |
Paging
The bottom bar has Previous, page numbers, Next and "Showing 1–50 of …". Use Results per page for 50, 100, 250 or 1,000 rows, or Endless scroll to keep loading as you scroll. Your choice is remembered in your browser.
The product details window
Click any row (or ⋮ → View detail) to open the details window. It has six tabs.
- Overview: the product image, with a box to paste a new image web address. You also see the catalog SKU, UPC and Qty ordered (30d). A small Restrict this SKU link sits at the top right (or Unrestrict if it is restricted). A red banner shows when the product is restricted.
- Inventory: your warehouse stock for this product. See below.
- Channel SKUs: every channel listing linked to this product, with its ASIN if it has one. A tag shows single, or 2-pack, 3-pack and so on, for listings that sell several units at once.
- Source Linked Items: one card per linked vendor item, with cost, MAP, pack, UPC, NDC and manufacturer. The default vendor has a green border and a ⭐ Default tag.
- History: recorded changes to this product, with who made them. Filter by change type, user and date range. It starts at the last 180 days.
- P&L: default vendor cost, MAP, quantity ordered in the last 30 days and number of vendor links. Sales profit is shown per channel listing, not here.
The Inventory tab shows:
- On hand: total units on your shelves.
- Held by open orders: units already promised to orders that haven't shipped.
- Free to sell: on hand minus held.
- One line per shelf with the quantity, plus Set qty and Move buttons.
- Scanned in / out: every stock movement with date, change (+ or −), shelf, reason (scanned in, picked for order, manual edit, count correction, moved in, moved out, bulk upload), the order number when there is one, and who did it. Click an order number to open that order.
Buttons and actions
Actions menu
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Auto-match all by UPC | Asks you to confirm, then goes through all your source SKUs that have a UPC. For each UPC it uses the existing catalog SKU, or creates one named UPC_OP, and links every vendor item with that UPC. The cheapest vendor becomes the default. When done, it shows how many catalog SKUs and links were created. |
| Unrestrict selected | Makes the selected products active again. |
| Restrict selected | Asks for a reason, then restricts the selected products. A restricted product pushes 0 stock on every channel. |
| Bulk import new SKUs | Creates catalog SKUs from a CSV file. See "How to import many catalog SKUs". |
| Export selected | Opens the export window for the ticked rows. |
| Export all | Opens the export window for every product that matches your search and filters. |
| New catalog SKU | Creates one catalog SKU from a UPC. See "How to create a catalog SKU". |
Other toolbar and bottom bar buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Filters | Adds a filter. |
| View | Shows column checkboxes to show or hide columns. Pick a saved view from the list, or type a name, tick Set as my default if you want, and click 💾 Save. Delete removes the view you have loaded (asks you to confirm). Views are saved for you only. |
| Select all (bottom bar) | Appears after you tick a full page when there are more pages. Selects every product that matches your filters. |
| Clear selection (bottom bar) | Unticks everything. |
Row menu (⋮)
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| View detail | Opens the details window. |
| Link source SKU | Opens a search box to link another vendor item. |
| Unrestrict | Makes the product active again. |
| Restrict | Asks for a reason, then restricts the product. |
| View related orders | Opens the Channel Orders page. |
| Delete SKU | Asks "Delete this catalog SKU?", then deletes it and all its vendor links. This can't be undone. |
Details window
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Restrict this SKU / Unrestrict | Restricts (asks for a reason) or unrestricts the product. |
| Save image | Saves the image web address you typed. |
| Set qty (Inventory tab) | Asks for the correct quantity on that shelf and adjusts stock to match. |
| Move (Inventory tab) | Shows a shelf picker and quantity. Click Move to move units to another shelf. |
| + Add to shelf (Inventory tab) | Adds the quantity you type to the shelf you pick. |
| + Link source SKU (Source Linked Items tab) | Opens the search box to link another vendor item. |
| Vendor SKU link (Source Linked Items tab) | Opens the Source SKUs page. |
| Remove (Source Linked Items tab) | Asks you to confirm, then unlinks that vendor item. The vendor item itself is not deleted. |
| Close / ✕ | Closes the window. |
The restrict reason box
When you restrict, a box asks for a reason: Not licensed to buy, Packaging changed, Dropship takes too long to deliver, Margin too low / not profitable, Quality, safety, or recall, or Other… to type your own. It's optional unless your company requires it. Click Restrict to confirm.
How to create a catalog SKU
- Click Actions → New catalog SKU.
- Type the UPC. The new SKU will be named UPC_OP.
- Optional: type a Title.
- Optional: type a Custom suffix to make a second SKU for the same product, for example for rush orders. "RUSH" creates UPC_OP_RUSH.
- Click Create. A message shows the new SKU name.
- Open the new SKU and use + Link source SKU to connect your vendors.
How to link a vendor item to a catalog SKU
- Find the catalog SKU and click ⋮ → Link source SKU. Or open it and go to Source Linked Items → + Link source SKU.
- Type at least 2 characters of a vendor SKU, UPC or title.
- Click the right vendor item in the results.
- You see "Linked! Cheapest vendor set as default." The details window opens again with the new vendor card.
How to link everything by UPC at once
- Click Actions → Auto-match all by UPC.
- Click OK to confirm.
- Wait for the message with the number of catalog SKUs and links created.
Products that already exist are reused, so it's safe to run again after new vendor files arrive.
How to import many catalog SKUs
- Make a CSV file with a upc column. You can also add title and suffix columns.
- Click Actions → Bulk import new SKUs.
- Click the upload area and choose your CSV file.
- Click Import.
- The result shows how many catalog SKUs were created and how many rows had errors. SKUs that already exist are skipped.
How to fix shelf stock
- Open the product and go to the Inventory tab.
- To correct a count, click Set qty on the shelf, type the right number and confirm.
- To move stock, click Move, pick the destination shelf and quantity, then click Move.
- To add stock, pick a shelf at the bottom, type a quantity and click + Add to shelf.
- Each change shows up in the Scanned in / out list.
How to export to a spreadsheet
- Search or filter the list. Tick rows if you only want some.
- Click Actions → Export selected or Export all.
- Untick any columns you don't need: catalog SKU, UPC, title, linked vendors, cheapest cost, default vendor name.
- Click Download CSV.
Tips and troubleshooting
- "No catalog SKUs — use Actions → Auto-match all by UPC" means you have none yet. Upload vendor files on the Source SKUs page first, then run Auto-match.
- Which vendor is default? The one with the lowest cost per unit. If a vendor sells by the case, its cost is divided by the case quantity first.
- Restricting a catalog SKU vs. a source SKU. Restricting here pushes 0 stock for the product on every channel. To stop buying from just one vendor, restrict the vendor item on the Source SKUs page instead.
- Removing a vendor link doesn't delete the vendor item. You can link it again any time.
- Export selected with nothing ticked gives an empty file. Tick rows first, or use Export all.
- Inventory numbers are always fresh. The Inventory tab reloads each time you open it, since stock can change while you look.
- "Pick a shelf and a quantity of 1 or more" appears if you click Add to shelf without both.
Still stuck? Email support@softavant.com and tell us what you were trying to do.