Why can’t I sync variations to Square that are just a multiple of one SKU?

Hey there, @the_tim! Thanks for contacting us. I’m happy to help you.

As the error message on the first screenshot mentions, each SKU needs to be unique. When you added the same SKU to all variations, they were not unique anymore, that’s why you are having issues syncing the products.

Is it possible for you to add extra characters on the variations to make them unique such as 4009A 4009B, or 40091 40092 etc?

If not, can you please share more details about your product so we can get a better understanding of the situation and look for a solution?

Looking forward to your reply.

Have a wonderful day!

It would make no sense at all to use separate SKUs for each variation. There is only a single SKU in Square. The variations are simply different quantities of the single SKU. We sell loose leaf tea by the ounce, and I am using a couple of plugins to display fixed amounts on the site, like 2oz, 4oz, etc.

When someone purchases 4oz, it simply deducts 4x of SKU 4009 from our inventory. This all works just fine within WooCommerce, but I need it to also sync to Square, which I can’t do when that checkbox is greyed out.

Hi @the_tim!

It is not possible to sync multiple product variations with the same SKU with Square. It is the reason why that option is greyed out.

The logic behind this is that product variations are similar products but are considered different, and they need a unique SKU to be recognized by Square.

In this case, please try adding a unique SKU to a few product variations and check if it allows you to Sync with Square.

I am using a couple of plugins to display fixed amounts on the site, like 2oz, 4oz, etc.

What plugins are you using? Maybe they have an option to add unique SKUs to product variations.

Also, an extension that could help is?Bulk Table Editor; it allows you to bulk edit product variations and generate unique SKUs for them.

Check more about this feature here: https://woo.com/document/bulktableeditor/#section-21

I hope this helps.

Let us know how it goes for you!

I feel like you are not understanding here. I do not want to have multiple SKUs. That would completely mess up my Square inventory tracking. Each tea is a single product. Adding multiple SKUs for 4009 African Chai would be nonsensical. When someone buys 4oz of this product, I just need to reduce the inventory of it by 4. I just want to be able to sell specific, fixed multiples of it on my site and have that sync to Square.

Is there some other way to sell fixed quantities of a single SKU (as seen in the screenshot in my previous post) and have it allow me to sync to Square? Under no circumstances am I going to split all 450+ of my products into a bunch of separate SKUs for each quantity. That’s a ridiculous non-solution.

Hi @the_tim,

Thank you for the additional details. I’m afraid we can only support the product as is. Any modification done by the user or third party plugin is out of our hands.

In this case, I can recommend you reach out to the developers of the plugin you’re using to handle your variations as swatches to sell the products multiplying the number of ounces instead of creating an actual variation, so you could ask for them for compatibility with Square Sync.

Maybe they can find a way to count the product as “single” for the Square Sync (since this is technically counted as a single product, not a variable product, inventory-wise).

I hope this helps so far.
-OP

That’s really frustrating! There should be support for variations that are simply a quantity multiple of the primary SKU. The way I’ve set this up manages the inventory perfectly within WooCommerce, no extra SKUs required. I don’t understand why the Square Sync won’t allow me to just sync this properly-accounted inventory with Square. It’s driving me crazy here.

Hi @the_tim,

I understand this is frustrating, but you’ve thought of an outside-the-box alternative (very ingenious btw, and I really liked it) to handle your stock for weight-based products and sell multiple “versions” of it to accommodate different “presentations”.

However, Square wouldn’t recognize this as it’s not the default for WooCommerce. To put it in other terms, Square doesn’t know you don’t actually have a 2oz, 4oz, 8oz, or 16oz individual version of your product, but you’re actually selling from a big pool, picking up as much as needed for every order and repackaging when selling.

Your best bet right now would be reaching out to your third-party plugin, explaining the issue you’re facing, and asking them for a way to be compatible with Square syncs.

Please, keep us posted.
-OP

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by omarfpg a11n.