Variations are showing up as individual line items when imported from an excel file.

[thesmokingbird]

We are in the process of transferring the retail side of our business into using square. When I populated the item library with our new inventory I created items with variations to cover multiple items. For example, different colors of an item. When I up load this, the library is showing a line item for each variation with a drop down menu with that one variation in it. I am new to square inventory management and am not sure how to correct this.

Like this image. I want the item to just say Amira Aura Hookah, and under that have each color option. 

Here is how I have the excel set up with token | item | variation

Thanks for any help.

[#2]

Unfortunately there’s not a way to import the inventory list from excel the way you want that I am aware of. What I was able to do is import the main items to get everything in the system then go in from the dashboard and add each variation manually. It actually goes very quickly since you already have the main line items populated. So you would import your list and then click on add variation in that hookah item, enter the color,price, etc. then click create & add another until you have all the variations for that item populated. Been using it for years and it’s the only way I have been able to get it setup correctly. I own a vape shop so have to add new profiles and levels constantly.  Once it’s setup correctly though it’s well worth the effort. I had to redo my entire inventory when I switched over from using Shopventory and it only took me 6 hours to get my entire shop items and variations setup 

[homeprogreen · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately there’s not a way to import the inventory list from excel the way you want that I am aware of. What I was able to do is import the main items to get everything in the system then go in from the dashboard and add each variation manually. It actually goes very quickly since you already have the main line items populated. So you would import your list and then click on add variation in that hookah item, enter the color,price, etc. then click create & add another until you have all the variations for that item populated. Been using it for years and it’s the only way I have been able to get it setup correctly. I own a vape shop so have to add new profiles and levels constantly.  Once it’s setup correctly though it’s well worth the effort. I had to redo my entire inventory when I switched over from using Shopventory and it only took me 6 hours to get my entire shop items and variations setup 

[OrcChieftain]

I'm having this same issue!! Someone please help! 😞

[ashc]

Hey @thesmokingbird and @OrcChieftain,

Tagging some Super Sellers here to see if anyone is able to provide some help!

@alexandriak @AmyB1 @bagelboss @Donnie-M @GourmetOnWheels @HC_Charlie @homeprogreen @MAXSDELI @jjgard @JupiterGames @LocavoreStore @londontea @vinesandrushes @sugarlab @ryanwanner @Minion @Ravenssong69 @porktaco @pieous @pessosices @allwhowander @LLCafe

[HC_Charlie · Accepted solution]

@thesmokingbirdOne technique I try sometimes is to "reverse engineer" the inventory...I sometimes export my inventory list from Square and see how my current inventory is recorded there. In this example I looked at some pencils I setup with variations from my Square Register. I don't know if this will work for you, but if you look at the excel column headings and values, maybe this will help you import your variations to show up how you want them to. It looks like the Item Name is exactly the same, with a different  Variation Name. You may need to adjust your headings and naming on your original excel spreadsheet and try importing them again. Sometimes for me it's just trial and error to see how the import/export works.

On a side note, be aware that if you are using Square Website or Weebly that variations show up differently on a website. If you have variations set up, then when you add them into a website, you'll get a single item with drop downs to select your variations. For my personal use, I wanted individual items pictured for each variation so it would fill up more items on my webpage. Just something to keep in mind.

Hope you have success in working with variations 🙂

[thesmokingbird]

That is how I tried to do it, based on the square inventory that was already in the system. We have 2 sides to our business, Retail and Lounge. The lounge was on square but retail had a different POS for some reason. But, even mimicking that inventory their is still an error when it uploads.

I checked the app as I have been working on the website, but the app still shows it the same as the site. Thank you for you input though, I guess I will have to just undo the variations I made and sort them manually in square.

[homeprogreen · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately there’s not a way to import the inventory list from excel the way you want that I am aware of. What I was able to do is import the main items to get everything in the system then go in from the dashboard and add each variation manually. It actually goes very quickly since you already have the main line items populated. So you would import your list and then click on add variation in that hookah item, enter the color,price, etc. then click create & add another until you have all the variations for that item populated. Been using it for years and it’s the only way I have been able to get it setup correctly. I own a vape shop so have to add new profiles and levels constantly.  Once it’s setup correctly though it’s well worth the effort. I had to redo my entire inventory when I switched over from using Shopventory and it only took me 6 hours to get my entire shop items and variations setup 

[thesmokingbird]

Thank you. That is what I was afraid of, but as you said I am able to import the inventory so it shouldn't be too bad to go about this way.