Managing product variants and importing products

Use product variants when customers choose options such as size or color before buying. Each combination is a variant: a shirt in Medium and Blue is different from the same shirt in Large and Blue.

Start with a saved product, as described in Creating your first product. This guide covers the variant editor and the available options for bringing products into your catalog.

Before you change a product

Open Monetization → Catalog → Products and find the item. You need permission to manage the catalog. Edit variations is available when the Inventory commerce workflow is enabled; if it is missing, review Pay hub → Overview → Commerce workflows with your administrator.

Prepare the option names, the combinations you actually sell, and a SKU for each combination if you use SKUs. For example, three sizes and two colors produce six possible variants.

Keep a new product unavailable for sale while preparing its options. For an existing product, plan changes around customer orders and test them on a separate site first.

The variant editor autosaves. Adding, renaming, or removing an option is an edit that can be saved while the panel remains open. Closing the panel is not a way to cancel saved changes.

Add variation types and values

1. Open the product's actions menu and choose Edit variations.
2. Under Variation types, enter a name such as “Size” and choose Add type.
3. In that type's values area, enter “Small” and choose Add, or press Enter. Repeat for the other sizes.
4. Add another type, such as “Color,” and give it the values you sell.
5. Wait for autosave and resolve any displayed error before continuing.

Use Edit values to open a type's values later. You can edit the type name and value labels in place. The up and down arrows change the order of the types.

Every type needs values before the editor can show combinations. The editor allows up to five types and twenty values per type, but start with only the choices customers need. Each additional value can multiply the number of combinations.

Create the combinations you sell

The Variants grid separates existing variants from Uncreated combinations. Adding a value does not by itself create all of its variants.

Use Create variant beside an uncreated combination to add that combination. Use Generate all only when you want every remaining combination it will create. The button shows how many it will add, up to the editor's limit of 100 variants.

For example, Small, Medium, and Large combined with Blue and Black produce six combinations. If you sell only Blue in Large, create just that combination rather than generating all six.

New rows start with the main product's price and a displayed quantity of zero. Review the rows and wait for autosave. Reopen Edit variations to confirm that the intended combinations and SKUs are saved.

Handle prices and stock separately

The grid includes Price, Qty, SKU, and Status, but the price and stock controls have limitations:

• Variant prices: do not rely on a different price entered here to change the checkout charge. Checkout may still use the main product price. Use separate products for differently priced options until your administrator confirms that variant pricing works on your site.
• Stock: saving variations does not apply the Qty or Status edits as stock changes. Ask your administrator to set inventory for the specific variants using the site's inventory-management tools.
• SKUs: enter the identifier used by your fulfillment process, then reopen the editor to verify it saved against the right combination.

Do not treat the displayed zero or In stock label on a new row as confirmation of sellable stock. Check the saved inventory and the actual customer checkout before making a limited-stock variant available.

Monetization → Catalog → Inventory shows inventory adjustment history. Select the product to review recorded adjustments; this page is not a form for entering stock.

Rename or remove options carefully

Rename a label in place when you are correcting its wording. Removing a value and adding a new one creates a different option, even if you reuse the same label.

To remove a specific combination, use Remove variant on its row. To remove a value or whole type, use its remove control. These edits autosave.

Review affected variant rows before removing their values. Removing an option can make an existing combination disappear from the grid without deleting its saved variant. If rows or counts no longer agree, stop editing and ask your administrator to reconcile the product's variants.

After changing options, reopen the editor and check the public product page. Confirm that the intended choices remain available and that existing orders still identify the items you need to fulfill.

Bring products into the catalog

Import from Stripe appears in the Products toolbar, but Stripe catalog import is not currently available through this page. Its preview can show No Stripe products found even when the connected Stripe account has products. An empty preview is not confirmation that the Stripe catalog is empty.

For now, use Add product to create the required items in Cedros. Have the name, description, image, price, delivery details, and intended storefront slug ready before you begin. Then add any needed variants separately.

There is no CSV upload control in this Products page. If you have a larger catalog to migrate, ask your administrator to arrange a supported import process and review the imported records before making them available for sale.

Sync Stripe sends a Cedros product to Stripe; it does not import a Stripe product into Cedros. Use it only for the intended account and environment, and inspect the result. See Connecting Stripe for the connection setup.

Check the customer's selection and purchase

Use a test product and a supported test payment setup before offering variants to customers.

1. Open the public product page and select each combination you intend to sell. Confirm that option names are clear and unavailable combinations cannot be purchased.
2. Add a specific combination to the cart and check that the selection carries through to checkout.
3. Verify the final price and currency. Pay particular attention if you previously entered a different variant price.
4. Complete a test purchase and inspect the payment and order under Monetization → Transactions. Confirm the selected item and quantity are the ones you will fulfill.
5. Check the resulting stock and customer delivery or access. Also test cancellation and an unavailable-stock case before launch.

A storefront needs to support variant selection as well as the base product. If the page only offers the main product or loses the selection at checkout, ask your administrator to check the storefront setup before selling variants.

For the broader buyer test, see Test the complete buyer journey.

Troubleshoot variants and imports

• Edit variations is missing: check catalog permissions and the Inventory workflow.
• No combinations appear: add at least one value to every variation type.
• A combination says Not created: create its variant and wait for autosave.
• Generate all creates fewer rows than expected: check the displayed 100-variant limit and reduce the combinations you offer if needed.
• The editor fails to load: close it and reopen after resolving the error. Do not treat an empty grid shown with an error as proof that the product has no variants.
• Price or stock changes do not take effect: follow the price and stock limitations above; repeatedly editing the same fields will not complete the missing setup.
• Stripe import shows no products: use manual product creation or ask about a supported migration process. Do not repeatedly change working Stripe credentials to try to populate this preview.

For help, provide the product ID, affected option names or SKU, public page URL, and visible error. See Getting help and reporting a problem.