Who is this for: This is intended for sellers using Seller Central to manage their inventory and who need to merge variations and add variations from one Parent ASIN to another. It is useful for those who want to optimize their product listings and reduce clutter on their inventory pages.
Objective: To provide instructions on how to merge variations and add variations from one Parent ASIN to another manually or via a template.
To merge variations and add variations from one Parent ASIN to another, you can do so manually or via the Template.
MANUAL METHOD
- If you are doing this manually, go to "Manage All Inventory" from the "Inventory" tab Drop Down menu in Seller Central. Make sure that the ASINs you want to merge meet the following stipulations: the Brand name should be the same for all ASINs, and the ASINs should be in the same category. Then, delete the parent ASIN for the ASINs you wish to add to another existing Parent ASIN, making the Child ASINs stand-alone ASINs. It's advisable to delete the Parent ASIN with the least number of Child ASINs. Make sure that you only delete the Parent ASIN and not the Child ASINs as well by clicking on the little arrow alongside the Parent ASIN beforehand.
- Once these Child ASINs are stand-alone ASINs, click on the "Edit" button to the right of the Parent ASIN you wish to add these Child ASINs to.
- Under the "Variations" tab, add the two new variations as you would if you were creating new variations. Copy all the information exactly from the now stand-alone Child ASINs to the new variations you are setting up under the Parent ASIN. You can also choose to rename the Parent ASIN title to make it more relevant to the newly configured variations. Once you are happy with your changes, click the "Save and Finish" button at the bottom of the page.
VIA TEMPLATE
- To merge Variations via Template, you may use the Category Listings Report through :
Reports→Inventory Reports→Select Report Type→Category Listings Report→Request Report
- Download the CLR once ready and filter out the stand alone SKU/ASIN which you are to merge to the existing Parent.
- Make sure that you fill in all the same information under the "Variations" section as it stands for these newly formed stand-alone Child ASINs (SKU, etc.) and insert the new Parent ASIN they are being mapped to. Here you would select the "Partial Update" item from the Drop Down Menu provided in the "Update Delete" Field on the sheet for the variations, and you would only be adding the stand-alone ASINs from the deleted Parent ASIN to this other Parent ASIN. You wouldn't need to re-add all the Child ASINs already under this Parent ASIN. Make sure that you fill in all the required information and fill in the "Item Type Keyword" field to ensure you are using the same category as you did for the Parent ASIN you are mapping these Child ASINs to.
- If the Parent ASIN is new, you would need to fill in all the information for the Parent ASIN as you would when creating a new Listing and select "Update" from the "Update Delete" Field. Save this file in .txt format before uploading it under the "Check and Upload Your Inventory File" tab on the "Add Products Via Upload" Page.
Note that while merging ASINs to the existing variation, you need to use the same variation theme as of the parent to the ASIN you are going to add manually. However, you can change the variation theme if you follow the steps to edit/create variations steps via file template.
