Updating WooCommerce Product Variations without Parent SKU

Last updated on July 19, 2021

The screenshots and content you are viewing may correspond to an older version. We are in the process of updating the documentation to reflect the current version. Until then, you may refer to the latest set up guide for an insight.

Variations of variable product data can be updated without explicit reference to its parent SKU or even without causing any distortion to the existing data. For example, there can be instances where you need to alter the price of a product without altering any other data of the product. This scenario can be easily handled using the Product Import Export plugin.

Let us consider a sample CSV as shown below for demonstrating this scenario:

There are two variables namely B11V1 and B11V2 for the product with SKU B11. The current sale price of the product is shown to be $9 and $10.

Let us change the sale_price of the products from the current value and import it without specifying any reference to its parent_sku. The resultant CSV file will look like the one as shown below:

Now, import this updated CSV in the usual manner. Click here, to know more about how the products are imported.

It can be seen that the merge is successful and the sale_price of the product has been updated successfully as shown below.

In this manner, child products can be updated without explicitly linking it with its parent SKU.

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This article posted in Advanced Topics, Documentation, Knowledge Base, Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce and tagged parent SKU, update variable products, without, woocommerce, WooCommerce variable products

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Shesna

Shesna is a technical content writer for WebToffee. She is familiar in working closely with the SMEs to break down complex technical information into a concise, easy to understand manner.

Comments (10)

Nabeel Penkar

May 13, 2021

Can you please help me where the “Update products if exist” option in WordPress.

Also I have an update for woocommerce should I install it because I’m getting an error”Invalid or duplicated SKU.”

Reply
- Mark
  
  May 14, 2021
  
  Hi,
  
  You can find the “Update products if exist” option in the import screen of the plugin.
  
  The error ”Invalid or duplicated SKU.” is occurring because there is already an existing product on your site with the same SKU and the Update option is not enabled. Please make sure that you enable the option “Update products if exist” inorder to update the products.
  
  Reply
Kyriaki Papadopoulou

September 29, 2020

In case there is not a duplicate product, what are the options for the invalid SKU?I cannot put ID as I have other products with same ID already in the shop

Reply
- Mark
  
  December 16, 2020
  
  Hi,
  
  Please make sure that you don’t map the SKU column to the ID field and there is no existing orphaned variation in your database with the same SKU as in the CSV. If there are orphaned variations then please clear it using the tool Woocommerce>status>tools>delete orphaned variations.
  
  Reply
zak

June 11, 2020

I have the pro version of woocom and am experiencing the same issue. during import, we only got parent categories and had to manually configure variant skus but when I use my businesses skus, I’m getting the invalid/duplicate warning. HELP

Reply
- Alan
  
  June 12, 2020
  
  Hi,
  
  Could you please share with us your importing CSV file and the screenshots of the issue you are facing via support. Our support team will follow you up from there.
  
  Reply
Dariusz

February 10, 2020

I have Sku variant and status update in csv.

Invalid or duplicated SKU.
product upgrade does not work
The product is found correctly

Thank you for your help
Ps.
No import can overwrite data without Paren SKU (or is)
;(

Reply
- Alan
  
  February 10, 2020
  
  Hi,
  
  We tried updating the variations in our test environment without including the parent SKU data and were able to update the product without any issues.
  The “Invalid or duplicated SKU” error message is displayed when the “Update products if exists” option is not enabled when updating the products. Please make sure that you have enabled the “Update products if exists” option when updating the product.
  
  If the issue still persists please reach us via support.
  
  Reply
  - Dariusz Parczyk
    
    February 12, 2020
    
    I have ;(
    100%
    
    Reply
    - Alan
      
      February 12, 2020
      
      Hi Dariusz,
      
      We have received your support ticket. From the screenshot you shared via the support ticket we can see that you are having the basic version of the plugin installed on your site. The basic version of the plugin supports the import/export of only simple products. It does not support variable products.
      
      You may please install the premium version of the plugin in order to import/update/export variable products on your site.
      
      Reply

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Updating WooCommerce Product Variations without Parent SKU

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