02Catalog
Products: search, edit and create
The catalog table, the full product page and creating products.
Products is your catalog in Koalab: everything you publish on your channels comes from here. Saving updates the channels where the product is already published. Taking it to a new channel is a separate decision.
The list and its filters
At the top there is one tab per catalog: «Shared catalog» and one for each independent channel. The summary above the list also filters: click «Rejected», «Low stock», «Out of stock», «No image», «published» or «drafts», and click again to clear it. Search, or filter by category by ticking several boxes. Each active filter shows as a tag with its ✕, next to «Clear filters», and stays in the link: you can share the filtered list. Each row shows Category, Price, Sale, Stock, Channels, Coverage (how many of your channels it is published on) and Status. If a channel rejected it, under the name it says which one and why.
Mock-up: the list with its ten columns and the status legend A product's page
It opens in tabs: General, Price and stock (or Variations if it is variable), Attributes, Gallery, Shipping and Publish. On the side, «Status on each channel» says what each channel did with the product. If one rejected it, you also see it at the top of the page, with the reason and «Try again». If a channel receives from Koalab, whatever you change there in name, description, categories or photos does not reach Koalab, and the next save here replaces it: change it in Koalab.
Variations
A variable product lists its variants (each color, size… combination) with SKU, price, sale price and stock, editable in the row. Options are changed above, in «Attributes and variations», and «Sync variations» creates the missing combinations, with no price or stock, and removes the ones that no longer apply, in Koalab and on every channel where they are on sale. First it shows you the list; if it removes any, it asks you to type DELETE, and it cannot be undone. For now it only exists for WooCommerce products; for the others, the page tells you which channel they are edited on.
Mock-up: the attributes manager and the variations table Images
The gallery uploads files —you can crop, reorder and mark the main one— or reuses the ones you have with «Use an uploaded one». It has its own button, «Save gallery», which also updates the channels; «Save and sync» does not save photos, and if you leave with «Unsaved changes», they are lost. It does not accept pasted links: for that there are the «Image 1» to «Image 5» columns of the «Bulk upload». If an upload goes over your plan's space, it is rejected: free up space in «Images».
Creating a product
«New product» starts with «What are you selling?»: you choose the product type and the form asks for what that type needs. Name, SKU and price are required. The product is born on one of your channels, and the note at the bottom says which one and why; for now you cannot pick another. «Save as draft» creates it there without anyone seeing it. The other button uses the «Status» of the General tab: with «On sale», your customers see it right away. On your other channels you publish it later, from its page; that is why, with several channels, the button says «Create and choose where to publish».
Saving
The button says «Save and sync»: it writes to Koalab and updates the channels where the product is already published. Before you click, the side panel tells you what will happen on each channel, under «If you save now». If the change sets off your alerts —19 where there was 199—, «Before saving, check this» appears and nothing is saved until you choose «Save anyway». A price of 0 only goes through if you tick the box that allows it; the page reminds you that a price of 0 is allowed on this product.
Bulk changes
Tick several rows and a bar appears at the bottom: «Category» (add or remove one), «Status: published / draft» or «Delete». The new status also reaches the channels where those products are published. Publishing is not there: to publish many at once, open «Catalog coverage» and use «Publish the N» on the channel's card.
Details worth knowing
- The SKU is the key that matches everything: products without a SKU are not recognized across channels and cannot receive costs.
- Deleting does delete on the channels. The confirmation says so: «N products will be removed from Koalab and from every channel where they are published», and it cannot be undone. If a channel does not let go —Mercado Libre does not allow deleting a listing under review—, the product stays with «Deletion pending on …»: it is not published or updated, and Koalab asks for the deletion again every time it reads that channel. To back out, click «Cancel the deletion» on its page.
- Settings only one channel understands —WooCommerce's shipping class, Mercado Libre's warranty or listing type— sit next to the common fields on the same subject, with the channel in brackets. If you leave one empty and the channel already has a value, the field tells you which one will be used: «From the channel: …». Only those of the channels you have connected appear.
- A product's status is one of four: On sale, Draft, Hidden or Archived. There is one per product and it applies on all its channels. Each one explains below what it means.
- The stock of a product —or of each combination— is a number of units or «Don't track inventory». Ticking that box makes WooCommerce, Shopify and Tiendanube stop counting, and Movements records it as «Not tracked». Mercado Libre does not sell untracked: there it keeps the last stock it had, and the page warns you. An empty units box is not «not tracked»: Koalab asks you for the number before saving.