For a full overview of Product Types, please refer to our Product Types Basics knowledge base article.
Creating Product Types: Variants and Descriptors
When creating a Product Type within CrystalCommerce, it is imperative to correctly enter in Variants and Descriptors for the products that will be associated to this Product Type. Both Variants and Descriptors are required for a Product Type to function correctly, and allow you to import products successfully into a Category. Sealed Products do not require Descriptors, but singles do.
For a breakdown of the difference between Variants and Descriptors click the link.
To create a Product Type
Within the Admin, select the Inventory tab
Select the black Types tab
Select New Product Type
Enter a name for the Product Type
Enter the appropriate Variants and Descriptors for this Product Type (Listed below)
Select Save Product Type
SKUs are required to list any product on Amazon.com or TCGPlayer, and the Product Type in your admin has to be set up to receive the SKU data from our source catalog. In order to pull in those SKUs, the "Official Catalog" drop-down boxes (called the "mapping") in the Product Type has to be set before any products are imported. To set these, you will select the option from the drop-down that best matches the relevant product, and whatever condition values you specified in step 5 above.
If the drop-down mapping is not set for a product, the SKU data can still be pushed from our source catalog to your admin, but it will take longer than if the mapping is set before any imports take place.
Notes:- Descriptors/Variants Values cannot be copied/pasted as a list of comma-separated values; they must be entered into the values field individually.- Descriptors/Variants expecting arbitrary values (like an artist's name) are left blank. These Descriptors/Variants must be entered into the product type with nothing in the values field.
Most Common Product Types Variants and Descriptors:
Note: If your desired Product Type does not appear in this list, please reach out to us, and we would be happy to walk you through adding the Variants and Descriptors for your Product Type.