Say a Shopify product already has a variant with the same SKU as one variant of a Square product, and that Square product has other variants Shopify does not have. With the default settings, unSquared skips the entire Square product, including the variants that have no match. This guide explains why, how to spot it in your reports, and how to bring the complete product across.
Why the whole product is skipped
Before creating anything, unSquared checks every Square product against the Shopify products it did not create itself. It looks at each variant's SKU first, then its barcode, then the product's handle. A match on any one variant counts as a match for the whole Square product, because unSquared migrates a product as one unit. When the overwrite option is off (the default), a matched product is left alone, so nothing is duplicated or changed in Shopify - and the Square variants with no match are not migrated either.
Toggle off or on
The toggle is "Overwrite existing Shopify product with matching Square SKU, barcode, or handle" on the Ready to Migrate step.
| Toggle off (default) | Toggle on | |
|---|---|---|
| The matched Shopify product | Not touched | Overwritten with Square's data (title, description, variants, images, metafields) |
| The Square variants with no match in Shopify | Not migrated | Come across, because the whole Square product is written |
| Duplicates | None created | None created |
| Back up first? | Not needed | Yes - export your Shopify products before you turn it on |
Where you will see it
- The note on the skipped row
For example: "This Square product has 3 variants and only 1 matched an existing Shopify variant, so the other 2 variants were not migrated either."
- The downloaded report
The Product Catalog sheet adds a "Skipped - Other Variants Not Migrated" count to the summary at the top, and the note above appears in the Error column of each affected row.
- View Report
An amber banner shows how many products were skipped with variants left behind, across every page of the report. The same note appears under the product name on each affected row.
- Only when variants were left behind
A skipped product where every variant matched does not get this count or banner, because nothing was left behind.
What to do if you want the complete product
- 1Download the report
Open the report and look at the "Skipped - Other Variants Not Migrated" count and the rows it points to.
- 2Decide per product
If the Shopify product is the one you want to keep and the missing variants do not matter, you can leave it as it is. If you want Square's version, continue.
- 3Back up, then turn the toggle on
Export your Shopify products first. On the Ready to Migrate step, turn on "Overwrite existing Shopify product with matching Square SKU, barcode, or handle" and run the migration again.
- 4Check the report afterwards
The report states which field caused each match and whether the product was skipped or overwritten.
Two cases that behave differently
A match by handle alone does not compare variants, so it does not get this note. And if a SKU or barcode appears on more than one existing Shopify product, unSquared never guesses which one to link: the item is created as a new product, with a note on its report row so you can check it manually.
Re-running with the toggle still off
unSquared does not link a skipped product to Square, so running again with the toggle off skips it again, and its other variants are left behind again. Turning the toggle on is the way to bring the full product over.
Migrating only your products?
See how a Products-only migration works, and what each Ready to Migrate option does.
Read the guide