Product details

The details that you provide for a product affect the way that the product is displayed to customers, make it easier for you to organize your products, and help customers find the product. You don't have to provide every detail for each product.

For products that don't have any variants, the Pricing, Inventory, and Shipping sections are displayed on the product details page. If you add variants, then those sections are no longer displayed on the product details page. To change the details for product variants, refer to Editing variants for an existing product.

If you want to save specialized information or files for your products, then you can add custom fields to your product pages by using metafields. If you have an Online Store 2.0 theme, such as Dawn, then you can use the theme editor to connect metafields to your theme and customize your pages to the product or variant that's displayed.

Title and description

  • Title - The name for your product that you want to display to your customers.
  • Description - The description for your product. This area uses the rich text editor so that you can format your text. Describe your products in detail to inform and market to your potential customers. If you're a reseller, then don't use a manufacturer's exact description, because you want your products to be unique to search engines.

Media

The images, 3D models, and video demonstrate to your customers what the product looks like. For information on adding product media, refer to Product media.

Pricing

  • Price - The price that you're charging for the product. You can set your store's currency on the General settings page. If you sell in multiple currencies, then you need to use Shopify Payments and activate Shopify Markets. Manage currencies on the relevant Market's Product and pricing page. If the product is taxable, then set up location-based taxes.
  • Compare-at price - The original price for a product that is on sale. When you enter a compare-at price, the product displays a sale price.
  • Tax code - For Shopify Plus plans, you can use a third-party tax service. If you use the service, then the tax code for the product is displayed here.
  • Cost per item - How much it costs you for the product or variant. For example, if you resell a product, then you can enter the price that you paid the manufacturer, excluding taxes, shipping, or other costs. If you create the product yourself, then you can enter a value that is based on your labor and material costs.

For products that have a Cost per item entered—unless you include taxes in your prices—the projected margin is displayed below the Price field on the product details page. The margin is calculated as ([price - cost] / price) × 100. For example, if your price is $50 and your cost is $30, then the margin (calculated as ([50 - 30] / 50) × 100) is 40%.

You can access reports to analyze your product costs and margins. You can also find your cost of goods sold (COGS).

Entering the cost per item is optional. If you choose to enter your costs, then add the amounts to all your existing products at the same time by using the bulk editor or a CSV import. By updating the information at the same time, you can get the most value out of your profit reports.

Cost per item doesn't apply to gift card products.

Inventory

  • SKU (stock keeping unit) - The code that identifies the product within your business. For effective tracking and sales reporting, each SKU needs to be unique.
    • SKUs are optional. You can create your own SKU format. For more information about SKUs, refer to SKU formats.
  • Barcode (ISBN, UPC, GTIN) - Barcodes are typically used by resellers. The identifier needs to be a new or existing Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). Some sales channels require a GTIN before a product can be published using the channel.

GTINs are unique identifiers used internationally to store and locate product information. Examples of GTINs are UPCs, EANs, and ISBNs, which can vary in length depending on the product type. You can find the GTIN above or below the barcode on the packaging for your product.

Barcodes scanned using Shopify POScan be used to publish products on the Google & YouTube channel.

If you don't have a GTIN for a product, then you can request it from the manufacturer. Learn how to get a GTIN for a product you manufacture at the GS1 standards website. Don't invent false GTIN information for your products.

For information on how to enter barcodes by using your smartphone, refer to Scan a barcode with your device's camera.

  • Available - The number of units in stock. If you are managing your inventory across multiple locations, then the quantity is displayed for each location.
  • Incoming - The number of incoming units. Refer to Transfers.
  • Committed - The number of units that are part of an order but aren't yet fulfilled. Inventory units that are part of draft orders aren't counted as committed until the draft order becomes an order.

Shipping

  • This product requires shipping - Select this option for a physical product that you ship.
  • Weight - The weight of the product. This field only displays when This product requires shipping is selected. Product weight needs to be exact because it's used to calculate shipping rates. You can buy a shipping scale at the Shopify Hardware Store.
  • Add customs information - Selecting this allows you to save information that is required when shipping products internationally. This field only displays when This product requires shipping is selected.
    • Country/Region of origin - The country where the product was manufactured or assembled. If the product consists of materials from different countries or regions, then the country or region where the product takes its final form is the country or region of origin. Different countries or regions and international treaties have different rules of origin.
    • HS code - If you want to ship the product internationally, then enter the Harmonized System (HS) tariff code. These codes provide customs with information so that correct tariffs can be applied to the order. You can find the HS code for your product by searching using a keyword in the HS code field of the product details page. Learn more about HS codes from the World Customs Organization.

Variants

For a product that has variants, this section displays the options for the product, such as color and size. For more information about variants, refer to Variants.

Purchase options

You can add purchase options to your products, such as subscriptions, try-before-you-buy, and preorders.

If a product or any of its variants have a purchase option applied to it, then relevant purchase option settings are displayed in the Purchase options section of the product page.

You can choose to limit a product to only having a purchase option available, or you can activate both the purchase option, and one-time purchase.

Learn more about purchase options.

Search engine listing

Contains a preview of how your product will display in search engine results, such as on Google. The preview consists of the product title, its URL on your online store, and part of the description.

To make changes to how your product is displayed on search engines, in the Search engine listing section, click Edit. For more details, refer to Edit a search engine listing preview.

Product status

Product status determines if a product is ready to be sold.

For newly created products, the product status is set as Active by default. Products that are created by duplicating a product or products that become unarchived are set to Draft by default.

You can set the following statuses:

  • Active: the product details are complete and the product is ready to be sold.
  • Draft: the product details need to be completed before it can be sold.
  • Archived: the product details are complete, but the product is no longer for sale. Archiving a product hides it from your admin and any customers. To archive a product, scroll to the bottom of the product page and click Archive product.

Publishing

Publishing displays a list of your sales channels and markets. For Shopify Plus merchants, this is where your B2B catalogs are listed as well. All sales channels and markets are selected by default. To include or exclude products from a sales channel or market, refer to Managing publishing.

Organization

Product category is a label that describes the group or class that a product belongs to. The product category is selected from the Shopify Product Taxonomy, a predefined, standardized list. The category helps with the following tasks:

  • Determine the rate at which the product is taxed in the United States when you're using Shopify Tax. Your products might be subject to special rates or exemptions. When a product is categorized correctly, the most accurate tax rate is collected at checkout. Collecting too much or not enough sales tax can create financial or legal liability for your business.
  • Manage your products better within Shopify, for example, as a condition for an automated collection or to help filter your product list.
  • Make it easier to sell products in other channels that require a standardized product type, such as Facebook or Google.
  • Unlock product attributes, referred to as category metafields, that map to each product category.

A product can have only one category that applies to all its variants. When possible, a standard product category recommendation displays to help you select one for the first time. You can accept it or edit the recommendation. Product categories are optional. To learn more, refer to Product Category.

Category metafields are additional attributes and default entries that are unlocked when you assign a product category. For example, if you add the product category Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Shirts & Tops, then you can add category metafields for clothing size, neckline, sleeve length type, length type, age group, material, and color. Default entries are available for each category metafield.

You can edit the default entries to match your branding better and the entry updates everywhere you connected it. For example, color entry examples include red, black, and white. If you want to update black to graphite, then you can update the entry and it automatically updates where that entry is connected.

You can also convert category metafields into variants for your products. When you use color entries as variant options, you can display variant options as swatches for color options on your storefront products pages.

Learn more about category metafields.

Product type - A way to create a custom category for a product. The product type lets you define product categories other than the ones that are available in Shopify's standard product categories. A product can have only one custom product type. To learn more, refer to Product Types.

Vendor - The manufacturer, wholesaler, or other vendor for the product. You can filter your product list by vendor, which can speed up ordering inventory.

Collections - The collections that a product is included in. You can use this field to add the product directly to a manual collection. Automated collections include the product when it matches the collection conditions.

Tags - Tags are searchable keywords that you can associate with your product. Tags can help customers find your product through your online store search, and you can also use them to create automated collections. For more information about tags, refer to Tag formats.

Online Store

The Theme template menu displays the current product template that the product uses on the Online Store.

By default, products are assigned the Default product template. If you've created any other product templates in your live theme, then those options display in the drop-down menu as template options.

For more information about theme templates, refer to Templates.

Adding specialized information by using product metafields

You can add custom fields to your product pages by using metafields. Metafields let you save specialized information that isn't usually captured on your product pages. For example, a candle seller might want to display a burn time for candles on their product pages, whereas a grocery store might want to display a product expiration date for canned goods. The following are other examples of specialized information:

  • part numbers
  • color swatches
  • launch dates
  • related products
  • blog post summaries
  • files for download

Metafields are displayed in an editable table on your product pages. Each metafield displays the name that you select when you create your metafield definition. You can click in each table row to display the metafield type and its description, and then enter a value.

If you have an Online Store 2.0 theme, such as Dawn, then you can use the theme editor to connect metafields to your theme and customize your pages to the product or variant that's displayed. If you're using vintage themes, or if you want to add metafield types that your theme doesn't support, then you can edit your theme code or hire a Shopify Partner to help you.

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