Why Are Products Being Skipped?

After a sync completes, you might notice that some products were skipped instead of updated. This is normal — it means Alterify couldn't match certain rows in your file to products in your BigCommerce store. Here are the most common reasons and how to fix them.

1. SKU or Barcode Doesn't Match

This is the most common cause. A row is skipped when the SKU (or barcode) in your file doesn't match any product in your BigCommerce catalog.

How to check:

• Click View Logs on the profile, then download the sync report. The report shows which rows were skipped and the identifier value that couldn't be matched.
• Search for that SKU in your BigCommerce admin. If it doesn't exist, the product either hasn't been created yet or uses a different SKU format.

Common causes:

• Leading or trailing spaces in the SKU (e.g.,  ABC-001 vs ABC-001).
• Different casing (e.g., abc-001 vs ABC-001).
• Supplier uses a different SKU format than what's in BigCommerce.
• The product exists in BigCommerce but the SKU field is empty.

2. Wrong Column Name in Mapping

If the column name you entered in the field mapping doesn't exactly match the header in your file, Alterify can't read the values.

How to fix:

1. Open your source file and check the exact column header name.
2. Go to Edit Settings on the profile.
3. Update the Column name to match exactly — including capitalization, spaces, and special characters.
4. Click Update and run the sync again.

3. Product Was Recently Added to BigCommerce

When you first install Alterify, it imports your product catalog from BigCommerce. If you've added new products since then, Alterify may not know about them yet.

Alterify automatically detects new products via BigCommerce webhooks, so newly created products should appear within a few minutes. If a product was just created, wait a moment and try the sync again.

4. Empty or Invalid Values in the Identifier Column

If a row in your file has an empty, null, or invalid value in the SKU or barcode column, it will be skipped because there's nothing to match against.

How to fix: Open your source file and check for blank cells or placeholder values (like N/A or -) in the identifier column. These rows can't be matched and will always be skipped.

5. Duplicate Identifiers in Your File

If your file contains multiple rows with the same SKU, the sync may produce unexpected results. Ensure each row has a unique identifier.

How to Investigate Skipped Products

1. On the dashboard, click View Logs next to the profile.
2. Find the sync execution you want to review.
3. Download the report as a CSV — it lists every row with its status (updated or skipped) and the reason.
4. Filter the downloaded CSV for skipped rows to see exactly which identifiers failed to match.

Tip: A small number of skipped products is normal — especially if your supplier's catalog is larger than what you carry in your store. You only need to investigate if products that should be updating are being skipped.