When you're trying to perform a bulk upload for product costs or product groupings, you might want to include SKUs that Link My Books hasn't detected yet from your sales channel reports. By default, Link My Books only recognises SKUs it has already found in those reports.
This guide shows you how to enable a setting that allows you to upload a full list of all your SKUs in advance. This way, Link My Books saves them to your product list even before they appear in sales channel reports.
Why Add SKUs Before They Appear in a Settlement?
If you sell products with different VAT rates (for example, a mix of standard rated and zero rated goods), new products will land in your default product group when they first appear in a settlement. If the new product has a different VAT rate to your default group, the settlement could be processed with the wrong VAT treatment.
By adding SKUs to Link My Books before they are sold, you can assign them to the correct product group (and VAT rate) ahead of time. This means that when the product does appear in a settlement payout, the correct VAT treatment is already in place and no corrections are needed.
This is particularly useful if you:
Regularly add new products to your store
Sell a mix of standard rated and zero rated (or reduced rated) goods
Want to avoid having to roll back and resend settlements due to incorrect VAT groupings
How to Enable Bulk SKU Creation
Follow these simple steps to allow the bulk upload of new SKUs:
Navigate to Inventory Settings:
In Link My Books, go to Inventory, then select either Product Costs or Product Groups. Next, click on the 'Settings' tab within that section.
Toggle 'Allow SKU Creation':
Locate the 'Allow SKU Creation' toggle switch and turn it 'On'.
Save Settings: Click the 'Save Settings' button to apply your changes.
Once this setting is enabled, your bulk uploads (for product costs or product groupings) can now include new SKUs that Link My Books hasn't yet processed from your sales channels. These new SKUs will be added to your Link My Books product list automatically upon upload.
Assigning New SKUs to the Correct Product Group
After uploading your new SKUs, you should assign them to the appropriate product group straight away so the correct VAT treatment is applied from the start:
Go to Inventory > Product Groups and click the Product SKUs tab.
Find your newly added SKUs in the list.
Use the dropdown menu to assign each SKU to the correct product group (e.g. Standard Rated, Zero Rated, or a custom group).
Alternatively, you can assign product groups as part of your bulk upload CSV by including the group name in the Product Group column.
For more information on setting up and managing product groups, see our How to use product groups article.
Tips for Managing Large Product Catalogs
If you have a large number of SKUs (hundreds or thousands), organising them into product groups can feel overwhelming. Here are some practical strategies to make the process more manageable:
Use the CSV Export/Import Workflow
The most efficient way to manage large catalogs is through the CSV bulk upload process:
Download the CSV template: Go to Inventory > Product Groups and click Export to download your current product list as a CSV file. This gives you a spreadsheet with all your existing SKUs.
Filter and group by naming patterns: Open the CSV in a spreadsheet application (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.) and use filtering and sorting to identify patterns in your SKU names. For example, if you sell clothing, you might filter for all SKUs containing "T-SHIRT" or "HOODIE" and assign them all to the same product group at once.
Assign product groups in bulk: In the product group column, type the group name for each batch of filtered SKUs. Using copy-paste or fill-down in your spreadsheet makes this much faster than doing it one by one in the app.
Re-upload the CSV: Save your changes and upload the updated CSV back into Link My Books via Inventory > Product Groups > Import.
💡 Tip: If you have thousands of SKUs, consider working through them in batches — group the most common product types first (these will cover the majority of your sales), then work through the remaining "long tail" items over time. You don't have to categorise everything in one sitting.
Product Categories Are Not Auto-Imported from Sales Channels
It's important to know that Link My Books does not automatically import product categories or groupings from your sales channels (such as Square, Shopify, Amazon, etc.). Even if your products are already organised into categories in your sales channel, you'll need to set up your product groups separately within Link My Books.
This is because Link My Books product groups are designed specifically for accounting purposes — they control how your sales are categorised in your accounting software — which may differ from how you organise products in your storefront.
⚠️ Working with very large catalogs (5,000+ SKUs)? If you're finding it difficult to manage your product groups or the CSV is very large, reach out to our support team. We can help advise on the best grouping strategy for your specific business and accounting setup, and in some cases can assist with the initial bulk categorisation.
If you have any questions about this article or feedback on how we could make it better please reach out to the support team via the blue chat icon on the bottom right of the page or via email to [email protected].