We need ShipStation to support converting an existing standalone product SKU into a Store Alias of a specific nested Variant without restructuring the entire Parent group.
Current case:
- Target Variant: TSD2358-GREYCAMO
- Existing standalone SKU to convert: 709257409214
- Sibling Variant: Khaki Camo
Required behavior:
1. Keep the Parent and both existing Variants active and unchanged.
2. Deactivate the standalone 709257409214 product record.
3. Add 709257409214 as an alias of TSD2358-GREYCAMO.
4. Preserve historical order activity, open orders, inventory quantities, locations, allocations, warehouse associations, and product defaults.
5. Provide a record-level preview before applying the change.
Today, manually adding the alias is blocked because the alias value already exists as a product SKU. Combine Products also cannot safely target only the nested Variant because selecting the Variant pulls in the entire Parent group and risks the sibling Variant.
This limitation affects inventory accuracy for merchants whose retailer order imports use UPCs or retailer-specific item numbers as SKUs. A supported Variant-only merge/alias operation, or a scoped pre-import normalization layer, would prevent duplicate product records and incorrect inventory deduction.
ShipStation Support confirmed that no safe supported workflow currently exists and suggested submitting this as a product idea.