Product Alias is Not Visible by Product Bundles, resulting in order fulfillment failures

[customerservice]

When configuring Product Bundles, each component can only be recognized by the main SKU of that component product; the product aliases are not visible to the bundle configuration.

I understand this is the current intended design — bundles reference only the main SKU of each component. While that works during the initial setup, the problem arises later, when we need to switch the main SKU with one of its aliases. In those cases, all bundles that were previously configured with the old main SKU will silently lose that component, because the bundle does not recognize aliases.

This creates a serious operational issue: incoming orders for that bundle will not pull the component product, leading to fulfillment errors that are very difficult to detect in advance.

This scenario happens easily when we merge products and choose a new SKU to become the main SKU, while the original main SKU becomes an alias — something your interface currently allows without warning or any safeguarding.

It would be extremely helpful, actually absolutely necessary,  if this behavior could be improved or safeguarded, so bundles remain intact even when SKU roles are switched.

[CaraAdmin]

Hello @customerservice!

First, welcome to the Community! We’re so glad you’re here. This space is a great place to find answers, share feedback, and suggest new product features—we hope you find it both helpful and inspiring!

Regarding your feedback on bundles and aliases: when creating a bundle, it’s currently only possible to link the parent SKU. Alias SKUs aren’t supported within bundles at this time.

While there isn’t an active plan to address this yet, your feedback has been shared with our development team, so they’re aware of the request.

We’d love to gather more input from the Community to understand the impact of this feature better. Your idea is thoughtful and could provide real value.

If you’d like to see this enhancement implemented, feel free to give it a thumbs up or leave a comment explaining how it would improve your shipping workflow. This helps highlight demand and ensures your voice is heard.

Happy Shipping and Holiday!

-Cara

[customerservice]

This is not merely an enhancement request. The absence of safeguards to prevent the loss of component SKUs in a bundle configuration constitutes a defect with potentially serious operational consequences.

We have already encountered this issue in practice. A parent SKU was replaced with one of its product aliases, and the system provided no warning—despite multiple bundles being dependent on that parent SKU. As a result, several bundle orders were received within a single day and were fulfilled by ShipStation without the correct component included in the bundle.

There needs to be an urgent defect fix to prevent a parent SKU from being removed or replaced when it is referenced by one or more bundles or kits. At a minimum, the system should issue a blocking warning or require explicit confirmation when such a change would break bundle dependencies.

A more robust long-term solution would be to allow bundles to reference product data via aliases, rather than relying solely on a single parent SKU.