What are Product Lookups?

What are product lookups and when do I use a product lookup vs creating the actual product?

A product lookup is just an alias for a product created within Finale.  It's not uncommon for sellers to have different SKUs across multiple marketplaces that all correspond to the same product in Finale.  Product lookups allow you to point all aliases of the product ID to one single product.  It just tells Finale how to understand a SKU that isn't created in Finale as a product. 

How do I import product lookups into Finale?

How to use product lookups for pack (or case) quantities?

A Product Lookup can also be used to tell Finale about case quantity items, or pack quantities. 

Let's say you sell an item individually, but on Amazon you sell it individually AND as a 12 pack.  In Finale, you can create a product lookup so Finale knows when an order has the 12-pack Amazon SKU on it that it really means 12 of the individual products. This does NOT require you to create the 12 pack Product ID in Finale.

How do you know when to create a Product ID vs just creating a product lookup?  

• If you're selling the same item and it has different SKUs across your marketplaces, then you will need to use a Product Lookup.  
• If your marketplace SKU exceeds the character limit for a Finale Product ID, then you will need to use a Product Lookup to associate it with the corresponding abbreviated Finale Product ID
• If you're selling the same product, but as a pack (multiple of the SAME item), then you have the choice of creating a product lookup OR you can create the product and use the Bill of Materials function to tell Finale how many is included in the pack.  This is more of a business decision on your part.  Both methods will have the same end result.  
• If you're selling a product that has multiple different items included and you track the inventory at the individual item level, then you must create the Product ID and use the Bill of Materials.  This is what is referred to as a kit or bundle product.

What is the maximum character limit for a product lookup?

We currently support 255 characters for product lookups.