Zentail lets you fill in a product's attributes once and sends them to every channel you sell on. This article explains how that works, and what to do when one channel needs something different.
How one value reaches every channel
Every product has a SMART Type, which is Zentail's category for it (see SMART Types: What They Are and How to Use Them). The SMART Type decides which attributes the product has, and maps each one to the matching attribute on every channel.
Take a light bulb's wattage. You enter it once, as Wattage, and Zentail sends it to each channel under that channel's own name, in the units it expects. For example:
Channel | That channel's attribute |
Amazon | BulbWattage |
eBay | Power |
Walmart | Wattage |
Catalog attributes, listing attributes and overrides
A catalog attribute is a value on the product itself, like Wattage. It is the same for every channel.
A listing attribute is what one channel actually receives. Zentail normally fills it from the matching catalog attribute.
An override replaces a listing attribute's value on one storefront. A storefront is one connected channel account.
There are two kinds of override:
A variant override applies to one SKU.
A listing override applies to the whole listing, including every SKU in a variation listing.
The channel's attribute decides which kind applies, so you never have to choose.
When to use an override
Most of the time, fill in the catalog attribute and let Zentail map it. Use an override in three cases:
One channel needs a different value. Your catalog says 120 watts, but you want eBay's Power attribute to say 220 watts.
A channel has an attribute nothing in your catalog fills. Amazon's light bulb category has Lamp Warmup Time, for example. If no catalog attribute maps to it, set it as an override on your Amazon storefront.
You want to stop sending an attribute to one channel. Use Don't send (see Quick Edit below).
If you want the same new value on every channel, don't use overrides. Add the attribute to the product with Add Attribute on the product's edit page, and every channel gets it.
An override stays until you clear it
Changing the catalog value doesn't change an override. If you later edit Wattage in your catalog, a storefront with an override keeps receiving the override's value until you clear it.
Where to set values
Product edit page
Open the product and click Catalog. Values you set here are catalog attributes, so they go to every channel. Attributes a channel requires are marked Required, along with the channel that requires them (see Required attributes).
The edit page doesn't set a different attribute value per channel. To set a different price, title or description for one channel, use the gear icon next to that channel in the product's sidebar (see How to Use Advanced Options to Set Channel Overrides).
Quick Edit
Quick Edit is the spreadsheet view of your catalog.
Open Quick Edit and add the attribute's column to your view.
Click a cell to open the cell editor.
In the Writing to dropdown, pick where the save goes. Catalog · all channels changes the catalog value. <your storefront> override changes only that storefront.
Enter the value, or tick Don't send this attribute to <storefront>, and save.
Import
To set many overrides at once, open a Quick Edit view that includes the storefront's override column, choose Actions → Export, edit the file, and import it back. To stop sending an attribute through an import, enter -- NOT SENT -- as its value.