Create parent-child relationships

When you create parent-child relationships between products, you help customers find different versions of the product they are viewing. Learn more about parent-child relationships and variation relationships.

To create parent-child relationships between products, use inventory files or the Add a Product tool. You can view the existing child ASIN(s) for parent ASINs in the Amazon catalog on the Add a Product page in your seller account. if your product is not in the Amazon catalogue, you will have to create a new ASIN. For more information, see the ASIN creation policy.

Inventory files: special considerations

There are a few special things to consider when you use inventory files to update, modify, or delete your inventory.

A child product cannot be assigned a new parent-SKU value without first removing the relationship to its original parent item. To eliminate the relationship, you can delete either the parent or child product SKU.
When you delete a parent, you remove the relationship between that parent and all of its children. When you delete a child item, you eliminate the relationship between just that child and its parent.
After the original relationship is removed, you can re-assign the child item to a new parent item by entering that parent item's SKU in the child item's parent-SKU field.

Note: You can use XML uploads instead of inventory file templates to create parent-child relationships between products. For more information, see Data Exchange overview.

You might also be able to use the Check My File feature to automatically detect variation sets in your inventory file.

You can find everything you need to set up a parent-child relationship in the inventory file template. The following table demonstrates how you might use an inventory file to set up a parent-child relationship for several t-shirts that come in 3 sizes and 2 colours.

Note:

The exact column headings in your product template might differ. Refer to the "Data Definitions" tab in your Inventory File Template for the specific columns you use to establish relationships.
Some attribute fields in your template can be noted as optional, but they are required to describe your child products accurately in relation to parent products.

In the example below, SKU 101 "T-Shirt" is the parent product. Because parent products are not offered for sale, fields such as size, colour, price, and quantity are irrelevant and should not be used.

However, you should still describe other aspects of the parent product, including an image that represents the generalised product. The only information to omit relates specifically to price, availability, and shipping.

The variation theme column indicates that products in this particular parent-child relationship differ from each other based on both colour and size. The "Data Definitions" tab in the inventory template lists the terms you can use for variation themes.

SKU	Title	Size	Colour	Parentage	Parent SKU	Relationship type	Variation theme	Price	Quantity
101	T-shirt			parent			SizeColour
101MB	Royal blue T-shirt M	Medium	Royal blue	child	101	variation	SizeColour	15.97	50
101SB	Royal Blue T-Shirt S	Small	Royal Blue	child	101	variation	SizeColour	15.97	50
101LB	Royal Blue T-Shirt L	Large	Royal Blue	child	101	variation	SizeColour	17.97	50
101MR	English red T-shirt M	Medium	English Cherry Red	child	101	variation	SizeColour	15.97	50
101SR	English Red T-Shirt S	Small	English Cherry Red	child	101	variation	SizeColour	15.97	50
101LR	English Red T-Shirt L	Large	English Cherry Red	child	101	variation	SizeColour	17.97	50

Notes:

Do not include price and quantity values for parent products.
When you list your child products, fully describe each child product and include data for all of the variation attributes of the parent product. This will ensure that they are included in browse and search results and on product detail pages.
Follow the recommendations in the Product page style guides when determining the variation attributes to use for each child product.

Create parent-child relationships

See also

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