Duplicates: Requires attention and Same product

When a channel import finds an item that could be a product already in Nembol (but not with certainty), it doesn't guess and it doesn't discard it: the item comes in paused, with status to_verify ("Requires attention" in the dashboard). It is not published, synced or linked until someone decides.

Find what needs attention

curl "https://api.nembol.com/rest/v1/products?status=to_verify" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEMBOL_API_KEY"

Each product explains why in requires_attention:

{
  "id": "prod_7c1e",
  "status": "to_verify",
  "requires_attention": {
    "reason": "ambiguous_match",
    "message": "The SKU matches more than one product in Nembol",
    "channel": "etsy",
    "conflicting_product_ids": ["prod_51aa", "prod_51ab"],
    "detected_at": "2026-10-13T10:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

Imports report how many items came in this way (import.requires_attention in the operation). While a product is to_verify, listing writes answer 409 product_requires_attention and SKU-matched inventory writes skip it.

Resolve it

Two ways out:

• It's the same item as an existing product → merge them with POST /products/merge (below). This also resolves it.
• Otherwise → POST /products/{id}/resolve:

The Etsy reasons (etsy_shared_quantity, etsy_processing_profiles) are channel settings, not duplicates: keep_independent answers 409 resolution_not_applicable for them.

Ignored listings are listed by GET /ignored_listings; DELETE /ignored_listings/{id} stops ignoring one, and the next import of that channel brings it in again.

Merge two products (Same product)

curl -X POST https://api.nembol.com/rest/v1/products/merge \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEMBOL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"product_ids": ["prod_51aa", "prod_7c1e"], "survivor_id": "prod_51aa", "dry_run": true}'

• The survivor keeps its id; the others are archived with merged_into and their listings move to the survivor. One stock per variant is then shared by every channel.
• Always send dry_run: true first and show the preview: title, variants and what each channel will show (listings).
• choices picks, per field, which product a value comes from (default: the survivor): title, description, sku, barcode, price, quantity, photos, tags, category. For example: "choices": {"photos": {"from": "prod_7c1e"}, "quantity": {"values": {"var_1": 5}}}. Taking photos brings that product's variant images too. The channels keep their own titles and descriptions.
• Products that don't look alike are listed in looks_different: merging them needs confirm_different: true.
• Refused when two products are live on the same channel account (422 same_channel_account).
• Undoable for 30 days with POST /actions/{id}/undo (the id is in the Nembol-Action-Id header).

Variants that don't correspond

Variants are matched by SKU, then by option values. When that fails the merge answers 422 variants_differ with error.details.matching: both variant lists and a suggestion. If manual_allowed is true (the absorbed product is live only on Etsy, Shopify or WooCommerce, with the same number of variants), match them yourself and send the merge again:

{
  "product_ids": ["prod_51aa", "prod_7c1e"],
  "survivor_id": "prod_51aa",
  "variant_maps": { "prod_7c1e": { "var_e1": "var_a1", "var_e2": "var_a2" } }
}

The map must be complete and one to one. After the merge the channel's variants take Nembol's names (and SKUs where the channel allows).

Events

A merge emits product.updated for the survivor (data.merged) and product.deleted for each absorbed product (data.merged_into). A resolution emits product.updated (product.deleted for ignore).

Good practice for agents

• Never resolve or merge on your own: show the person the conflicting products side by side and let them choose.
• Use dry_run before every merge, and keep the action id to undo.

Last updated on October 15, 2026