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The eTailPet POS has a product catalog of over 180,000 products with images and descriptions that you can select and use in your own catalog setup. This collection of products is called the Product Universe. You are able to set up products you can't find in the Product Universe as parts of your Private Product catalog. This article will show you how to access and create Private Products. See what's there for you!

In this article, you'll learn the following:

Private Catalog Overview

The Private Products Page

Import Private Products

Private Catalog Overview

You can work with your Private Products in the Manage Catalog part of the main menu. Your store catalog is kept in two primary areas in that menu; My Products is where you can find products that are Public and Private. When you can't find a product you need in the Product Universe, you can add it as a Private Product to use it in the system.

Private Products

You may have some products that you sell in your store that can’t be found in the Product Universe. For example, perhaps you provide grooming services, daycare, or local items. You can easily add these to your POS by creating them as Private Products. These products will be available for sale in-store and you can set some to appear in your online catalog. Your Private Products catalog will also include Expiry Products you create to sell products that are about to expire at a discount. Click here to learn more about working with Expiry Products.

For some products that are not currently available in the Product Universe catalog, you can submit a Catalog Request to see if they can be added.

To access your Private Products page, go to Manage Catalog > My Products. In the Advanced Filters area, click to open the Catalog Type filter and select Private. Then click the Search button to load your Private Catalog.

Please Note: If products are later added to the Product Universe that you originally set up as private products, you will need to first archive the private products in order to avoid duplicate UPCs in your catalog. Click here to learn more about archiving a private product and merging it with a public product.

The Private Products Page

The My Products page gives you many ways to find and work with the products in your store's catalog. Here are the functions of the page:

Search and Filters — Please note that once you have selected a filter, you will see your selection in that area along with an X button you can use to clear it, if needed.

1. Search Item — You can scan in a UPC barcode for a product here or enter text about the item to search for it.
2. Store — If you have multiple stores, you can use this filter to select which one's catalog you wish to view. After selecting one, you can search again to filter for others until you have the Brands loaded that you want.
3. Brand — Click this filter to enter search text for the brand you want. After entering three or more characters, the filter will begin finding matches. Click on the brand you want. This is one of the core filters and is always in view.
   
4. Categories — Click this filter to select as many Categories as you'd like to view. Check the boxes for the ones you want. This is one of the core filters and is always in view.
   
5. Advanced Filters — By default, the My Products page loads with this area closed. You can click on the Advanced Filters link to expand and open the area to have access to the filters listed below.
6. Items With Inventory — Check this box to view only items that have a Quantity on Hand of 1 or more.
7. Items Without Inventory — Check this box to view only items that have no Quantity on Hand.
8. Archived — Check this box to view only items that have been Archived. The Archived product status is similar to Deleted, but is not a permanent deletion.
9. Select Catalog Type — Click to open this drop-list if you need to change the Catalog Type from Public products (default) to Private. You'll have the same option after changing to the Private Catalog.
10. Is Taxable — Click to open this filter and change the view from the default of Yes (taxable) to either No (not taxable) or Other (situationally taxable) items.
11. Vendor — Click to search for one of your Vendors (similar to the Brand filter above in #3). Enter search text and the system will begin populating matches after you enter three or more characters. Click on the Vendor you want to filter to only products associated with that Vendor.
12. Select Item Type — Click to select the Item Type you want to view. Choices include Appointment, Donation, Fractional, Gift-Card, Service, Single (default), and Tip.
    
13. Expiry — By default, items with and without Expiration Dates will display. Click to open this filter and restrict the items to those with expirations (Yes) or those without (No).
14. Show on Website — By default, items that appear on the website and that are only in-store will display. Click to open this filter and restrict the items to those that Show on Website (Yes) or those that do not (No).
15. Custom Fields — If you have saved product Tags or if you've saved labels in product Custom Fields, such as 'Seasonal,' you can enter one to filter for items with that tag or custom label. If you need to do more than one, use the second Custom Field.
    
16. Search Button — Click the Search button to load matching results.

Page Functions

17. Clear All Filters — Click this button to remove all filters and reset the page to default view of all Public products.
18. New Private Product — Click this button to create a new product not in the Product Universe that will be part of your Private Product catalog. There are a lot of options in configuring a new product and you can find all details by clicking here.
19. Print Labels — If you need to print labels for products or just update shelf tags, first select all of the products you need by clicking the checkboxes on the far left. Then click the Print Labels button and you can either print a label for each of the Quantity On Hand (Print QOH) that you have, or you can Print One label for each selected product.
    
20. Action Menu — You can open the Action Menu for My Products by clicking the Three-Dot button on the far right.
    
    If you have selected product checkboxes, the Export and Batch Action buttons will be active for you. Click the Export button to have the system email you an Excel file of the data for the selected products. Click the Batch Actions button to open the Batch Action window and do bulk edits or actions on the selected products. For full details on what you can do with the Export function, click here, and for full details on Batch Actions, click here.
    

Data Table

21. Data Table — Here are the functions for working with your My Products Data Table:
    • By default, the Data Table will display the first 50 items, but you can use the Show Entries control in the upper left to adjust that quantity.
      
    • In the Data Table header row, you can click the checkbox to Select All or click again to Deselect All.
      
    • You can also Sort the table by clicking the Name column header, or Reverse-Sort by clicking it again.
      
    • On the far right, you can click the Update All button in the header row to save updates to all products in the data table to which you have made edits.
      
    • At the bottom of the table, you can use the Navigation Controls to move between the pages of items in the lower left.
      
    • In the lower right, you can see which products are displaying out of the total number you have filtered to display on the page.
      
22. Select Item — You can check the box for an item on the far left to select it for print or batch actions.
23. Product Link — The Name of each product is a link you can click to open its full details. For more information on working in that window, click here to view the article on setting up Private Products.
24. Editable Product Data Fields — Several of the fields in the Data Table are editable for you. These include Store Price, Online Price, Show on Website (SOW), Adjust SOW Based on QOH (if there is no Quantity on Hand, the Show On Website will automatically deactivate), and Is Taxable.
25. Update Item — You can click the Update Item on the far left if you need to update changes you made to an individual product. If you have made changes to multiple items and need to save, you can click the Update All Items button in the header row of the Data Table.

Boss Quote

Be firm with your human about double-checking Private Product edits before they Update product prices, website visibility, or taxability from the My Products page. Their capacity for failure is nearly as profound as their lack of providing catnip when needed.

— Felicity, Scranton, PA

Import Private Products

Here is how to import your Private Products:

1. Go to Manage Catalog > My Products.
2. In the Catalog Type drop-list, select Private.
3. Click the Search button. The results in the products table will now show only Private Products.
   
4. Click on Import / Update Private Products.
5. Click on Export Sample File.
6. Fill out the spreadsheet with the necessary information for each Private Product. Here is what each column should have:
   • UPC — Make sure leading zeroes are present (See the Tips section at the end of the article to learn how to format UPCs).
   • max_item_per_cart — This is the maximum quantity a customer can place in cart at one time.
   • price — Enter the product's retail price.
   • show_on_website — Enter Yes or No depending on whether or not you want the item shown on your e-commerce website.
   • delivery_methods — Enter PICKUP, HD (Home Delivery), or SHIP_TO_ME  to indicate the delivery methods for the item. To enter more than one, separate the codes by comma (i.e PICKUP, SHIP_TO_ME, HD).
   • stores — Enter Store IDs to indicate the stores at which the item will be sold. Separate Store IDs by comma. To find your Store IDs, go to Manage Catalog > My Products > Store. The Store ID is located next to the store name, as pictured below. If you need to set different retail prices for multiple stores, include a separate line for each store with the store ID in column F.
     
   • is_taxable — Enter Yes or No depending on whether or not the item is taxable.
   • remove_product — If this is an existing item in your catalog and you want to remove it, enter Yes. If you don't want to remove it, leave this field blank.
   • is_astro_points_eligible — Enter Yes or No depending on whether or not the item is eligible to earn Astro Points. Also, if you are not enrolled in Astro Loyalty Points rewards program, then put No. If you are, you can designate each item's eligibility yourself.
   • DIL (Desired Inventory Level) — Enter the number you want to ideally have in stock for each item. This is very helpful when you are just getting started with the eTailPet system.
   • reorder_type — Your options to enter in this column are: SMART_ORDER, DESIRED_INVENTORY_LEVEL, or DO_NOT_ORDER. Smart Order is for items you want to reorder yourself. Desired Inventory Level will make a Purchase Order with items, and the reorder quantity will be enough to reach the amount you specify in the DIL column. Do Not Order means you do not want to reorder this item.
   • is_shelf_tag — Enter Yes or No. Yes will produce only one label when price updates occur. No will produce one label for each unit of the item you have on hand when price updates occur or inventory is added.
7. Review your spreadsheet before you import it and make sure any formulas are converted to text. View the Tips section (this article doesn't have a Tips section) below to see how to convert formulas to text in Excel.
   
8. Go back to Manage Catalog > My Products.
9. In the Catalog Type drop-list, select Private.
10. Click the Search button. The results in the products table will now show only Private Products.
11. Click Import / Update Private Products in the upper left.
12. Click Upload Excel File.
13. Upload your file.

Once the import is finished, you will receive an emailed report showing which products were successfully imported.

Related Topics

Adding and Importing Products

Private Products

Private Product Setup

Private Product Item Types and Price Types

Product Universe

Product Vendors

Export Products

Product Batch Actions

Printing Product Labels

Product Details Page

Spreadsheet Tips and Tricks

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I have a question, but I can't find my answer here. How do I get more assistance?

A: You can ask any question at the number listed here. Contact our support team at: (323) 370-0738 for the U.S., and (888) 370-2363 for Canada.