System Status

Managing SKUs

Gain a better understanding of a SKU's attributes and how they affect downstream processes

On this page, you'll find information on a SKUs key attributes.

Depending on how you send product data in create checkout or create checkout-session requests, your SKUs might contain compliance and/or basic product data.

Once you define a SKU's attributes, you can perform a create or upsert operation. After that, the resource can be updated or deleted. You can also retrieve a SKU by its unique identifier or search for SKUs using various query parameters.

Physical or digital

A SKU's physical attribute indicates whether Digital River has classified the product as physical or digital.

If physical is true, then the SKU's taxCode or the tax code of the SKU's SKU group represents a physical product, and vice versa.

For details, refer to how products are classified as physical or digital on the Product basics page.

Unique identifier

A SKU's unique identifier is represented by id.

A product's identifier in your system should ideally match the SKU's id in ours. This ensures that synchronization is possible and that SKUs work properly throughout an order's lifecycle. Therefore, we recommend that you specify your own id and ensure it matches your product's universally unique identifier.

If you don't specify id in the body of a create SKU request, then Digital River generates and returns a unique value.

In create and upsert SKU requests, id must adhere to the following character set:

  • Digits from 0 to 9

  • Upper case letters from A to Z

  • Lowercase letters from a to z

  • Dots/points: .

  • Hyphens: -

  • Underscores: _

If id contains any other character, then a 400 Bad Request is returned:

{
    "type": "bad_request",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "invalid_parameter",
            "parameter": "id",
            "message": "'89&56' is not a valid SKU ID."
        }
    ]
}

Item breadcrumb

A SKU's itemBreadcrumb represents a hierarchical classification system that organizes and categorizes your products based on their attributes, characteristics, and relationships. You'll typically structure itemBreadcrumb by defining a broad top-level category and, as you move down the hierarchy, getting more specific at each subsequent level.

You might have built similar data structures that inventory your products and make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for. In that case, we recommend using this same data.

If you're engaging the item classification service, then all of your physical SKUs must have an itemBreadcrumb.

Even if you're not currently making cross-border sales, it's best practice to define this parameter so that, in the event you do start selling internationally, you're better positioned to get started.

We recommend making your taxonomies as detailed as possible. This will increase the probability that the tariff codes returned by this service are accurate.

For example, Clothing > Women’s Jeans is an acceptable value but Clothing > Women’s Clothing > Jeans > Bootcut Jeans will likely result in more accurate classifications. You can also define multiple hierarchies, just make sure to separate each with a ; (semi-colon).

Although not technically required, it's highly recommended that you define itemBreadcrumb in English. If its value is in a different language, then the classification service will disregard this data point.

Country of origin

A SKU's countryOfOrigin is a two-letter Alpha-2 country code as described in the ISO 3166 international standard. It represents the country where a product was manufactured.

If a SKU does not have a skuGroupId, then it must contain a countryOfOrigin.

If you submit an invalid country code, then Digital River returns a 400 Bad Request:

{
    "type": "bad_request",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "invalid_parameter",
            "parameter": "countryOfOrigin",
            "message": "'KP' is not a valid Country of Origin."
        }
    ]
}

ECCN

A SKU's eccn represents its Export Control Classification Number (ECCN).

If a SKU does not have a skuGroupId, then it must contain an eccn.

This value determines whether a product:

  • Requires a U.S. export/re-export license

  • Contains any other license requirements/restrictions

  • Has an end use which is prohibited by applicable export control laws

Digital River's legal documentation lists ECCNs approved for use in the Digital River APIs. In the table's description field, you may find additional requirements and restrictions that further limit the use of the ECCN.

Digital River can only resell products with these listed ECCNs. If you have a product with an ECCN that you'd like to be considered for addition to the list, please contact Legal-compliance@digitalriver.com

Harmonized system code

A SKU's hsCode represents a Harmonized System code.

The format of the code is ####.##.####, where # represents a numeric digit between 0 and 9. The first six digits are mandatory. Any code longer than six digits but less than ten digits is optional and based on the country's preference. The period is not included in the character count.

Digital River validates a Harmonized System code's format. We don't however determine whether hsCode accurately classifies your product.

For example, the full ten-digit code for Jasmine rice in the United States is 1006.20.4025. If that's the value you specify, we don't check to ensure your product belongs in that category.

If you submit an incorrectly formatted hsCode, then Digital River returns a 400 Bad Request:

{
    "type": "bad_request",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "invalid_parameter",
            "parameter": "hsCode",
            "message": "'1234.56.YW' is not a valid HS code."
        }
    ]
}

SKU group identifier

The skuGroupId uniquely identifies the SKU group associated with the SKU. For details, refer to Grouping SKUs.

Manufacturer ID and part number

A SKU's manufacturerId and partNumber are only applicable to physical products.

The manufacturerId represents the unique identifier of a part/product's manufacturer.

A manufacturer part number (MPN) is a unique code issued by manufacturers to identify a part/product. This is represented by a SKU's partNumber.

MPNs are meant to be static identifiers of a part/product, universal to all distributors, wholesalers, and resellers. They allow customers to identify exact parts and protect themselves from counterfeits accurately.

If two parts/products originate from two manufacturers, each must have its own MPN. These identifiers are especially relevant for automotive and consumer electronics, due to the numerous parts in these complex products.

Managed fulfillments

In Digital River coordinated fulfillments that use the orchestrated model, you'll need to meet our managed fulfillment requirements before creating and updating SKU-inventory item pairs.

Managed fulfillment requirements

All the checkout's physical SKUs must meet the following requirements:

Creating and updating SKU-Inventory Item pairs

When you create or upsert a SKU that meets our managed fulfillment requirements, Digital River synchronously creates an associated inventory item. These SKU-inventory item pairs have shared attributes with identical values.

Request

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.digitalriver.com/skus' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer <API_key>' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
...
--data-raw '{
    "id": "sku_demo_1617140947939",
    "eccn": "EAR99",
    "countryOfOrigin": "DE",
    "taxCode": "4323.310_A",
    "partNumber": "DEMOPARTNUMBER2",
    "name": "name_demo_1617140947939",
    "weight": 8.88,
    "weightUnit": "oz",
    "metadata": {
        "application": "iOS-LLL"
    },
    "managedFulfillment": "DRGlobalFulfillment"
}'

Response

{
    "id": "sku_demo_1617146803587",
    "createdTime": "2021-03-30T23:26:43Z",
    "name": "name_demo_1617146803587",
    "eccn": "EAR99",
    "partNumber": "DEMOPARTNUMBER2",
    "taxCode": "4323.310_A",
    "countryOfOrigin": "DE",
    "metadata": {
        "application": "iOS-LLL"
    },
    "weight": 8.88,
    "weightUnit": "oz",
    "fulfill": false,
    "allowOversell": true,
    "liveMode": false,
    "managedFulfillment": "DRGlobalFulfillment",
    "physical": true
}

Since the SKU's id and the inventory item's id are the same, you can use this value to describe items in checkouts, check inventory levels, request shipping quotes and make reservations.

Every subsequent modification of a managedFulfillment SKU (assuming the update request satisfies our managed fulfillment requirements) synchronously updates the paired inventory item.

Request

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.digitalriver.com/skus/sku_demo2_1617153759250' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer <API_key>' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "countryOfOrigin": "US"
}'

Response

{
    "id": "sku_demo2_1617153759250",
    "createdTime": "2021-03-31T01:22:39Z",
    "name": "name_demo2_1617153759250",
    "eccn": "EAR99",
    "partNumber": "DEMOPARTNUMBER2",
    "updatedTime": "2021-03-31T01:23:04Z",
    "taxCode": "4323.310_A",
    "countryOfOrigin": "US",
    "metadata": {
        "application": "iOS-LLL"
    },
    "weight": 8.88,
    "weightUnit": "oz",
    "fulfill": false,
    "allowOversell": true,
    "liveMode": false,
    "managedFulfillment": "DRGlobalFulfillment",
    "physical": true
}

Once Digital River creates an inventory item, do not directly update or delete it through the Inventory Items API. These operations modify and delete the inventory item but do not affect its paired SKU.

When you want to remove Digital River as a product's fulfillment coordinator, set managedFulfillment to null in an update SKU request. This deletes the inventory item paired with the SKU. If you then attempt to retrieve the inventory item, you receive a 404 Not Found.

Request

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.digitalriver.com/skus/sku_demo_1617153057380' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer <API_key>' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
...
--data-raw '{
    "managedFulfillment": null
}'

Response

{
    "id": "sku_demo_1617153057380",
    "createdTime": "2021-03-31T01:10:57Z",
    "name": "name_demo_1617153057380",
    "eccn": "EAR99",
    "partNumber": "DEMOPARTNUMBER2",
    "updatedTime": "2021-03-31T01:19:14Z",
    "taxCode": "4323.310_A",
    "countryOfOrigin": "DE",
    "metadata": {
        "application": "iOS-LLL"
    },
    "weight": 8.88,
    "weightUnit": "oz",
    "fulfill": false,
    "allowOversell": true,
    "liveMode": false,
    "physical": true
}

Deleting SKU-Inventory Item pairs

A delete SKU request deletes both the SKU and the inventory item it's paired with.

Name and description

A SKU's name should represent the product's brand name and description should provide more details about the product.

A name is required butdescription is optional. If you assign a string to description, we recommend limiting its length to 1000 characters or less.

In low-code checkouts, name is displayed in the order summary section.

Image and url

You can use a SKU's:

  • image to specify the URL of a resource that holds the product's image. This resource should be similar to the image(s) you display to customers while they review your store's products.

  • url to specify the address of a resource that contains the product's description.

If your integration gives customers the option to use Klarna then each of your SKUs must contain an image and url.

In Prebuilt Checkout, the image of each SKU referenced in the checkout-sessions' items[] is displayed in the order summary section of the checkout modal.

Weight and weight unit

For physical SKUs, you should provide a product’s weight denoted in a weightUnit. The enumerated weightUnit values are oz, lb, g, and kg. If you provide weight but not a weightUnit, then the value defaults to oz.

If your site intends to sell physical products cross-border, then we recommend that you pass the weight and weightUnit of all of your catalog's physical SKUs.

In some countries, like Switzerland, custom officials use a product's weight when calculating import duties. Without this data, Digital River is unable to calculate landed costs.

If you send a create or update checkout request whose shipTo.address.country represents one of these nations, and any SKU referenced in the checkout's items[] is missing weight, then the following error is thrown:

{
    "type": "bad_request",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "missing_parameter",
            "message": "The weight is missing.",
            "parameter": "weight"
        }
    ]
}

Allow oversell

In Digital River coordinated fulfillments, you may build your integration so customers can reserve out-of-stock or pre-order items not yet in stock. To do this, you can use the SKU's allowOversell flag.

In version 2021-12-13 and later, you can't set a SKU's allowOversell.

If you set the flag to true, customers can reserve the item even when inventory is not available. When set to false, customers won't be able to place a hold on an item when its inventory levels are not sufficient.

Tax code

A SKU's taxCode determines whether Digital River classifies a product as physical or digital and ensures that taxes on it are properly assessed.

If a SKU does not have a skuGroupId, then it must contain a taxCode.

You can modify a SKU's taxCode in either an upsert or an update SKU request.

Supported tax codes

The following table lists the taxCode values supported by Digital River provides a short description of each and indicates whether it represents a physical or digital product.

If you'd like to sell a product that isn't described by any of these taxCode(s) , contact your account representative.

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