Update Existing WooCommerce Products

Most WooCommerce catalogues are imported once, then updated from supplier feeds (price, stock, images, categories). Getting unique identifiers and permissions right prevents duplicates and the common error:

Not enough permissions to create record.
Not enough permissions to update record.
No Unique fields present.

How Import WP decides insert vs update

On the Permissions step you choose a unique identifier. For each row Import WP looks up an existing product with that identifier:

Lookup result	Create enabled	Update enabled	Result
No match	Yes	—	Insert new product
No match	No	—	Error / skip — often “Not enough permissions to create record”
Match found	—	Yes	Update existing product
Match found	—	No	Error / skip — “Not enough permissions to update record”

The unique identifier search includes items in trash. Changing the identifier type or values between imports can create duplicates or appear to “lose” matches.

See also the core Permissions documentation.

Recommended unique identifiers

Identifier	When to use	Template field
Product SKU	Best default for most feeds	Inventory → Product SKU
GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN	Supplier feeds keyed by barcode	Inventory → GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN
Product ID	Updating from an export that includes WordPress IDs	Use ID carefully; not always ideal for supplier feeds
Slug	Stable slugs in the feed	Product Fields → Slug
Custom identifier	Combine columns when no single SKU exists	Permissions → custom identifier from file

SKU setup

Map Inventory → Product SKU.
On Permissions, choose Product SKU as the unique identifier.
Ensure every row that should update has a stable, unique SKU.
Variation rows need their own SKUs (different from the parent).

GTIN setup

Map Inventory → GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN.
On Permissions, choose GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN as the unique identifier.
Values must be unique per product (and per variation if used on variations).

SKU and GTIN only appear as unique-identifier options when those fields are mapped in the template.

Permissions step

Typical settings:

First import (create catalogue)

Unique identifier: Product SKU (optional but recommended)
Create enabled
Update optional
Delete usually off

Ongoing feed sync

Unique identifier: Product SKU or GTIN (must match the first import)
Create enabled if new products should be added
Update enabled
Optionally enable delete-missing-records only if you understand the impact on products and media

Update-only imports (stock / price sync)

When you only want to refresh stock or prices on products that already exist:

Map SKU (unique identifier) plus the fields to change (Stock quantity, Regular Price, Sale Price, etc.).
Permissions:
- Create = disabled
- Update = enabled
- Optionally restrict update to Only the following fields (e.g. inventory / price fields)

If a SKU in the file does not exist on the site, the row will fail with a create-permissions error — expected for update-only mode.

Create new products and update existing ones

Unique identifier = SKU (or GTIN).
Enable Create and Update.
Keep SKUs stable forever for products you want to update.

Skip existing products

To import only new products and never change existing ones:

Enable Create
Disable Update

Rows that match an existing unique identifier will not update.

Field-level update restrictions

Under Update permissions you can choose:

Option	Meaning
All Fields	No field restrictions
Only the following fields	Allow-list of fields/patterns that may change
None of the following fields	Block-list of fields that must not change

Useful WooCommerce field groups include pricing, inventory, product attributes, product gallery, and related products. This is how you update stock without overwriting descriptions or images.

Examples of why restrictions matter:

Feed sends empty image columns → without restrictions you might clear galleries
Feed sends partial attributes → without “keep existing attributes” or field limits you might wipe attributes

Common mistakes

Mistake	Result
No unique identifier mapped	“No Unique fields present” / duplicates
SKU mapped but Permissions still use a different ID	Products never match; duplicates or create errors
Create disabled on a feed that includes new SKUs	“Not enough permissions to create record”
Update disabled when you intended to sync	“Not enough permissions to update record”
Changed unique identifier after first import	Duplicates or no matches
Parent and variation share the same SKU	Conflicts / unpredictable matching
Update by product name	Fragile — names change; prefer SKU/GTIN
Empty SKU on some rows	Those rows cannot match reliably