Product Setup

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Start From The Products List

Go to Products to search the catalog, filter by product type, review active and inactive counts, import or export product data, and create a new product. The list is also the fastest place to confirm whether a product exists, what type it is, and whether it has available inventory.

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Create A Product

1. Click Add Product.
2. Enter the product title customers and operators should recognize.
3. Enter the part number or SKU used by your team.
4. Choose the correct product type.
5. Select a category when the product should group with related catalog items.
6. Enter the list price used as the starting sell price before pricing rules apply.
7. Add weight and dimensions when the item will be packed, rated, shipped, or palletized.
8. Confirm whether the item should charge tax and track inventory.
9. Click Create Product.

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Choose The Right Product Type

Product type controls which tabs, fields, and workflows are relevant for the item. Pick the type that matches how the item is used physically and financially.

• Physical: a normal stocked item that can be sold, purchased, counted, packed, shipped, and replenished.
• Kit: a sellable bundle whose component products satisfy the order line. Use this for assemblies, bundles, and packages sold as one item.
• Box: a shipping container or package product used by packing and label workflows. Boxes are setup infrastructure, not normal sellable inventory.
• Service: labor, fees, installation, subscriptions, or other non-stock lines. Services do not need inventory or shipping setup.
• Variant Parent: a grouping product for variations such as size, color, model, or configuration. The child variants carry the real stock, shipping, and order behavior.

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Finish The Product Detail Page

After creation, Arcus opens the product detail page. Use the header to edit, duplicate, archive, reactivate, delete when allowed, or move through the filtered product list. Use the tabs to finish the parts of setup that apply to that product type.

• Overview: title, description, media, active state, serialized inventory, charge tax, track inventory, product tax code, warranty, and inventory location summary.
• Pricing: product price, channel or customer pricing, quantity breaks, and margin context.
• Components: kit composition for kit products.
• Variants: child product variations for variant parents.
• Purchasing: vendor, replenishment, cost, purchasing, and lead-time behavior for purchasable items.
• Inventory: on-hand, allocated, available, supply, demand, and inventory movements for stocked items.
• Bin Locations: warehouse placement and picking context for stocked items.
• Serials: individual serial records for serialized stocked items.
• Shipping: dimensions, weights, box rules, package presets, and pallet data for shippable items and boxes.
• Listings: sales channel publishing and customer-facing catalog behavior for sellable items.
• Analytics: performance, usage, and related product signals for sellable items.

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Know Which Tabs Appear By Product Type

Arcus hides tabs that do not apply to the selected product type. If a tab is missing, first confirm the product type before assuming a permission or data problem.

• Physical products: can show Pricing, Purchasing, Inventory, Bin Locations, Serials when serialized, Shipping, Manufacturing, Listings, and Analytics.
• Variant parents: show the Variants workspace. The parent does not carry top-level inventory, bins, shipping, or manufacturing. Child variants carry the sellable SKU, stock, baseline price and cost, shipping overrides, serial behavior, and component behavior.
• Kits: show Components, Pricing, Inventory, Bin Locations, Shipping, Listings, and Analytics. Kits are not purchased or manufactured from this tab set; buy or build the component products.
• Services: skip inventory, serial, bin, manufacturing, and shipping work. They can still be priced and listed when the service is sold as an order line.
• Boxes: focus on package setup and shipping rules instead of normal sellable inventory.

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Set The Operational Flags

The settings on the Overview tab tell Arcus how to treat the item in daily work. Review them before the product is used on real orders.

• Is Active: active products can appear in product search and normal workflows. Archive products that should no longer be selected.
• Serialized Inventory: requires one serial number per unit before a serialized product can be completed through fulfillment or manufacturing.
• Charge Tax: tells order entry and AvaTax review that the product is intended to be taxable unless the customer, address, or tax setup changes the result.
• Track Inventory: keeps stock balances and availability. Turn it off only for non-stock products or special items where Arcus should not enforce quantity availability.
• Apply Freight Insurance: includes the product in insurance calculations when supported by the shipping workflow.

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Finish Manufacturing And Purchasing Setup

Physical products can be purchased, manufactured, or both. The Purchasing tab controls vendor, lead time, cost, and reorder behavior. The Manufacturing tab shows build recipes, default BOM status, recent work orders, where-used component references, and a build action when an active BOM exists.

• Approved vendors: add the vendor account, vendor part number, minimum order quantity, lead time, and default-vendor status so buyers know which supplier record to use.
• Purchase policies: maintain active quantity breaks, fixed purchase prices, or multiplier rules. Duplicate active policies for the same vendor and quantity break are blocked, so edit the existing policy when the scope already exists.
• Policy validation: the policy modal requires an approved vendor, blocks quantity breaks below that vendor’s minimum order quantity, warns on duplicate active scopes, and checks that the end date is after the effective date.
• Vendor performance: compare manual lead time to observed receipt history. When enough receipts exist, observed lead time can explain why replenishment timing changed.
• Reorder intelligence: review demand, safety stock, lead-time demand, suggested reorder point, and suggested reorder quantity before changing purchasing setup.
• Purchased: complete vendor and purchasing setup so reorder reports, purchase orders, and MRP purchase suggestions can create useful buying work.
• Products with variants: maintain approved vendors and purchase policies on the parent. When a buyer adds the item to a purchase order, Arcus asks for the exact variant and can use the variant cost on the line after the parent vendor setup is chosen.
• Multiple vendor parts: when the same vendor has more than one vendor-product row, buyers select the right vendor part on the purchase order line.
• Purchase order pricing: PO line entry can use the best active vendor policy for the selected vendor and quantity. Buyers should review the auto-priced badge, active quantity break, vendor minimum, and lead time before saving the line.
• Manufactured: create and activate a default BOM so MRP and Build This Product know which recipe to use.
• Purchased or manufactured: keep both purchasing and manufacturing data current so planners can choose whether to buy or build based on demand, component availability, and lead time.
• Used as a component: check where-used rows before changing a product that appears inside BOMs or kits.

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Enter Shipping And Packing Data

Use the Shipping tab for products that are packed, rated, shipped, or palletized. This is where the physical data used by Pack with Arcus, carrier rates, label purchases, box selection, and freight handling is maintained.

• Dimensions and weight: needed for package suggestions, carrier rating, label purchase, and freight planning.
• Length and weight units: confirm the units match the numbers entered so rates and packing math stay correct.
• Tolerance per side: gives packing suggestions a small physical buffer when appropriate.
• Packaging classification: choose whether the item needs an over-box, ships as SIOC or SIPP, or is prep-free but still needs an over-box.
• Packing category: groups items that can or cannot share boxes under Pack with Arcus rules.
• Prepackaged presets: use when the product ships in a known manufacturer box or fixed package. A preset can link to a Box product so Pack with Arcus uses the box dimensions.
• Pallet configuration: supports carton and pallet math for bulk, freight, and warehouse planning.
• Freight, hazmat, and customs: maintain freight class, NMFC, hazardous material fields, HS code, country of origin, customs description, and customs value when the product needs those shipping controls.
• Product list cleanup: use the bulk Set Packaging Class action from the product list when a group of products needs the same packaging classification.

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How Product Setup Affects Other Workflows

• Order entry: active products, variants, kits, list price, charge tax, and pricing rules determine what can be added and how it prices.
• Fulfillment: track inventory, serialized inventory, kit components, bins, package data, packaging classification, and shipping dimensions determine what can be picked, packed, labeled, and completed.
• Inventory: stocked product setup drives balances, allocations, receiving, bin locations, supply, demand, and transaction history.
• Purchasing: approved vendors, vendor parts, purchase policies, minimum order quantities, and lead times drive purchase orders, replenishment, bills, and receiving context.
• Manufacturing: supply method, active default BOM, and where-used context determine whether MRP and work orders can plan a build.
• Accounting: product type, cost, tax code, revenue, freight, and inventory handling affect downstream posting and reporting.
• Sales channels: listing data, media, title, description, active state, and variants affect what customers can see or buy.

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Common Blocks

• Product is missing from order search: confirm it is active, belongs to the current entity, has the correct product type, and is searchable by title or part number.
• Inventory will not track: confirm the item is not a service or variant parent, and that Track Inventory is enabled.
• Serialized fulfillment is blocked: add the required serial numbers before completing the unit.
• Kit cannot be fulfilled: review kit components, component stock, and whether the ordered quantity can be built.
• Purchase policy will not save: check for a duplicate active vendor quantity break, missing approved vendor, date overlap, or quantity below the vendor minimum.
• Manufacturing tab is missing: confirm the product is a physical product, not a kit, service, box, or variant parent.
• Build action is unavailable: confirm the product has an active BOM and the BOM is safe to use for the selected quantity and location.
• Shipping label or rate looks wrong: review weight, dimensions, units, ship-from address, destination address, packaging, and shipping rules.
• Tax looks wrong: review Charge Tax, product tax code, customer exemption, shipping address, and AvaTax setup.
• Product type conversion is unavailable: check whether the product already has historical references that block conversion.

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