Link two Print on Demand Products by varient

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Goal: link a new color variant (e.g., purple) for a POD journal without duplicating the product.

Key guidance:

  • POD-first workflow: Create each color as a separate product in the POD app and push to Shopify. If the POD only supports black, request additional colors from the POD provider. Shopify-only variants won’t be recognized by the POD for fulfillment.

Alternative/workaround:

  • Keep each color as a separate POD product, but hide extra colors from collections/search using the seo.hidden metafield. Cross-link products with an options app (e.g., color/image swatches + Option URLs) to let customers switch colors as if they were variants.

Conflicting advice:

  • One user suggests manually adding SKUs to Shopify-created variants and hiding duplicate product pages. Another respondent warns this is unreliable because POD systems expect variants published from the POD app, not mapped manually.

Open issues:

  • Scalability concern raised about having to replicate multiple linked products for each design/color set; no streamlined method provided.

Status: No definitive resolution. Consensus leans toward POD-side product creation or app-based cross-linking.

Summarized with AI on December 18. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi,

I am selling POD journals and want to link a color variant to the listing. At present, the journal can only be made using one color - (say black). Rather than duplicate the listing, I want to add a color variant (say purple) and be able to link this to the POD provider. Any ideas? Many thanks.

2

Hi,

Your POD company should be able to support whatever color you are planning to sell and the link is created from there side. The flow is from your POD to your Shopify store, if the purple color is available at your POD, then you need to go to your POD app, Add purple colored product and then push it to your Shopify store.

If they currently only support Black, then you can reach out to there support (POD Support) and request them for additional colors. Once available, you can then push those colors to your Shopify store.

Please don’t forget to Like and Mark Solution to the post that helped you. Thanks!

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3

I managed it through the Shopify website by manually adding the SKU of the product created in my account in another color.
-I created the white product and the black product (each generated a different product page and different SKU’s for each size)
-I went to my product list and chose white and added the white and black variants.
-On the same page there is a link in blue “Add variants” I clicked on it and went to another more complete variant editing page.
-Manually and entered the size, color and supplier as printify (example) and the SKU of my product listed in black (each size has a SKU).

I opened my product page (white) and the black variant appeared.

After that I must hide the black product page.
I haven’t tested it yet, but they must route their products according to the SKU for sale.

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4

Hi,

If we have understand your requirement correctly, you are creating your own variants and asking Printify to identify the products and print and ship to your customers. This does not work like this.

The flow is already informed in our previous message, you can create multiple variants at your end, your POD supplier will not know about them. You will have to publish products from there end to ensure the link is valid between POD and Shopify and not the otherway round.

Please don’t forget to Like and Mark Solution to the post that helped you. Thanks!

1 Like
5

Hi @Pkrhome ,

From what I understand, POD apps can only process orders with separate products they generate, even if they’re just different colors. But here’s a solution you might want to consider: You can still create each color as a separate product through the POD apps, and then establish cross-links between these products of different colors. This way, you can display only one product on the collection page while keeping the other colors hidden from collection and search results (using seo.hidden metafield), yet still available for purchase.

To facilitate this cross-linking, you can utilize the Easify Product Options app. It allows you to create color options using either Color Swatches or Image Swatches, and enables the use of Option URLs to establish cross-product links among your POD products. So, on the product page, customers can seamlessly switch between different colors, giving the impression of switching among regular Shopify variants, when in reality, they’re switching between distinct products.

Let me know if you’re interested in trying out this suggestion, and I can guide you through the setup step by step. Alternatively, you can reach out to the Easify team via the in-app live chat for assistance with the setup process :hugs: .

6

thats fine, but what if i want to replicate the exact same design/product which uses these 3 product setting connection? I have to replicate every time these 3 products in shopify and then do everything again? really?