Shuttle offers several reliable ways to automatically match products and variations between your Etsy and Shopify shops. Once products and variations are matched, Shuttle can keep stock levels, prices, and other details in sync between the two.
What Are Matched Products?
Matched products are items that Shuttle recognizes as the same product across Etsy and Shopify. Matching ensures Shuttle can synchronize data accurately, which keeps inventory consistent, avoids duplications, and supports smoother order processing.
Why matched products matter
A well-matched catalog gives you:
Accurate inventory synchronization across both shops.
Consistent pricing and product updates between platforms.
Less manual matching and update work.
Prevention of duplicated listings during product transfers.
Correct line item assignment for transferred orders.
Automatic assignment of imported reviews to the right Shopify products.
Methods of product matching
Shuttle supports three automatic methods and a manual one. They can be used in any combination.
The three automatic methods are controlled from the Smart Matcher section, located under Settings > Products > General. Each one is an independent toggle.
1. Match by SKU
When your products and variations have unique SKUs that are identical across Etsy and Shopify, Shuttle can pair them automatically.
Toggle: Match products and variations by SKU
Note: If either shop has duplicate SKUs, which represents completely different products, leave this option off to avoid mismatches.
2. Match by title
If your products do not have unique SKUs, Shuttle can match them by their titles instead.
Shuttle compares an Etsy product's title with your Shopify catalog.
When an exact title match is found, the products are matched automatically.
This works in both directions, Etsy to Shopify and Shopify to Etsy.
Toggle: Match products by title
Important: Make sure your product titles are distinct within each shop. If titles repeat, leave this option off to prevent incorrect matches.
Priority: Title-based matching takes priority over SKU. Shuttle attempts title matching first and falls back to SKU matching only when no title match is found.
3. Match by variation name
Variation names are formed by combining their option values (for example, "Red / Medium" on a t-shirt). When your Etsy and Shopify variations share identical names, Shuttle can match them automatically, even without matching SKUs.
Toggle: Match variations by name
Why this helps:
Saves manual effort when variations do not share SKUs.
Allows accurate stock and price updates once matched.
Works alongside Shuttle's automatic SKU generator for unmatched variations.
Important: Avoid enabling this option if your variation names repeat across multiple variations within the same product (for example, "Blue / Blue"), as it can produce incorrect matches.
4. Manual matching
If a product does not have a matching SKU or title, you can match it manually from the products list.
From the Products page, find the listing you want to match.
On the product row, locate the Match Status column, and click on the platform to which you'd like to match the product.
In the modal that appears, search for the corresponding product on the other platform by keyword, ID, or SKU.
Select the result you want to pair with.
Click Match to product to confirm the connection.
Manual matching links the parent products only. To match the variations inside a matched product, open Edit Variations on the product and pair them by SKU.
To remove an existing match, open Match product again on a matched product and use the un-match option inside the modal.
Need help?
If you have questions or run into issues while matching products, our support team is available to help. You can reach us from inside the Shuttle dashboard.