SKU Generator

When you run 200 products out of a spare bedroom, SKU chaos is a tax you pay every week. I started with SKUs like "blue shirt 2" and "shirt blue 2" in different spreadsheets, and within a month I had three codes pointing at the same box. That's how you ship the wrong variant, list the same item twice, or stare at an FBA report with no idea what actually sold.

A SKU is just a code you control. Amazon gives you an ASIN, but your internal SKU is yours, and it should tell you something when you read it: brand, product, variant. This generator builds that string from three parts and a separator, so every code looks the same and means the same thing.

Keep it readable

The rule I use: no spaces, no mystery. "AB-TSHIRT-RED-M" tells you the brand, the product line, the color, and the size in one glance. A picker, a VA, or you at 11pm can read it and know what's in the box. Spaces cause trouble in exports and URLs, so this tool strips them.

Why a system beats a habit

Without a system, your SKUs drift. One product uses "RED", the next uses "R", the next uses "Crimson". Six months in, search breaks and your inventory counts lie. Pick a format once, apply it to all 200 products, and your spreadsheets finally agree with each other.

Use it before you list

Generate the SKU before the product goes live, not after it's already selling under a bad code. If you retrofix SKUs later, you'll break the link between your sales data and your supplier invoices. Build the code, print the label, then send it to FBA.

One more thing: keep the variant part short and fixed. "RED-M" beats "Red Medium Shirt" every time — shorter to type, impossible to misspell, and it sorts cleanly in a report.