How to stop a supplier import from overwriting your work.
You rewrote the title, replaced the supplier's photo and fixed the category. Then the next import put the supplier's versions back. Here is why that happens and how to stop it for good.
Updated · Monine AS
Short answer
Imports overwrite manual edits because they treat the supplier file as the truth for every field. To prevent it, use a sync that supports per-field locks: lock title, description, images, category or price on the products you edited, and let the import update only the remaining fields (usually stock and cost-based price). In OhoSync, publishing a draft locks its content fields automatically.
Why it happens
Most import tools map each column in the supplier file to a field in your shop and write all of them on every run. They have no memory of what you changed by hand, so the supplier's text wins every time the file is imported.
The fix: decide per field who owns it
The supplier owns the facts that change: cost and stock. You own the shopfront: the wording, photos, categories and the price you decided on. A lock records that decision on the product.
- Lock title and description on products you rewrote.
- Lock main image and gallery where you used your own photos.
- Lock category and brand if your shop structure differs from the supplier's.
- Lock price on products you price by hand; the rules then skip them.
In OhoSync locks can be set on one product or a whole selection, with shortcuts like "lock everything except stock". The product URL is locked from the start, so an update never changes a web address search engines already know.
Products you already had before the sync
If your shop already has the supplier's products, take them over by SKU and choose what keeps syncing on them: everything, stock only, or stock and price. Your existing texts are never replaced.
New products: draft first
Let new products arrive as drafts. Edit them, then publish: publishing locks their wording and images, so from then on only price and stock move.
Questions
If I lock the price, does stock still update?
Yes. A lock only removes that one field from the update; everything else keeps syncing.
What if I delete a product the supplier still has?
In OhoSync it stays deleted. A product you delete, trash or archive in your shop is not recreated by the next update.
Try it on your own products.
Free for up to 30 products, no credit card. Founding shops get 50% off any paid plan for the first 6 months with code FOUNDING50 (first 100 shops, until 31 March 2027).