What is the difference between Add feed and Update feed in Stock Sync?

An Add Feed is used to import new products into Shopify. It creates products that do not yet exist in your store. If a product with the same SKU already exists, the Add Feed will skip it.

An Update Feed is used to update existing products in Shopify. It pulls data such as stock, price, or other product fields from your file or source and updates matching SKUs already in your store. It does not create new products.

If a new item is not being created, use an Add Product Feed rather than an Update Feed. If the item exists but its stock is not changing, use the troubleshooting checks below: verify that the product identifier mapping matches the feed, confirm the quantity column is mapped to Quantity (not Inventory tracked), and check that filters or required product tags do not exclude the item. For example, a product excluded by a required tag filter will not be updated.

To add new products and keep their stock, images, and prices updated, create separate feeds:

1. Go to New Setup > Add new products to store and create an Add Product Feed. Map the supplier's unique product identifier, title, brand, description, price, variants, and product images. The identifier must match the SKU (or other identifier) used by the later update feeds.
2. Go to New Setup > Update existing products in store and create an Update Feed for inventory. Map the same product identifier to Shopify's SKU and map the supplier quantity or availability to Quantity. Select the correct Inventory Location. If the supplier provides only availability text, use Quantity Rules to map in stock to the desired quantity and out of stock to 0. When using the same source URL or connection, configure the mapping separately in this feed and map the SKU plus the existing products' price, quantity, images, or other fields that should be synchronized.
3. Create another Update Feed for images or other product fields when those values come from a separate file or source. Map the identifier and image URL to Product Images; use Skip existing images, import new images when you only want to add missing images.
4. Create another Update Feed for prices when pricing is maintained separately. Map the identifier and supplier price to the appropriate price field, and preview a few products before running the feed.
5. If multiple feeds use the same FTP source, enter the same FTP connection details in each feed and select the appropriate file for each one. For URL, Dropbox, Google Sheets, email, API, or other sources, configure each feed with its corresponding source.
6. Test each feed with a small sample, verify the mappings and results, then schedule the Update Feeds according to the supplier's update frequency. Add Feeds are free according to the available plan information; Update Feeds are subject to the subscription plan.

If your supplier provides separate files, you can use one feed for stock updates and another for new product additions. The monthly subscription applies to the Update Feed; the Add Feed is free, according to the available plan information.

In short:
• Add Feed = create new products
• Update Feed = update existing products

Additional notes:
• An Add Feed will automatically import new items from your source, such as new nodes in an XML file, as long as their SKUs do not already exist in your store.
• Add Feeds skip existing SKUs and will not update them.
• Update Feeds handle stock, price, and other field updates for existing products and can be scheduled based on your plan. On the Free plan, updates must be run manually; higher plans allow scheduled updates such as hourly.

Updated on: 18/08/2026