Large inventories collect duplicates, such as the same desk chair digitized twice by two different people or the same product imported from two spreadsheets. Rheaply finds those pairs for you, and the merge flow combines them into one product without losing any of your items.
Merging combines two existing products that should not both exist and deletes one of them. If you're looking for how to duplicate or make a copy of an existing product, see the Duplicate a product section of our Products help article.
This article is helpful if: you want to understand how duplicate products are detected, how to review and merge them, and what happens to your data.
Who can do this? Admin and Global Admin roles.
Where is it done? Under Duplicate products in the left navigation, on a product's details page, or in Inventory via the Bulk actions menu.
How duplicates are detected
Rheaply scans your inventory nightly and pairs up products that look like the same thing. Detection uses a pre-trained image recognition model that creates a consistent fingerprint for each product photo. This process is closer to image hashing than to generative artificial intelligence, and nothing you upload is used to train a model.
Because detection runs nightly, a product you create today shows up in duplicate review tomorrow at the earliest. A pair must clear all of these conditions to be flagged:
Image similarity of 80% or higher, meaning the model recognizes the same object across different backgrounds and angles.
Dimensions within 15% of each other and no more than 3 inches apart.
At least one color in common, which can be tightened to exact color matches with a filter on the review page.
No conflicting manufacturer or model number.
Two more things to know about how fields are compared:
A field is only compared when both products have it filled in.
Titles are barely used, meaning only explicit color words are pulled from the title.
Where you will find potential duplicates
There are three ways to find potential duplicate pairs:
Left navigation: A dot appears on the Duplicate products nav item when you have pairs waiting for review.
A product's details page: A warning callout reading "This product may be a duplicate of another product in your inventory" will appear if a product is part of a flagged pair.
Inventory: Select two products yourself and merge them from the Bulk actions menu in Inventory.
Review the list of potential duplicates
Navigate to Duplicate products in the left navigation.
Review the list of pending pairs sorted by image similarity from highest to lowest.
Toggle Exact match colors on to see only pairs whose colors match exactly, or off to see pairs that share at least one color.
Select one or more rows and click Ignore selected to clear several non-duplicates at once.
Click Review on any row to open the merge screen for that pair.
Click Ignore to mark the pair as not duplicates.
Merge a pair
Select the radio button on either Product A or Product B to designate the keeper product.
Click View product under either card to open it in a new tab if you need a closer look.
Scroll to the Different and Same sections of the field comparison table below the cards.
Turn on Hide same fields to focus only on the ones that disagree.
Override any individual field to take the other product's value instead, noting that product photos are not part of this comparison.
Download any photos from the non-keeper product that you want to save, as only the keeper product's photos survive.
Click Confirm merge.
Read the confirmation dialog to ensure you understand that this action cannot be undone and that the other product will be deleted.
Click Merge.
Choose View keeper product, Review next pair, or View all duplicates from the success screen.
What happens to your data when you merge
Data | What happens |
Items | Every active item on the deleted product moves to the keeper product with its location, quantity, condition, and status unchanged. |
Asset tags | Migrated items are renumbered to continue the keeper product's asset number sequence. |
Fields | The values you selected are applied to the keeper product. |
Photos | The keeper product's photos are kept, and the other product's photos are not carried over. |
Product sets | Set memberships transfer to the keeper product. |
Listings | Any Circulate listings on the deleted product are removed. |
Team access | The keeper product becomes visible to both products' item manager teams. |
The deleted product | It moves to the Deleted page and cannot be restored. |
Activity history | Each product keeps its own activity log. |
Other pending pairs | Any other pending duplicate pairs involving the deleted product are automatically cleared from your review queue. |
When a merge is blocked
Products with items in Reserved or Reserved-pending status cannot be freely merged because those items may be tied to active hold requests or orders.
If one product has reserved items, you can still merge, but that product has to be the keeper.
If both products have reserved items, the pair cannot be merged at all, and the Review button is disabled.
Complete or cancel the orders and holds on those items so they leave reserved status.
Wait for the item statuses to update before trying the merge again.
Ignore a pair that is not a duplicate
Click Ignore if two flagged products are genuinely different.
Click Confirm ignore on the confirmation dialog.
Check multiple rows and use Ignore selected at the top of the page to clear several at once.
Merge two products manually
Go to Inventory.
Select exactly two products that you have permission to edit.
Open the Bulk actions menu and click Merge products.
Continue through the keeper and field selection steps to finalize the merge.
Catch duplicates before you create them
Click Create a product.
Upload a photo of the product.
Review the Potential duplicates identified by the image similarity scan.
Click View product to open a match or Add items to add your items to that existing product instead.
Click Continue without match to go on to the product form if none of the matches are correct.
Click Skip if you did not upload a photo.
Frequently asked questions
How often does duplicate detection run?
Nightly. Products you create or edit today are evaluated in tonight's run.
Does this use AI?
It uses a pre-trained image recognition model to generate a consistent fingerprint for each product photo, which is closer to image hashing than to generative AI. Your images are not used to train anything.
Why is a pair flagged that clearly is not a duplicate?
Detection is deliberately tuned to surface possible matches rather than only certain ones, so you will see some false positives. Ignore those pairs, and they will not come back.
Why aren't two products I know are duplicates showing up?
Common reasons include: they are managed by different item manager teams, one of them has no photo, their manufacturer or model numbers conflict, their dimensions differ by more than 15% or 3 inches, or they share no colors. You can always merge them manually from Inventory.
Can I undo a merge?
No. Merges cannot be reversed, and merged products cannot be restored from the Deleted page.
Can I merge more than two products at once?
Not currently. Merge them in pairs. After each merge, the surviving product is re-evaluated against the rest of your inventory in the next nightly run.
Where did the deleted product go?
It is on the Deleted page. Its detail page shows who merged it and when, plus a link to the active product.