Do You Need SKUs to Use ProfitTree?
Short answer: No.
SKUs are not required to use ProfitTree.
You can still track profit, enter COGS, and review your shop performance even if your Etsy listings do not use SKUs.
However, SKUs unlock important functionality that makes ProfitTree more accurate, more automated, and easier to manage—especially for shops with multiple products, variants, or duplicated listings.
Profit Tracking Without SKUs
ProfitTree will still function without SKUs.
You can manually enter COGS in COGS Management.
Sales will appear in Product Reports and Listing Reports.
ProfitTree calculates profit using the COGS you provide.
This is enough to get started, and many new sellers begin using ProfitTree this way.
How SKUs Work in ProfitTree (Important Context)
To understand the limitations, it’s important to understand how ProfitTree uses SKUs.
A listing is the Etsy page customers see.
A product is the actual item being sold.
A listing can contain one or many products through variants.
SKUs identify products, not listings.
ProfitTree uses SKUs to determine which products are the same, even if they appear in multiple listings or variants.
If multiple products share the same SKU, ProfitTree treats them as one product.
Limitations When You Don’t Use SKUs
SKUs are optional, but without them, ProfitTree has no reliable way to group products together.
Products cannot be grouped across listings or variants
Without SKUs, ProfitTree must assume every product received from Etsy is unique. The same product sold in multiple listings or variants is treated as separate products. Sales, COGS, and profit are calculated independently, resulting in fragmented product-level reporting.
Variants appear as separate rows in Product Reports
Etsy sends data at the variant (product) level. Without SKUs, each variant appears as its own row, even if they represent the same product. With SKUs, variants that share the same SKU are merged and reported together.
Bulk COGS uploads are not available
The bulk COGS upload feature requires SKUs to match products. Without SKUs, COGS must be entered manually.
Products may show as “Missing SKU”
Products that sell without SKUs appear under the “Without SKU” filter in COGS Management. This indicates that ProfitTree cannot group or automate cost matching for those products.
POD auto-COGS requires SKUs
Printify and Printful rely on SKUs to match products to the correct base cost. Without SKUs, automatic COGS syncing is not possible.
More manual work over time
Without SKUs, you must enter COGS separately for each product or variant, manage duplicate products individually, and manually keep costs consistent as your shop grows.
Why We Recommend Using SKUs
Using SKUs allows ProfitTree to function at the product level instead of only the listing or variant level.
SKUs enable accurate product grouping, clean and consolidated reporting, consistent COGS across the same product, automatic COGS matching (including POD integrations), bulk COGS uploads, and easier analysis across listings and variants.
SKUs also prevent common issues such as Multiple COGS conflicts, “Without SKU” warnings, and inconsistent profit tracking across duplicated products.
Bottom Line
You can use ProfitTree without SKUs, but SKUs allow ProfitTree to be smart, automated, and scalable.
If two items are the same product, they should share a SKU.
If they are different products or have different costs, they should use different SKUs.
How to Track COGS Without SKUs
If you prefer not to use SKUs, you can still track costs manually:
Go to COGS Management
Select a product
Enter your COGS
Save your updates
Step-by-step video:
How to Build a SKU System for Your Etsy Shop
If you’re ready to start using SKUs:
Get your free SKU generator
Make your own copy
Watch the setup tutorial
Tutorial video:
Creating a SKU system will help ProfitTree deliver more accurate product grouping, COGS tracking, and reporting.