Getting this error means that the item number (SKU) you're trying to use is already assigned to another material in your Ply catalog
What to Check
Search for the Existing Item in Your Catalog: The first thing to do is find out which material is already using that item number.
Go to Catalog in the left-hand navigation
Use the search bar to look up the item number or SKU in question
Check if a material already exists with that number
If you find it, review whether it's the same item or a duplicate. From there, you can decide whether to update the existing entry, use a different item number for the new material, or delete one of them.
Check Your Bulk Upload File (if applicable)
If you're seeing this error during a bulk upload, it likely means:
The item number in your Excel file already exists in the catalog
You have duplicate rows within the upload file itself using the same item number
What to do:
Open your upload file and look for duplicates in the item number column
Remove or correct duplicate rows
For materials that already exist in Ply, use the Bulk Catalog Update mode instead of a new import; this lets you update existing records by ID without triggering the duplicate error
Re-upload the corrected file
Ply's bulk upload has built-in duplicate detection that will flag these before processing. Review the duplicates screen carefully before confirming the upload.
Still Seeing the Error?
If you've checked all of the above and the error persists, reach out to our Support team; we can look up where the conflict is coming from on the backend.
Let us know the item number in question and we'll track it down for you!