Products

A product represents a specific set of physical attributes that RPI can manufacture and fulfill. You can configure products for ordering using the Products page of the RPI Print API Dashboard.

When you add a product to your catalog, you establish a mapping between your Product SKU, which identifies the product in your ordering system, and RPI's Manufacturing SKU, which defines the physical product RPI will produce.

Understanding Manufacturing SKUs and Product SKUs

Manufacturing SKU

A Manufacturing SKU is RPI's unique identifier for a specific combination of physical product attributes, such as book size, cover type, paper, interior color, and bleed.

For example: BKPH_HCIW_STD_11.000x8.500IN_80C_GL_40_100T_GLS_44

Manufacturing SKUs are standardized across RPI and are the same for every customer ordering the same physical product. Each Manufacturing SKU corresponds to the specifications and templates available in Product Specifications.

Product SKU

A Product SKU is the identifier your system uses when submitting orders through RPI Print API.

When adding a product through the Products page, you assign a Product SKU to the selected Manufacturing SKU. This maps the product in your upstream ordering system to the physical product RPI will manufacture.

If you already use Product SKUs in your upstream system, we recommend using those same identifiers in your RPI Print API catalog. This allows you to maintain consistency between systems.

If you do not have predefined Product SKUs, you can use RPI's Manufacturing SKU as your Product SKU. The dashboard automatically suggests a Product SKU when adding a product, which you can accept or replace.

For example, both configurations below reference the same physical product:

Product SKU	Manufacturing SKU
MY-HARDCOVER-BOOK	BKPH_HCIW_STD_11.000x8.500IN_80C_GL_40_100T_GLS_44
BKPH_HCIW_STD_11.000x8.500IN_80C_GL_40_100T_GLS_44	BKPH_HCIW_STD_11.000x8.500IN_80C_GL_40_100T_GLS_44

In either case, RPI manufactures the same physical product.

Managing your Product Catalog

You can add and manage products through the Products page of the RPI Print API Dashboard.

When configuring a product, select the manufacturing attributes and assign the Product SKU your integration will use.

The following rules apply:

• Each Product SKU must be unique within your account. Two SKUs that differ only in case count as the same SKU.
• You can change a Product SKU after creating a product, but orders submitted using the previous SKU will fail validation.
• The Manufacturing SKU is determined by the selected physical attributes.

The Products page displays both identifiers for reference.

Using Product SKUs in Orders

You can order with RPI's Manufacturing SKU or with your own Product SKU:

• To use RPI's Manufacturing SKU, send a Standard Manufacturing SKU in the order item's sku. You do not need to set anything up first.
• To use your own Product SKU, create the product on the Products page and send its Product SKU in sku.

RPI Print API matches SKUs without regard to case.

RPI Print API first looks for a product in your catalog whose Product SKU matches sku. If one exists, the item uses it, even when the same value is also a Manufacturing SKU.

If no Product SKU matches and sku is a Standard Manufacturing SKU, the order adds a product to your catalog with that Manufacturing SKU as its Product SKU and RPI's product name as its name. Later orders for that SKU use the same product. The product stays in your catalog even if the order fails for another reason, and you can rename it on the Products page.

Managed accounts can order only products already set up in their catalog. For them, and for a SKU that matches neither a Product SKU nor a Standard Manufacturing SKU, the order fails validation.

Products are found only by Product SKU. If you have product CUST_100 on Manufacturing SKU BKPH_100, an item with only sku: BKPH_100 adds a second product with Product SKU BKPH_100. To order CUST_100, send sku: CUST_100.

Product Attributes

A product's attributes describe the physical book RPI manufactures. When adding a product, the dashboard guides you through selecting:

• Size: The book's finished trim size.
• Cover type: Such as softcover or hardcover.
• Paper: The paper's weight and finish.
• Interior color: How the interior pages are printed.
• Bleed: Whether the design extends to the finished edge of the page.

The dashboard displays pricing as you select attributes. Product Specifications provides additional details on dimensions and downloadable templates.

Page count is not a product attribute. Each product supports a range of page counts, determined by the interior book block submitted with each order.

Product Pricing

Each product has a base price and a per-page price. The base price includes the minimum supported page count, with additional pages charged at the per-page rate.

Unit Price = Base Price + Per-Page Price × (Page Count − Minimum Page Count)

Shipping and applicable sales tax are charged separately. See Shipping.

To estimate pricing before submitting an order, use POST /orders/pricing/estimate, which returns estimated product, shipping, and tax charges. See the API Reference for details.

The price and shipping estimates find products the same way an order does, so you can estimate a Standard Manufacturing SKU before you order it. An estimate never adds a product to your catalog.

Listing Products Through the API

GET /products returns the products in your account, a page at a time. Each product carries its Product SKU as sku, its name, its Manufacturing SKU as manufacturingSku, and its attributes as the product catalog states them. Send limit (1 to 100, default 15) and offset to page through the list. Each page returns nextOffset, the offset of the next page, and totalCount; stop once nextOffset is at least totalCount. A Bearer token needs the catalog/read scope. See the API Reference.

Each product also carries inUse. It is true once you have ordered the product, in sandbox or production, or once its Product SKU differs from its Manufacturing SKU, ignoring case. The product's name does not affect inUse. A product with inUse false has never been ordered and still has the Manufacturing SKU as its Product SKU.