Ahmad adds his French Press 600ml (internal reference FP-600-BLK). He enters its barcode — and the catalog returns no match. That is not a dead end: he creates a candidate catalog product, which is buyable immediately and reviewed by the Fawran team afterwards.
Starting point
State: verified store, the coffee already listed. Goal: list a product whose barcode does not exist in the shared catalog yet. Key concept: catalog identities carry a status — VERIFIED, CANDIDATE, MERGED or REJECTED.
Where this happens
Catalog›Add Product — same wizard as the previous example, different branch. Requests are tracked later in Catalog›My Catalog Requests.
Step by step with Ahmad’s values
- Choose the category (e.g. Home & Kitchen → Coffee tools), pick Enter Barcode, type 6291007654321 and Look up.
- The result screen says “No catalog match found”: “Create a candidate catalog product to continue. It will be buyable right away and reviewed by our team.” Click Create new product with this barcode.
- Fill the candidate identity: names in both languages, brand (BrewMate), category, model number, images and keywords. If you had left the barcode empty, one would be generated automatically as the official identifier.
- Click Create & Continue. Toast: “Candidate catalog created. Continue to your offer.”
- Complete the normal 4-step offer wizard (Identity / Description / Offer & Pricing / Compliance & Safety) and save.
What you should see
The product page shows the notice “This is a candidate catalog you created. It is buyable now and pending review.” In Catalog›My Products the row’s catalog status reads CANDIDATE. Nothing blocks selling while the review is pending. Related requests you file later (promote, merge, barcode fix) appear in Catalog›My Catalog Requests with statuses PENDING, APPROVED, REJECTED or NEEDS_INFO.
The rejection branch: weeks later the candidate is marked REJECTED — for example the reviewer found it duplicates an existing verified item. The Reviewer response column in Catalog›My Catalog Requests explains why. Next steps: if it duplicates an existing product, re-identify your offer against that verified catalog item (Use the existing catalog product); if you believe the rejection is wrong, open a support ticket quoting the reviewer response.
A common mistake on this journey
Creating a candidate when the product actually exists — e.g. after a typo in the barcode. This creates duplicate identities and usually ends in a rejection or a merge. Recovery: search first with Search Existing Product by name/brand/model; if you already created the duplicate, file a merge request (Request catalog merge) from My Products.
When to contact support
Contact support (category Catalog & Products) when a candidate stays unreviewed unusually long, when a rejection’s reviewer response is unclear, or when the same physical barcode is claimed by a catalog item that is genuinely a different product.