Variant name changes remove the description on the product

Questions
1

Any api call to the BatchUpsertCatalogObjects call that has an actual name change to the variant in the payload, sets the DescriptionHtml field to blank.

I’m using the c# square library version 40.1.0 (although I don’t think the version of the c# library matters, this looks like a server issue to me).
On the creation of the product with variations the description is set correctly.

I’m triggering the same exact code in 2 cases.
The case where there’s no change to any variation (quantity or otherwise). The DescriptionHtml field isn’t changed. Changes within the product have no affect.

The case where the name of the variation is different the DescriptionHtml is now gone even though the request clearly has a value in the Description field.

2

:waving_hand: I’m Square Dev AI, here to help answer your question!
Based on the information you’ve provided, the following documentation will help answer your question:

Additional Documentation

Manage Images in a Square Catalog
Monitor Sold-out Item Variations or Modifiers
Define Item Variations Using Options

If this documentation helped you find a solution, please check the box indicating that this reply solves the problem.
Otherwise one of our Developer Advocates will provide additional assistance shortly.

3

I’ve provided the first valid image below. I tried to do this in the creation of the topic but it was giving me a 422 error.

Screenshot 2025-06-04 at 1.03.56 PM
Screenshot 2025-06-04 at 1.03.56 PM913×653 87.2 KB

4

Here is another image to show what happened after the same API call using the same code is called but when the variation name is changed in some small way.

Screenshot 2025-06-04 at 1.04.33 PM
Screenshot 2025-06-04 at 1.04.33 PM851×485 56.7 KB

5

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Reaching out to the team about this. :slight_smile:

6

Is there any confirmation on this? I’m able to reproduce it easily and as you can imagine the customers that are using the square integration are not happy that the description is being removed.

Is there anything I can tell them about the effort to fix this issue?

7

Has there been any discussion on this? I can still reproduce this very easily and it is causing issues for my customers. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

8

Just want to keep this question alive.

If a variation name is changed in a payload where there is clearly a descriptionHtml value, the descriptionHtml value is wiped out. If I resend that product and it’s variations with the same descriptionHtml value, but no variation change, the descriptionHtml is correctly persisted.

There is nothing I can do as a developer to avoid this circumstance. It’s a bug. Can you let me know when it might be fixed?

9

Still very broken. Is there any update or any visibility of this in the development queue? Is anyone even looking at it?

10

@Basil

I experienced the same thing. It’s ridiculous you haven’t received a response and it’s definitely a bug.

Here’s what I saw: Square Annoyingly Wipes Item Descriptions on New Batch Upsert's of Existing Products – Confirmed Bug + Workaround

Just append one extra character and it’ll be good. No idea why it wipes the description if it’s the same.

11

Still a bug. Still a problem. Happens fairly often. I’m not doing some ridiculous work around to account for the fact that SQUARE deletes my customers full description when making changes to a variation. I shouldn’t have to do a work around when SQUARE is destroying data in their own system.

Seems a very straight forward bug to address. No idea why I haven’t heard any update on where it might be in process.

Any chance I can actually get an update?