How to Review a Lightspeed Product Export Before Changing POS
Begin With the Current Lightspeed Export
Lightspeed products and dashboard navigation can change. Use Lightspeed's current first-party documentation to create the export for the product and version your store uses. Keep the untouched source file, note when it was created, and do not modify the only copy.
Before scheduling a migration, confirm which records the export contains. Typical product files may include names, descriptions, identifiers, prices, categories, brands, vendors, tax fields, stock values, and matrix or parent-child data, but the actual columns in your file are the authority.
Clean a Copy, Not the Original
Work from a duplicate and review:
- Missing required names or prices
- Duplicate SKUs or barcodes
- Inactive or discontinued items
- Category, brand, and vendor spelling
- Tax assignments
- Negative or unexpected stock
- Parent-child or matrix rows
- Fields that have no clear destination
Do not delete uncertain rows merely to make the import look clean. Mark them for manager review and preserve the source evidence.
Use a Preview Before a Commit
Tillr can accept a recognized Lightspeed product export or a generic CSV/XLSX file. No export is treated as a guaranteed clean import.
A reviewed Tillr flow should:
- Upload the selected product file for preview.
- Confirm the detected source and proposed field mapping.
- Surface missing required fields, duplicate identifiers, and mapping conflicts.
- Review category, brand, tax, price, and stock effects.
- Validate a representative sample against the source.
- Require manager approval before committing the selected-store catalog.
Mapping confirmation can create or connect setup records, so the preview and side effects must be understood before approval. There is no merchant-facing rollback promise after a committed import; retain the source export and document any manual cleanup.
Treat Matrix and Variant Rows Carefully
A Lightspeed export may represent related options as parent-child or matrix rows. Each row can have its own identifier, price, or stock value. Tillr does not currently promise first-class variant grouping, so validate how each row will appear and plan manual cleanup where the source relationship cannot be preserved.
Images and some source-specific metadata may also require separate handling. Do not claim a complete migration until those omissions are reviewed.
Validate the Imported Catalog
Use a sample large enough to cover ordinary and difficult records:
- Compare source and destination record counts, including intentionally skipped rows.
- Spot-check names, prices, categories, brands, and tax behavior.
- Scan representative barcodes and verify the exact item returned.
- Compare stock values for selected items against both the export and a physical count where appropriate.
- Review inactive, online-visible, duplicate, and conflict records.
- Run a test sale and confirm the receipt, transaction, and stock effect.
Record every unresolved difference. "Imported" means the committed records were checked, not merely that the upload completed.
Plan the Launch Separately
Migration time varies with catalog size, source quality, matrix structure, tax setup, images, and manual cleanup. Avoid universal duration claims. Schedule staff training, checkout and payment validation, labels, online visibility, and launch support as separate readiness steps.
The Bottom Line
The safest Lightspeed migration preserves the original export, previews mappings and side effects, validates representative records, and requires an accountable manager to approve the selected-store commit. Treat conflicts and unsupported relationships as visible work—not as data the importer can silently guess.