> 3. select into destinationtable from temptable where
> temptable.primarykey not exists
> ( select destinationtable.primarykey
>    from destination table
> );  

Richard, thanks.  in my case, the primary key isn't
relevant, however, the product_number is (it is
unique).  iiuc, in my case i should use product_number
instead of primarykey.

it makes sense - thanks for the enlightenment.

(slightly off topic) You might consider changing your table structure so product_number is your primary key, if it always unique. That way you don't need an additional primary key field. Just a suggestion.