diff --git a/includes/class-wc-product-variation.php b/includes/class-wc-product-variation.php
index 0e6d1dde8f2..ecc436e207d 100644
--- a/includes/class-wc-product-variation.php
+++ b/includes/class-wc-product-variation.php
@@ -308,10 +308,20 @@ class WC_Product_Variation extends WC_Product_Simple {
 	/**
 	 * Set attributes. Unlike the parent product which uses terms, variations are assigned
 	 * specific attributes using name value pairs.
-	 * @param array
+	 * @param array $raw_attributes
 	 */
-	public function set_attributes( $attributes ) {
-		$this->set_prop( 'attributes', (array) $attributes );
+	public function set_attributes( $raw_attributes ) {
+		$raw_attributes = (array) $raw_attributes;
+		$attributes     = array();
+
+		foreach ( $raw_attributes as $key => $value ) {
+			// Add attribute prefix which meta gets stored with.
+			if ( 0 !== strpos( $key, 'attribute_' ) ) {
+				$key = 'attribute_' . $key;
+			}
+			$attributes[ $key ] = $value;
+		}
+		$this->set_prop( 'attributes', $attributes );
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/includes/data-stores/class-wc-product-variation-data-store-cpt.php b/includes/data-stores/class-wc-product-variation-data-store-cpt.php
index ed7ee44454b..7666b8066ab 100644
--- a/includes/data-stores/class-wc-product-variation-data-store-cpt.php
+++ b/includes/data-stores/class-wc-product-variation-data-store-cpt.php
@@ -222,8 +222,8 @@ class WC_Product_Variation_Data_Store_CPT extends WC_Product_Data_Store_CPT impl
 		$attributes             = $product->get_attributes();
 		$updated_attribute_keys = array();
 		foreach ( $attributes as $key => $value ) {
-			update_post_meta( $product->get_id(), 'attribute_' . $key, $value );
-			$updated_attribute_keys[] = 'attribute_' . $key;
+			update_post_meta( $product->get_id(), $key, $value );
+			$updated_attribute_keys[] = $key;
 		}
 
 		// Remove old taxonomies attributes so data is kept up to date - first get attribute key names.