1. Whiplash
  2. Whiplash Application
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Shopify Integration Setup

Jodi Croft
Jodi Croft
  • Updated

The following are steps to take in order to set up an integration with Shopify. 

Installation

1. Log in to your Whiplash account.

2. Navigate to "Preferences" and select the "Shops" tab.

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3. Click "Install Shopify". 

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4. Enter your Shopify URL and confirm the install.

5. Select which Product Variants you would like us to ship. Orders for these products will start flowing into Whiplash as they are paid for in Shopify.

6. In Shopify, go to navigate to "Settings" , click "Checkout", and click "Order Processing". 

7.  Select "Do not automatically fulfill any of the order's line items". 

 Note: Whiplash will mark orders fulfilled once they ship. Marking them "fulfilled" prior to that will cancel the order in Whiplash. 

 

8. Still under "Order Processing", select "Automatically archive the order" after it has been fulfilled and paid. 

 Note: This is not strictly a requirement, but it will keep your store organized and easy to manage.

9. In Shopify, navigate to "Products" and click "Edit" (or "Variants" and then select "Edit" if there are Variants), set "Inventory managed by" to "Shopify".

 

Initial Sync and Best Practices

Whiplash syncs the Available Quantity per Item to Shopify every time it changes. Our goal is to complete the integration process without inflating inventory in Shopify and allowing it to oversell. Generally, this means sync is not turned on until we have all the stock for an item.

 

Important Notes

  • Archiving an order in Shopify before it has been shipped cancels the order in Whiplash.
  • In Shopify, when you select product variants to be fulfilled by Whiplash, they are created in Whiplash almost instantly.
  • When stock arrives at Whiplash, the quantity in your Shopify store will be updated. Whiplash does not send updates until the product is received for the first time.
  • If you are sending products to Whiplash that will not be sold in your Shopify store, you can Create them directly in Whiplash.
  • For fully automated shipping: In Shopify, navigate to "Settings" and click on "Payments". Turn on "Automatically capture payment for orders". 

Troubleshooting

If your orders are not showing up in Whiplash, it is most likely one of the following:

  1. Your orders are Authorized in Shopify, but not Paid.
  2. Your product variants are not set to be fulfilled by Whiplash.
  3. Your product variants are not set to require shipping.
  4. The missing orders were created when the above product variant settings were incorrect.
  5. Your orders are Pending Fulfillment.

See also:
Troubleshooting Shopify Sync
Why aren't some items appearing on my Shopify orders?
Shopify orders not marked fulfilled or missing tracking info

 

Communicating Shipping Costs to Customers

You have a number of options when communicating Shipping Options and costs to your customers.

If you are keeping things simple—for example, Free Shipping or $5 Flat-Rate Shipping —we will, by default, ship the cheapest method available.  If you are going this route, you can also specify what Shipping Method corresponds to something like "Free Shipping" here.

If you would like to charge customers and display this info during checkout, Shopify does a good job of explaining your options here.

For more information from Shopify, read Understanding Shipping.

 

Sync and Locations Settings

Facts About Syncing

  • Whiplash syncs to one Location, which is owned by our App in Shopify.
  • We only send a new quantity to Shopify when the quantity changes.
  • By default, we sync for the first time as each Item is Received for the first time.
Setting Location Default
Automatically Sync Inventory Levels (Global Sync) Preferences → General → Inventory Only when Item is set to Process Orders. Learn more about this setting here.
Sync Inventory (Item Sync) Item Details → Rules Customer default. Override this to change behavior for a particular Item.
Allow Shopify to request inventory levels hourly (Fetch Stock) Preferences → General → Inventory Off. Activate this to cause Shopify to request a sync once an hour, instead of syncing every time inventory changes.
Bulk Action Any Items Search → Bulk Action → Sync Inventory On Demand. This will cause everything in the search to sync with all shops once.
Sandbox sync For sandbox.getwhiplash.com accounts only. Preferences → Shops → Shopify integration → "Settings" Off. If this is a Sandbox shop and you're OK with funky inventory levels, activate this and we'll sync like normal.

 

Example Strategies

There are two baseline strategies for the initial full item catalogue sync. The Instant Transfer means Whiplash takes full control over inventory quantities at the flip of a switch; Rolling Transfer means Whiplash syncs slowly over time as we receive inventory.

Setting name Instant Transfer strategy Rolling Transfer strategy
Automatically Sync Inventory Levels (Global Sync)

Never.

Switch to either Always or Only when Item is set to Process Orders when it's time to get in sync.

 Only when Item is set to Process Orders. We'll take over the quantity for each item when we first receive it.
Sync Inventory (Item Sync) Customer Default. Customer Default.
Bulk Action Once we've received all the inventory for the SKUs in the search. Not required.
Allow Shopify to request inventory levels hourly (Fetch Stock) Off. Off.

 

Item Catalogue Import

Setting Location Default
Fulfill Items for this fulfillment Service Preferences → General → Inventory

Shopify/Manual. Read more about Shopify Locations here.

This is how we determine whether to import or ignore an Item.

 

Settings in Shopify

Setting Location Default
Inventory Managed By Shopify article

Shopify

When Inventory is Managed by Whiplash, Whiplash will only sync adjustments. This requires additional settings in the Shops tab and usage of Fetch Stock.
Fulfilled By Shopify article

Shopify/Manual

For Items to import, this must match the "Fulfill items for this fulfillment service" Shop Setting in Whiplash.

 

Miscellaneous Settings

Accessed by navigating to "Preferences" and selecting the "Shops" tab. Click "Settings" on a Shopify integration.

Refunds

Refund line items when they are removed from an Order. When a line item is decremented or removed from an Order, we will trigger a refund in Shopify.

Fulfillments

This option reads "Create an open Shopify fulfillment when orders are batching in Whiplash". When it is activated you will need to reauthorize the Whiplash app to grant us permissions to create open Fulfillments.

 

When an Order is Batched, the status of the Order in Shopify is updated to "Fulfillment In progress" as shown: 

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Serial Numbers 

Note: Enable this option to send item Serial Numbers to Shopify when an order is fulfilled in Whiplash.

With this setting active, captured Serial Numbers will populate as "Additional Details" in Shopify when Orders are shipped.

Barcodes

Any changes made to a product/variant's barcode in Shopify will be reflected in Whiplash as a new Scancode Alias. Barcodes must be unique and duplicates will be rejected.
 

Related Questions:

How do I set up thee Shopfy integration?

How do I troubleshoot my Shopify integration?