Item List & Inventory Sync

Introduction

This document explains the functions and features associated with the “View Items” option which can be found on the integration page of your Fulfillment Control Panel (FCP) account.

Integration Server: The Man in the Middle

All aspects of our shopping cart integration platform are handled by our dedicated Integration Server (IS) which acts as middleman between your Shopping Cart (Cart) and the FCP. Each time you view your items list, the FCP sends a request to the IS which then sends a request to your Cart for the current list of products. The length of time it takes to load the item list will depend on the number of items listed in your Cart and the speed of the server hosting your cart.

The Item List

When you view the item list for your cart you will see six columns (see example below):

1. Cart Name - the product or variant name from your Cart.
2. Cart SKU - the product SKU as set in your Cart.
3. Mappings - if your Cart SKU doesn't match a SKU in the FCP you can map or "point" it at a SKU or SKUs that do exist in your FCP account. This is useful if you want to sell bundled products without physically kitting them.
4. Status - the item status in our IS.
1. NEW - this item is not currently active on our IS. It could be a new product in your Cart or a previously active SKU that has been deactivated.
2. ACTIVE - this item has been activated and is available for syncing or mappings.
3. NO MATCH IN CART - this item has been activated, but does not match a SKU in your Cart. This can happen when a previously active SKU is deleted in the Cart or when a custom item has been added to the integration.
5. Matches EFS SKU? - indicates if the Cart SKU matches a SKU in your FCP account.
6. Options -
1. Activate Item for Sync / Maps - creates an "active" SKU on our IS which allows the available quantity to be synced to your Cart or mappings to be assigned.
2. Add SKU to EFS account - if the SKU doesn't exist in your FCP account clicking this link will pre-fill the form so you can add it.
3. View / Edit Mappings - allows you to add, edit or delete mappings.

Now we will go through each item listed in the above screenshot:

Item #1 - We can see this item matches a SKU in the FCP, has a SKU assigned in the cart, and it ready to be activated for syncing.

Items #2 & #3 - Neither of these products have a SKU assigned in the Cart. However, our systems interpret this as both items having the same, blank SKU. A duplicate. ANY DUPLICATE SKU IN YOUR ITEMS LIST WILL CAUSE THE SYNC PROCESS TO FAIL, WHETHER THE ITEM IS ACTIVE OR NOT.

Item #4 - This SKU is indicated in red because the Cart SKU was changed after the item was activated. This means the SKU saved on our IS no longer matches the Cart SKU and syncing will no longer be possible. IS SKU is displayed in parenthesis.

Item #5 - This item is active for syncing and matches a SKU in the FCP, but has no matching Cart SKU to sync with. Depending on the Cart this can cause the inventory sync process to fail.

Item #6 - This item is active for syncing, matches a SKU in the FCP, and should update the cart at the next scheduled sync interval.

Item #7 - This item SKU does not match any SKUs in the FCP, but has been mapped to a bundle of SKUs: 101BC quantity of 1 and 102NR/B quantity of 2. Mapped items will only sync quantities if there is a "one to one" relationship.

Item #8 - This item does not match a Cart SKU. It may have been a custom item or was deleted in the Cart.

Cart-Specific Notes

Volusion

The Item List for a Volusion integration will only show products with SKUs that already exist in your FCP account. If the Cart SKU does not match any SKU in the FCP the product will not be displayed in the list.

Shopify

Shopify limits the number of API calls we are allowed to make to "talk" to their system. To get around this problem, the system will only attempt to sync available inventory for products that are marked as "changed" in the FCP. Each time your inventory count changed in the FCP the product will get flagged for the next scheduled inventory update.

In the Shopify integration settings you can set the "Product Published Status" option to "published" which will exclude any products from the item list that are marked "hidden" in Shopify.

EFS will only update inventory for items that have a location of EFS assigned. Other items will be completely ignored.

Amazon

Due to limitations of the Amazon API we can only update this amount every 12 hours.  If you are fulfilling orders from the same inventory from multiple carts including Amazon, please contact customer service to discuss possible issues that may arise before enabling Amazon inventory syncing.