Communication Between BigCommerce and ShipHero

This article reviews the store configuration settings between BigCommerce and ShipHero and the expected behavior of how the two platforms pass information back and forth, including product updates, inventory pushes, and order updates.

Managing Inventory Between BigCommerce and ShipHero

When the store setting "Push inventory numbers from ShipHero to Bigcommerce" is enabled, any inventory changes made in ShipHero that affect the available quantity of an SKU will push to the store platform. When an SKU is on backorder, a negative amount of available inventory will be pushed to the store platforms instead of 0.

If ShipHero is the master of inventory, all inventory changes must be made in ShipHero. If this setting is off, ShipHero will not push inventory updates to the store.

NOTE: Inventory changes made to an SKU in the store platform will not update the inventory levels in ShipHero.

Product Creation between BigCommerce and ShipHero

For products to be pulled into ShipHero from BigCommerce the setting "Download Products and Orders that are created in Bigcommerce" must be enabled. 

• Each product must have a unique SKU.
• ShipHero will link any imported products with matching SKUs to the existing product already in ShipHero. If the SKU does not already exist in ShipHero, a new product is created.
• If a product has no SKU, ShipHero will use the BigCommerce product ID as the SKU.

The "Starting Inventory" setting determines how the exisitng inventory in BigCommerce is pulled into ShipHero. 

• Start at 0: No inventory will be assigned to the SKU when it is imported into ShipHero.
• Match what is in BigCommerce: The inventory assigned to the SKU in BigCommerce will import on product creation and be assigned to the "Unassigned" location in ShipHero. 

Product Attributes Imported from BigCommerce

• SKU, Name, and Barcode
• Value and Price
• Product Dimensions: Width, Height, Length and Weight
• If the setting to "Create a vendor in ShipHero...." is enabled, ShipHero will import the Vendor/"Brand" and Vendor SKU a.k.a. manufacturer part number. 
• If a product type is "Digital" in BigCommerce: ShipHero will enable the "Is virtual" setting.

Store Settings Between Platforms

ShipHero offers different syncing options to manage product and order settings within your BigCommerce store or ShipHero. To manage these settings, go to the My Account >Stores page and select the Settings button to open the store settings page.

As a best practice, if the same setting is available for both platforms to manage, it should only be enabled for one or the other, not both. If both settings were enabled, the two systems would continue to overwrite the data, causing potential errors down the line, such as with label weights.

For example, if you manage product weights in BigCommerce, enable "If a product weight changes in Bigcommerce, update it in ShipHero," and disable the setting "If the weight for a product changes in ShipHero, update that product in Bigcommerce to that weight."

Sync Settings: BigCommerce to ShipHero

• If an SKU is changed in BigCommerce, the product SKU will be updated in ShipHero.
• If the product does not have a barcode, ShipHero will incrementally generate a barcode.
• If an SKU's barcode is updated in BigCommerce, it will not update the product's barcode in ShipHero; you must also update the barcode in ShipHero.
• If the product name changes in BigCommerce, it will appear with an updated name on new orders but will not update on previously imported orders.
• If an order is canceled in BigCommerce, it will be canceled in ShipHero.
• Address updates made to an order in BigCommerce DO NOT update the address in ShipHero.

Sync Settings: ShipHero to BigCommerce

• If you cancel a line item on an order in ShipHero, it will not update the order in BigCommerce.
• If you cancel the whole order in ShipHero, it will cancel in BigCommerce.
• If you add products to an order in ShipHero, they will not be added to the order in BigCommerce.