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Automatic Distributors


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction


Are you looking to automate Automatic Distributors pricing and inventory/stock updates when listing products to eBay, Shopify, Amazon, Walmart.com, BigCommerce and other e-commerce marketplaces and channels? 


The Automatic Distributors connection is comprised of multiple separate automations, each performing a function.


You should enable them in this order. Read the description for each section to understand why.

  1. Automatic Distributors SKU Import or Catalog Import
  2. Automatic Distributors Inventory Update
  3. Automatic Distributors Orders Drop Shipping
  4. Automatic Distributors Orders Tracking Import


You will need FTP credentials from the Automatic Distributors API team in order to use these automations.


Drop Shipping Modes


There are two modes the Drop Shipping integration may operate in: Manual Drop Shipping and Automated Drop Shipping.

  • Manual Drop Shipping - On the order page, you manually set order item vendor with a value of autodist for orders that may be sent to Automatic Distributors and then save the order.
  • Automated Drop Shipping - If automated drop shipping is enabled, and autodiststock is the first stock control field (found under Settings > Selling > Stock Options > Stock Control Fields) that shows the product in stock, SureDone will automatically send the order to Automatic Distributors. In other words, let's say you have 2 vendors you can order the product from - XYZ and Meyers. In the stock control field setting (mentioned previously) it shows "xyzstock autodiststock", if xyzstock has positive stock AND autodiststock has positive stock (as seen in on the item page itself), we'll first fulfill using "xyz". If it shows "autodiststock xyzstock", and both distributors have the product in stock, we'll send the order to Meyers since it's listed first.


Shipping Service Mapping for Drop Shipping


SureDone offers an optional feature for mapping of requested eBay and Amazon shipping services to their equivalent offered by the distributor. In order to leverage this feature you must turn Ship Service Mapping on in the Parameters section of the integration. It is disabled by default. To understand which eBay/Amazon shipping service map to which vendor shipping service, please see the following Distributor Ship Services Mapping Sheet. In the sheet, if you do not see a distributor shipping service that matches that of the Amazon/eBay shipping service then there is no direct mapping for that service and the automation uses the default shipping type.

Automatic Distributors SKU Import

  • This will create a "autodistsku" field in your account. 
  • The automation will attempt to link existing products in your account to those in the Automatic Distributors catalog by matching with the UPC of each of your products.
  • Runs once every morning at the top of the hour.


Automatic Distributors Inventory Update

  • This will create a "autodiststock" field in your account.
  • The "autodiststock" field will automatically be added as a stock control field (found under Settings > Selling > Stock Options > Stock Control Fields). Any number in this field will be added to the stock sent to your marketplaces.
  • Connects to Automatic Distributors and updates products with a matching "autodistsku" with the latest inventory levels for products with valid "autodistsku".
  • Runs every hour at 5 minutes past the hour.


Automatic Distributors Orders Drop Shipping

  • Sends your orders to Automatic Distributors. 
  • Read the section, above, on manual vs. automated drop shipping.
  • Runs every 5 minutes.
  • Note: Orders placed that total $500.00 or greater will be shipped with signature confirmation.


Automatic Distributors Orders Tracking Import

  • Checks the Meyer system to see if an order has one or more tracking numbers assigned to it.
  • If tracking numbers are assigned, they will be added to the order in SureDone and sent to the channel the order originated from.
  • Runs ever hour at the 45th minute.



Automatic Distributors Catalog Import

  • This will create a "autodistsku" field in your account.
  • Will create new draft products and import fields if they are manually created as custom fields before running:
    • guid
    • autodistsku
    • title
    • longdescription
    • upc
    • manufacturer
    • brand
    • msrp
    • manufacturerpartnumber
    • mpn
    • weight
    • boxlength
    • boxwidth
    • boxheight
    • media1
    • media2
    • media3
    • media4
    • media5
    • media6
    • mapprice
    • hazardousmaterial
    • discontinued
  • Runs once every morning at the top of the hour.