How to process marketplace orders automatically

The flow from order to return

Every marketplace order goes through the same steps, whatever the channel:

1. Import the order. The order with its delivery address moves from the marketplace into your system.
2. Pass it on. The order goes to your webshop, your warehouse (WMS), a 3PL or a supplier who ships for you.
3. Ship. The parcel gets a carrier and a tracking code.
4. Report tracking back. The marketplace receives carrier and tracking code, otherwise the customer sees nothing and the marketplace may penalise you.
5. Invoice and booking. The sale reaches your accounting.
6. Return. A return sends stock and possibly a credit back through the chain.

By hand that is six rounds of retyping or clicking per order. Automated, the integration does steps 1 to 4 without you, and you can attach steps 5 and 6 to that.

Where it usually goes wrong

• Stock lags behind. You sell the same units on two channels and the second order cannot be delivered. Read how to prevent overselling.
• Address formats. House number and suffix, region or address line two arrive wrongly, so the label fails. An integration has to convert the address to your format.
• VAT and OSS. When selling to consumers in other EU countries the VAT rate depends on the destination country. Check that your accounting receives VAT per country. What you owe is a matter for your accountant.
• Partial shipments. One order in two parcels needs two tracking codes. Not every system can pass that on.
• Time limits. Marketplaces expect you to confirm and ship an order quickly. An export that sits overnight costs you performance score.

What to automate first

Pick the order by time saved and risk:

1. Import orders and return tracking. This costs the most manual work and a mistake is immediately visible to the customer.
2. Sync stock. This prevents the expensive mistake: selling what you do not have.
3. Pass orders to a warehouse or supplier. Useful once volume grows or you dropship.
4. Invoices and accounting. Only useful once the first three run stably.
5. Returns. Usually last, as they happen least and need the most custom handling.

What StoreLinkr does here

StoreLinkr fetches orders from bol, Kaufland, eBay, Allegro and the Mirakl marketplaces and passes them on to your webshop. You can also have orders forwarded to a supplier or a warehouse system such as Picqer or Stockhub. Tracking codes go back to the sales channels. Stock changes are passed on to your channels. More on the routing is on the order flows page.

On the Mirakl marketplaces, new orders are accepted automatically so they do not expire, and carrier and tracking code go back automatically. Which steps another marketplace allows is stated on that marketplace's page.

What StoreLinkr does not do: replace your accounting or VAT return. For the bigger picture, see what you can connect or the page about a marketplace integrator.

Frequently asked questions