Sales channels
Overview
A sales channel is a point of sale outside the system — a marketplace or a shop. This area holds two directions together: listings and stock go out, orders come in.
The principle behind it: the system stays the truth. A channel receives an allocation of stock, not the stock itself — otherwise two channels would sell the same item.
Core tasks
Set up a channel. You create the channel, store the credentials and define which stock allocation and which customer apply to incoming orders.
Maintain listings. A listing connects a product with the channel. Title, description and price can be overridden per channel — whatever is not overridden comes from the product master data.
Trigger a sync. The sync sends listings and stock out and pulls orders in. It can be started manually; in normal operation it runs automatically.
Bundles and configurable articles. If the channel reports the chosen options (Shopware: nested line items, Shopify: bundles), the import takes over a configurable article with exactly this selection and does not book the parts on top. If the bundle is not a configurable article on your side, the individual parts remain the order — as without a bundle. WooCommerce does not deliver this information yet.
Withdraw a listing. Withdrawing removes it on the channel without touching the product.
Fields in detail
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
Key channelKey | yes | text, max. 100 characters | The channel's technical identifier. Do not change it once orders run through it. |
Name name | yes | text, max. 160 characters | What the channel is called in lists and reports. |
Connector type connectorType | yes | an available connector, max. 60 characters | What is connected to — marketplace, shop, foreign system. |
Provider connection integrationProvider | no | a configured connection | Which login is used for access. |
Settings config | no | depending on the connector | Credentials and identifiers of the channel. |
Brand brandId | no | one of your brands | Which brand this channel's orders run under. |
Currency currency | no | ISO 4217 currency code, 3 characters | The currency this channel sells in. Empty = the accounting currency. If something else is set, the system converts prices once and reports amount and currency together; without a stored rate no price or listing run happens. |
Warehouse warehouseId | no | an existing warehouse | Which stock serves the channel. |
Stock share (%) stockPercent | no | 1 to 100 | How much of the stock is reported to the channel. With several channels on one warehouse, the way not to sell the same goods twice. |
Stock buffer stockBuffer | no | 0 or more | How many pieces are held back. The most effective guard against overselling: the last item is not reported, so the gap in time between two sales hits nobody. |
Price customer priceCustomerUlid | no | an existing customer | Whose price finding is adopted. That way a marketplace gets its own prices without them being maintained twice. |
Fallback customer fallbackCustomerUlid | no | an existing customer | Who an order is assigned to when its buyer cannot be matched. Without them the order gets stuck. |
Acting user runAsUserUlid | no | an existing account | In whose name the channel acts. Their permissions apply — and this identity appears in the audit log. |
Confirm orders automatically autoConfirmOrders | no | yes/no | Whether incoming orders go into processing without review. |
Orders orders | no | list of incoming orders | The orders taken over from the channel. |
Interface and automation only
| Field | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|
operation and force | operation type, yes/no | Triggers a sync — report stock, send prices, fetch orders. force bypasses the cooldown between runs; use with care, because marketplaces cap the number of requests. |
externalOrderId | foreign identifier | Which channel order is reported as shipped. This is how the marketplace recognises the shipment. |
orderUlid | one of your own orders | Which of your own orders the shipment comes from. |
carrier | text, max. 60 characters | The carrier — spelled the way the channel expects it. |
trackingNumber | text, max. 120 characters | The tracking number the buyer gets to see. |
trackingUrl | address, max. 500 characters | The tracking link for the shipment. |
shippedAt | timestamp | When it was shipped; empty = now. |
lines | list of item number and quantity | Reports a partial shipment. Empty means the whole order has gone out. The marketplace's line identifier is added by the system from the order import — there is nowhere else to get it. |
Settings & permissions
- View:
channels.channel.view - Set up a channel (allocation, credentials, customer):
channels.channel.manage - Listings:
channels.listing.manage - Trigger sync:
channels.sync.execute
Module flag: module.channels. The actual connection to a specific marketplace is supplied by its own channel plugin.
FAQ & troubleshooting
Stock on the channel differs. Check the allocation: the channel only sees its share, not the total stock.
An order arrived without a customer. Then the channel is missing the customer for incoming orders.
The sync reports an error. The channel's message is in the run journal — usually expired credentials or a field the marketplace rejected.