This guide will assist you in preparing your Shopify shop so that ReturnPilot can connect to it and import your orders and products.

Do not connect your shop before reading this guide in full.

Introduction

Before you begin, it is important to note that Shopify and ReturnPilot are distinct platforms that operate and manage data differently. As such, you will need to ensure that your shop meets the integration requirements contained in this guide. Failure to do so will lead to import errors.

Please also note that no import process is guaranteed to be perfect as we do not set the requirements on the data that you provide to Shopify.

ReturnPilot may encounter data that is missing, invalid or incompatible. In these situations, ReturnPilot may make some changes in order to attempt a successful import. To learn more this, see the import disclaimer below.

Availability

The Shopify integration is now in public beta. You may occasionally encounter issues that prevent ReturnPilot from importing your orders and products. If you encounter any issues, then please contact us.

High volume shops

If you operate a large shop and sometimes receive thousands of orders in a single hour, then please contact us before connecting your shop.

How it works (data synchronization)

In order for ReturnPilot to provide return support to your customers, it will import the following data from your Shopify shop:

• Order information (including line items and addresses).
• Product information (including variants, dimensions and weight).

No other data is imported.

In addition, ReturnPilot does not synchronize any new data it creates back to Shopify, this is because such an action is not necessary in order for ReturnPilot to provide its required functionality.

In other words, data transfer is only one-way (from Shopify to ReturnPilot).

Products

This section is divided into three sub-sections:

• Metafields (additional data your products will need).
• Requirements (the fields and data your products must have).
• Information (additional product details to be mindful of).

Metafields

Shopify does not natively support dimensions for physical products. Therefore, you will need to add extra fields for length, width and height.

First, complete the following procedure to create the required metafields:

1. Visit 'Settings' for your shop.
2. Select 'Metafields and metaobjects' in the sidebar.
3. Select 'Variants' in the list.
4. Click the 'Add definition' button.
5. For 'Name', enter 'Length'.
6. Click on the text 'custom.length' to reveal a textbox.
7. Modify the content of the textbox to read 'returnpilot.length'.
8. Click the 'Select type' link, then from the list, select 'Integer'.
9. Enter '4' for minimum value, and '50' for maximum value.
10. Click the 'Save' button.
11. Repeat steps 2-10, substituting 'Length' with 'Width'.
12. Repeat steps 2-10, substituting 'Length' with 'Height'.

Next, you will need to edit each product and perform the following action:

1. If the product doesn't have variants, scroll down to 'Variant metafields' and enter the dimensions.
2. If the product has variants, then click on each one, and on the next page, scroll down to 'Metafields' and enter the dimensions.

Working with large product catalogues

Adding metafield data for existing products in a large catalogue can take a considerable period of time. To avoid this, consider preparing a product catalogue CSV that you can import.

When importing orders, ReturnPilot will check if it already has the associated product data, and if so, it will not try to import it again. This means, that you don't need to add the metafield data has ReturnPilot will already have what it needs.

For new products, you can either prepare another CSV or you can follow the above process when adding the product.

Requirements

All physical (non-digital) products / variants must have the following:

• A unique SKU (less than 30 characters long).
• A name.
• A price.
• At least one category.
• A length metafield (between 4 and 50 inches).
• A width metafield (between 4 and 50 inches).
• A height metafield (between 1 and 50 inches).
• A weight (between 1 and 50 pounds).

Information

• Returns are not supported for digital products.
• Dimensions or weights that exceed the above limits will be changed to the max limits in order to be imported. Since this data is only used to make package size recommendations to the customer, this should not be a problem. The customer still retains the right to make an informed decision about the number and size of packages.
• Shopify doesn't allow you to indicate whether a product can be returned. Therefore, ReturnPilot assumes that all physical products can be returned. If you have products that cannot be returned, add them to ReturnPilot via the website (either one at a item or via CSV import). You are strongly advised to do this before publishing the products on your Shopify shop.

Orders

This section is divided into two sub-sections:

• Requirements (the fields and data your orders must have).
• Information (additional order details to be mindful of).

Requirements

All orders must have the following:

• A unique order number / reference.
• A customer email address.
• A shipping address first and last name.
• A shipping address first line.
• A shipping address town or city.
• A shipping address region (state or province).
• A shipping address post or zip code.
• A shipping address country.
• One or more line items, each of which must have a product SKU.

Information

• Order numbers are prefixed with "SH-" in order to differentiate them from other channels e.g. website, API, or another integration.
• Orders containing only non-physical products will be ignored.
• Orders containing a mix of physical and non-physical products will be processed, however only physical products will be imported.
• ReturnPilot will only import the first 100 line items (that correspond to physical products) within an order.

Import disclaimer

Sometimes, imported data may exceed the maximum size that a certain field permits. In these situations, ReturnPilot will trim the excess to ensure that it fits. This will usually not impact how ReturnPilot operates.