BigCommerce: merchant plugin guide

About this guide

This guide describes how to set up a connection between BigCommerce and ChannelEngine.

Table of contents

Introduction

Features

Requirements

Connect the integration

Activate the integration

Products and variations

Cancelations

FAQs

Introduction

BigCommerce is a SaaS ecommerce platform that empowers merchants of all sizes to build, innovate, and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce is fully integrated with ChannelEngine.

Features

Requirements

• An active BigCommerce account with Storemanager access.
• The BigCommerce plugin, which you can find by going to Plugins on ChannelEngine.

Connect the integration

To connect the BigCommerce integration:

1. Go to your BigCommerce account, navigate to Settings, and click Create API account.
2. On the Create account page, enter the following:
   

   Field	Description	Options and recommendations
   Token type	Select V2/V3 API token.	N/A
   Name	Enter a name for the integration that corresponds to this account. Go to BigCommerce's help center for more details on their requirements.	N/A
   API path	Copy the API path field value. You need this store hash to set up the BigCommerce plugin on ChannelEngine.	N/A
   OAuth scopes	Specify the API resources your integration requires access to.	Information & settings - read-only Orders - modify Products - read-only Channel settings - modify
   Content	View and modify content.	Options - none, read-only, modify
   Checkout content	View and modify content on checkout pages.	Options - none, modify
   Customers	View and modify customer information.	Options - none, read-only, modify
   Customers' login	Sign customers in to your storefront.	Options - none, login Recommended - none
   Information and settings	View and modify store information and settings.	Options - none, read-only, modify Recommended - the minimum permission required is read-only
   Marketing	View and modify marketing information.	Options - none, read-only, modify
   Orders	View and modify orders.	Options - none, read-only, modify Recommended - read-only (to import shipments) and modify (to export orders)
   Order transactions	View and modify order transactions.	Options - none, read-only, modify
   Create payments	Process payments.	Options - none, create
   Get payment methods	Get a list of payment methods.	Options - none, read-only

3. Click Save.
4. In the BigCommerce API credentials dialog box, enter the credentials. You are then prompted to download a TXT file to save the credentials.

Activate the integration

To activate the integration:

1. On ChannelEngine, in the left menu, click Settings and then click Merchant plugins.
2. On the Merchant plugins page, navigate to BigCommerce and click Add.
3. On the Setup tab, in the Connection section, add the store hash and API access token that you received when you connected the plugin. The store hash is the alphanumeric combination between store- and .mybigcommerce in your BigCommerce environment URL. E.g.: if your BigCommerce URL is https://store-f2u4cae3co.mybigcommerce.com/, the alphanumeric combination is f2u4cae3co.
4. In the Plugin specific settings section, in the Fallback state field, it is recommended that you enter N/A. Alternatively, you can specify a fallback state region for orders that have no region specified. E.g.: US orders often do not have a state applied.
5. On the Activation tab, switch the Activate synchronization for BigCommerce toggle to active.
   
   NB: it may take a while for the activation to be completed.
   The plugin is now active, and data import and export tasks are scheduled and executed automatically. Go to the plugin's Settings to see the latest tasks executed or scheduled.

Advanced settings

• Import first category trail on a product - enable this setting to import the first category trail found on a product. This applies to products with multiple category trails on BigCommerce.

• Update stock on product import - enabled by default. If you do not want to update stock when products are imported from BigCommerce, disable this setting.
• New orders export mapping - select the status of new orders to be exported to BigCommerce.

Products and variations

For products to be exported to ChannelEngine, products in BigCommerce require values for the following fields:

• Title
• Default price
• Weight
• Category
• GTIN 
• SKU - the SKU in BigCommerce becomes the Merchant product number on ChannelEngine.

BigCommerce provides separate endpoints for: products and variations, product categories, product image URLs, product custom fields, and brands.

When you send product data from BigCommerce to ChannelEngine, the following is important:

• Separate brands and categories - make sure that each product only has one brand and one category assigned. The category must be a single tree that starts from the root. Otherwise, the import of products to ChannelEngine fails and throws an error.
• Valid GTIN - every parent and child must have a valid GTIN, such as an EAN or UPC. If the provided GTIN is invalid, the import of the parent and its children to ChannelEngine fail. Because BigCommerce is a United States-based store, UPC is also used. The way ChannelEngine deals with different identifiers varies:
  • If both EAN and UPC are set, the UPC is added with a custom field.
  • If only the UPC is set, the UPC is added to the EAN field.
• Extra fields -  by default, BigCommerce sends the following extra attributes to ChannelEngine:
  • Availability (known as Purchasability on BigCommerce)
  • Depth
  • Height
  • Is visible (known as Visibility on BigCommerce)
  • Tax code
  • Tax class ID
  • Weight (this is the only mandatory attribute)
  • Width
• Taxes - user-provided tax settings in BigCommerce are automatically calculated.
• Videos - ChannelEngine does not support videos.
• One image per child product - you can only add one image for every child product.
• The price (without tax) and the price with tax - are also saved in the Price and Purchase price fields.
• Calculated price - the calculated price is the price displayed on the storefront after price rules, discounts, and so on are applied.
• Stock and price - the product data task contains both stock and price.
• Add SKU and EAN per variant - if you add a variation option to an existing variation option, the variations change and get a new SKU assigned – and the stock, images, and UPC/EAN are removed. To prevent that, make sure to add the SKU and EAN per variation. Otherwise, the variation gets assigned to the same SKU as the parent product, and no unique product is created. The SKU must be unique on ChannelEngine.
• Set brand and category on main product - in BigCommerce, you can only set information such as brand, category trail, custom fields, and shipment costs on the main product. This information is then copied to the variations on ChannelEngine.

Cancelations

You must handle cancelations in BigCommerce, not on ChannelEngine.

To cancel an order:

• On BigCommerce, change the status of the order to Canceled. Once ChannelEngine imports the shipments, it also imports the cancelation. Partial cancelations are not supported.

FAQs

How often does each task run on BigCommerce?

Does it matter where I place my currency symbol in BigCommerce?
No, it does not matter where you place the currency symbol. ChannelEngine only imports the value.

Is it possible to import a selection of products into ChannelEngine?
No, it is not possible to import only some of the products. All products that are available in BigCommerce are imported into ChannelEngine.

Can you import price lists and overrides into ChannelEngine?
No, price lists can only be used on the BigCommerce webshop – and cannot be imported into ChannelEngine. However, you can set specific price rules per channel on ChannelEngine. For more information, refer to the ChannelEngine: price rules guide.

What are the BigCommerce API rate limits?
The API rate limits depend on the BigCommerce plan you are on. 

How can I deactivate the integration?
To deactivate your integration, you can switch the Activate synchronization for BigCommerce toggle off. The safest way to deactivate the integration is to go into BigCommerce and remove the API account that supports the connection to ChannelEngine.

Be aware that, as soon as you deactivate the integration, the products connected to it are no longer visible on ChannelEngine.