Connecting Multiple Solid Commerce Accounts (Parent and Child Accounts)

Josh Smith

May 17, 2022 19:57

This document will walk you through the process of connecting a parent and child Solid Commerce account.

What we’ll cover:

Why You Would Need Multiple Solid Commerce Accounts
Connecting Multiple Accounts
Synchronizing Inventory Across Accounts
Managing Imported SKUs in a Child Account
Listing SKUs to Multiple Accounts
Managing Orders
Related Articles

Why You Would Need Multiple Solid Commerce Accounts

Each Solid Commerce account is designed to connect to a marketplace once. If you have multiple accounts with a marketplace, you will need multiple Solid Commerce accounts. The international versions of the marketplaces are separate marketplaces, so you can connect one Solid Commerce account to multiple international marketplaces.

EXAMPLE: You have two eBay US accounts (ebay.com) and one eBay UK account. You will need two Solid Commerce accounts. One for your first eBay US account and eBay UK. One for the second eBay US account.

NOTE: There are several options for sharing inventory between your accounts. You can also choose not to share inventory if you would rather manage it independently in each account. If you don't want to share inventory, you might still want to connect your accounts so you can toggle between them for management or shipping.

Connecting Multiple Accounts

Your primary Solid Commerce account will be your parent account.

Before you link a child account, create different login credentials. The parent account cannot share the same user names or login ids with the child.

1) Log in to your parent account.

2) Go to the Admin menu -> Manage Seller Account. Select the Link Account tab.

3) Click on the Link Account button.

4) Enter the credentials for your child account. Click the Link Account button.

5) Once the connection has been made, Log Out of your Solid Commerce account.

6) Login again. You should see a drop-down allowing you to toggle between accounts.

A drop-down will be added to SolidShip for that user too.

Synchronizing Inventory Across Accounts

You have multiple options to control how inventory is shared. If you are going to share inventory between accounts, use different Warehouse Names in each account, so we can sync with the correct Warehouse.

To select an option:

1) Access your child account.

2) Go to the Admin menu -> Manage Seller Account. Select the Link Account tab.

3) Select an option from the Shared Inventory Mode drop-down. Your options are:

Not Shared – Quantities are maintained independently using Warehouses in each account.
Parent Only – Quantity information in the child account is ignored. All inventory is maintained in the parent account. This is the most popular option. NOTE: When uploading PO sources your child account's marketlists, you will use your child account's login. The PO sources should be the warehouses from your parent account as you are sharing inventory with the parent.
Parent and Current Child – Inventory can be managed in both the child account and parent account. This option is generally used when the child account shares some items with the parent account, but also has some unique items. People using this option generally set multiple Warehouses as their PO Sources so that we can search for inventory in both the parent's Warehouse and that child's Warehouse.

To set multiple Warehouses as your PO Sources:

In Excel enter each Warehouse name separated by the pipe symbol (|). Example: Parent Warehouse A|Child Warehouse B.
In the user interface, click on the Available Warehouses icon. Select your first Warehouse from the tree in the Add Source drop-down and click Add. You will see all of your linked accounts in the drop-down. Select another Warehouse and click Add again.

All Companies – Every account can access inventory in any other account.

IMPORTANT!
You may need to change the Warehouses selected as your PO Sources after you link accounts. If we can't find your PO Source Warehouse, or can't find the item in the Warehouse, it's quantity will be reset to zero. This can cause listings to close.

To avoid issues, we recommend turning the automation of your listings off right before you link your accounts. This will give you time to update your PO Sources. You may also need to add items to one of your other Solid Commerce accounts. Don't forget to turn the automation on when you're done.

Setting the PO Sources on imported or new listings is explained in the next two sections of this article.

Managing Imported SKUs in a Child Account

When automatically importing listings into a child account, you cannot import them directly into a Warehouse in your parent account. If you would like to share imported items with other linked accounts, follow this process:

1) Import the items into a Warehouse in your child account.

Most people use this as a temporary Warehouse unless they are using the Parent and Current Child or All Companies Shared Inventory Modes.

2) If some of the imported items don't exist in your parent account yet, create the products in your parent account and save them in a Warehouse.

Exporting the products from the child account or retrieving them into Excel can help make this process easier.

3) Update the PO Sources in your child account. You can set the PO Sources to a Warehouse in your parent account or even multiple Warehouses.

In Excel, enter the correct Warehouse Name. If you want to set multiple PO Sources, separate each Warehouse Name with the pipe symbol (|).
In the user interface, click on the Available Warehouses icon. Select your first Warehouse from the tree in the Add Source drop-down and click Add. You will see all of your linked accounts in the drop-down.

Listing SKUs to Multiple Accounts

Inventory Level information is the only information shared between accounts (Quantity, Cost, Storage Location). Product Level information is loaded into each account separately to allow you to establish different product details for each marketplace. If you want to list products from multiple accounts, use the following process:

1) Create new products in the parent account by populating your normal Excel template. Select the Product and Inventory updates during upload.

2) If you want to list the items in your parent account, add the relevant Marketplace Level information.

3) Upload Product information into any child accounts you want to list from. If you want to use the same product details in all accounts, upload the same Excel file using the Solid Commerce credentials for one of your child accounts. Select only the Product update during upload.

If you are using the Parent and Current Child or All Companies Shared Inventory Modes, upload Inventory Level information to manage inventory from any child accounts.

4) Upload Marketplace Level information into your child accounts.

Make sure to use the correct Warehouse names in the po sources field.

Managing Orders

Inventory information is the only data shared between linked Solid Commerce accounts. Orders are not shared. Navigate to each Solid Commerce account to view orders and print pick lists.

From the parent account inside SolidShip, you can select to ship orders from Any company, or you can choose a single account. The account drop-down menu is located in the upper right-hand side of the SolidShip interface.

inventory_management_shipping_tool_linked_accounts_drop-down.png