Set up BigCommerce

Lesson 9 of 30 8 min read

Connect BigCommerce with its credentials file, then configure orders, stock adjustments, product updates and shipments.

BigCommerce is a hosted storefront with a clean API, and the Supply Lens connector is one of the easiest to stand up. It offers four Document types: Order, Inventory, Product Update and Shipment. The settings are few, but two of them (the stock allotment and the product tax rate) trip people up if they're missed.

By the end of this lesson you'll be able to connect a BigCommerce store and configure each of its four Configurations.

Connect the store

BigCommerce has its own connection form. In BigCommerce, the merchant creates an API account, and BigCommerce gives them a credentials file. In Supply Lens, upload or paste that file into the form and the connection details fill in for you. Then click CONNECT.

Tip

Ask the merchant to keep the credentials file somewhere safe. BigCommerce only offers it when the API account is created.

Orders

includeStatuses	The BigCommerce order statuses to import. Empty means all statuses.
excludeStatuses	Statuses to skip, even if they would otherwise be imported.
importDelay	Wait before importing, so other BigCommerce apps (a 3PL, fulfilment app or pricing engine) can update the order first.
useEmailAsPartyIdentifier	Add the customer email as an identifier for matching downstream.
defaultFulfillmentLocationId	The warehouse Location assigned to every imported order.
disableExpectedPayableTag	Skip the check that Supply Lens's calculated total matches BigCommerce's.
setupDate / lastImportDate	Go-live cut-off and watermark, managed by the system.

An empty include list imports everything

Unlike Magento, BigCommerce has no status filter by default. Until you set includeStatuses, orders in every status (including unpaid or cancelled ones) are imported.

Inventory

adjustmentReason	The reason text on the inventory adjustments Supply Lens creates in BigCommerce. Defaults to "Supply Lens inventory sync".
assignToDefaultAllotment	When true, stock goes to BigCommerce's default allotment rather than specific warehouse locations. When false or unset, stock is spread across the configured BigCommerce warehouse locations.

Supply Lens updates BigCommerce stock as inventory adjustments, which is why there's a reason field. The merchant will see the reason in BigCommerce's history, which helps when someone asks "who changed this stock?".

If the store uses BigCommerce's multi-location inventory, leave assignToDefaultAllotment off so each location gets its own figure. If the store sells from a single pool, turn it on.

Product updates

taxRateId	The BigCommerce Tax Rate ID used as the basis for the product tax rate on the imported document. Must be set for tax to be handled properly.
importDelay	Wait before importing a product update.
setupDate / lastImportDate	Go-live cut-off and watermark.

Don't skip taxRateId

The guide is clear that taxRateId must be set to configure tax handling for imported products. Get the ID from the merchant's BigCommerce tax settings before you turn product updates on.

Shipments

The Shipment Configuration has no settings beyond the base Integration configuration. Add it, map shipments to it, and it works with the defaults.

Rendering diagram...

Hilltop Coffee goes live on BigCommerce

Hilltop Coffee's merchant creates an API account and sends the credentials file through the customer's secure channel; the implementer uploads it and connects.

Order: includeStatuses = Awaiting Fulfillment, excludeStatuses = Cancelled, importDelay = 00:05:00, the roastery as defaultFulfillmentLocationId.
Inventory: one stock pool, so assignToDefaultAllotment is true; adjustmentReason becomes "Unleashed stock sync" so staff know where changes come from.
Product Update: taxRateId is set to the store's standard-rate tax rate ID.
Shipment: added with defaults.

Recap

Connect with the credentials file BigCommerce gives you when you create an API account.
Set includeStatuses: with it empty, every status is imported.
Stock is written as inventory adjustments, with a reason and either the default allotment or per-location figures.
Product updates need taxRateId.
Shipments need no extra settings.

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