Sync stock between WooCommerce, eBay and Amazon without changing your shipping software
If you sell the same products through WooCommerce, eBay and Amazon, TrueSKU can link your existing listings to one shared inventory record and update their stock quantities. You can keep buying labels through your existing services while maintaining stock in TrueSKU.
Who this suits, and who might prefer something else
This arrangement suits sellers who list the same products on their own WooCommerce store, on eBay and on Amazon, already have a routine for buying postage and dispatching orders, and want one stock figure that all three listings follow.
TrueSKU is not an order-management or dispatch system. If you want a single product that also handles picking lists, carrier labels, courier choice and order routing, an all-in-one order-management system may suit you better. And if almost everything you sell goes through WooCommerce alone, WooCommerce's own stock fields may be all you need.
What stays the same
Your stores, listings and dispatch routine carry on as they are:
- Your accounts. TrueSKU connects to your WooCommerce store, eBay account and Amazon seller account through their own APIs. It sits alongside them and does not replace them.
- Your existing listings. TrueSKU reads what is already live and, once a listing is linked to a SKU, changes its stock quantity. It does not change titles, prices or descriptions, and you do not re-list anything.
- How you buy labels and dispatch. Use eBay or Amazon label services, or a service such as Royal Mail Click & Drop for WooCommerce orders, exactly as you do now. TrueSKU reads each order from the channel itself, so it does not need to connect to your label tool. There is no direct Click & Drop integration, and none is needed for this.
What changes
There is some set-up work, and a change of habit afterwards:
- Linking listings to SKUs, once. A listing is matched automatically where its SKU (or its eBay custom label) matches a SKU in TrueSKU. The rest you link by hand, or in bulk by CSV.
- Checking starting stock. Enter a quantity for each SKU and compare it with what your channels currently show before sync is switched on.
- Recording stock in TrueSKU. Deliveries, returns and counts are recorded in TrueSKU rather than by editing a number in each store. Once sync is on, TrueSKU's figure replaces the quantity shown on the channel.
- Switching sync on deliberately. New stores start with stock sync off, and so does the account-wide switch. You enable one store at a time, and the account-wide switch last. Connecting a channel alone never changes a quantity.
A worked example
This is an illustration, not real data. You hold 10 units of one product, and have a WooCommerce product, an eBay listing and an Amazon listing, all linked to the same SKU.
- TrueSKU holds 10 for the SKU, and all three listings show 10.
- A customer buys 2 on eBay. Once TrueSKU has picked up that order and applied it, the SKU has 8 available.
- TrueSKU then queues quantity updates, and the WooCommerce, Amazon and eBay listings are set to 8.
That is before any rules you have set. A buffer holds some stock back, a per-channel maximum caps what one channel shows, and a listing that sells a 2-pack with a multiplier of 2 would show 4 (8 divided by 2, rounded down).
Timing. By default TrueSKU checks each connected channel for new orders about every five minutes and sends changed quantities roughly every minute after that, and each channel takes its own time to process an update. Expect minutes rather than seconds: in the gap, another channel can still show 10. Some sellers add a small buffer on their fastest-selling lines for that reason.
How sales reach TrueSKU from each channel
TrueSKU brings in sales from each channel directly. For each channel you switch on "direct sales collection" and choose where the first collection starts: the last 24 hours, from now, or a date you pick. That is the inbound half. Sending quantities back out to the listings is the outbound half, and the two are separate, as explained in inbound versus outbound sync.
- WooCommerce: TrueSKU asks your store's REST API for new and changed orders.
- eBay: TrueSKU reads your orders through eBay's APIs and matches them on eBay's unique order ID.
- Amazon: TrueSKU reads your merchant-fulfilled (FBM) orders through Amazon's Orders API. An order Amazon still shows as pending is held until Amazon confirms it. Amazon-fulfilled (FBA) orders are not imported, because Amazon manages that stock.
Avoiding double counting
Each order is recorded once, under its channel's own order number (per channel and seller). If the same order turns up again, for example in an overlapping check or a re-import, it is recognised and not applied a second time. A sale that cannot be applied safely, such as one on a listing that is not linked to a SKU, is held in the Sales Inbox instead of silently changing stock.
The safest set-up is one source of sales per channel. If you also send sales from another system (Packing Partner, CSV or the API), ask us first so the two sources agree on the order number and nothing is counted twice.
Buying labels: eBay, Amazon and Click & Drop
Label and dispatch tools act on an order after it exists on the channel, and TrueSKU reads that same order from the channel. So whether you print an eBay label, use Amazon's shipping, or send a WooCommerce order through Click & Drop, the sale reaches TrueSKU the same way.
TrueSKU takes the stock off when it records the sale (for Amazon, once the order is no longer pending), not when the label is printed. Marking a WooCommerce order as completed is read as shipped and does not change stock a second time.
Limits and things to check
Check these before you switch sync on:
- Unlinked listings. A listing with no SKU is not updated, and sales on it do not change stock. They wait in the Sales Inbox until you link the listing.
- Variations. WooCommerce variations and eBay and Amazon variations are linked to SKUs individually. Amazon parent rows, which group variations but are not themselves buyable, are skipped.
- Bundles and multipacks. A bundle SKU's availability follows its components (see how bundle availability is calculated). A multipack listing uses a multiplier.
- Amazon FBA and FBM. Only your own-fulfilled (merchant-fulfilled) quantities are updated. FBA stock is left to Amazon. There is an optional setting to let an FBA listing sell first.
- Other tools that write stock. A plugin or app that also sets quantities on the same listings will compete with TrueSKU. Once sync is on, TrueSKU treats its own figure as correct and sets the listing back to it, so keep to one tool writing stock.
- Cancellations and changes. An order cancelled, or changed in quantity, after stock was applied is flagged for review rather than silently reversed.
- Timing. Updates take minutes and also depend on each channel's own API, so a channel outage or limit can delay them.
What it looks like in TrueSKU
Plans, trial and limits
Stock sync to your channels is included in the 21-day free trial, with no credit card required and a limit of 10,000 SKUs during the trial. After the trial, sending quantities to your channels needs a Channel Sync plan:
- Growth + Channel Sync: £69/month, up to 3,000 SKUs and 3 users.
- Pro + Channel Sync: £129/month, up to 10,000 SKUs and 10 users.
Packing Partner customers pay £58/month and £109/month respectively. The Starter, Growth and Pro plans without Channel Sync track stock but do not send it to your channels. Prices are in £ and no VAT is currently charged. Prices and limits can change, so check the pricing page for the current figures.
A short set-up checklist
- Start the free trial and connect WooCommerce, eBay and Amazon. Connecting only reads your listings.
- Let the listings import, then link each one you sell to a SKU: automatically where codes match, by CSV, or by hand.
- Enter a starting quantity for each SKU and compare it with what each channel shows.
- Switch on direct sales collection for each channel, choosing where the first collection starts, so sales start reducing stock.
- Check the Sales Inbox for anything held, and resolve it.
- Switch on stock sync for one store, then the others, and the account-wide switch last.
- Watch the first updates on the Listings screen before leaving it to run.
More detail is in the help centre, and the stock sync overview has a short video and the common questions. You can also see which channels are supported on the integrations page.
See TrueSKU with your own listings
21-day free trial, no card required.