Connect your first supplier

Getting startedUpdated 23 September 2026

The Connect a supplier page is one form. You fill it in from top to bottom, test it, and save it. Nothing is written to your store while you are on this page. A test only reads from your supplier, and saving only stores the connection.

Open the page

Go to Connections and click Connect supplier. You can also start from the setup guide on the app's home page, where the first step is Connect a supplier.

The sections change with the kind of feed you pick. A REST API feed shows Supplier, Connection, Location, What syncs, Schedule, Inventory endpoint & mapping, and Images and metafields. A WooCommerce store shows a WooCommerce store section in place of the technical ones. A CSV or spreadsheet file shows a Connection section for the file and a Column mapping section at the end.

Test connection sits in the page header. There is no save button on the page itself. Once you change a field, the Shopify admin save bar appears at the top of the screen, and you save with Save there.

Supplier

Start with Connect from. It has three options:

For a REST API feed, pick a preset in Start from, or leave it on the first option to set everything up by hand. A preset fills in the fields below it, and you can still edit every one of them. When you pick one, a banner headed "Prefilled from the ... preset" shows that supplier's setup notes. See Supplier presets. The Use demo feed link right under Start from picks the demo feed for you, so you can try the whole flow with no credentials.

Then fill in Display name. This is the name you will see in every list, for example Acme Distribution.

Connection

For a REST API feed, enter the Base URL. This is the root of your supplier's API, for example https://api.supplier.com/v3. It must start with https:// or http://.

Then choose the Auth type. There are seven options: None, API key header, Bearer token, Basic auth, OAuth2 client credentials, API key in the query string, and Login exchange (sign in for a token). The form then shows only the fields that type needs. Your supplier gives you these values. Secrets are typed into password fields and stored encrypted.

Location

Shopify location is the one location this connection reads and writes stock at. Everstock syncs the available quantity there, which is the stock your storefront can sell. You can change it later on the connection page.

What syncs

This section sets up a safe start:

  • Create missing products is off. Turn it on to create a draft product for a supplier item you do not have yet. It needs a price in your mapping, so nothing is created at 0.00.
  • Sync inventory is on. It keeps stock in step with the feed.
  • Sync supplier price is off. Check whether the feed carries your retail price or your cost before you turn it on.
  • Quantity cap (optional) limits how high a synced quantity can go.
  • Hold changes for my approval is off. Turn it on if you want new products, prices and product details to wait for you.

A new product is always created with everything the supplier sends: title, description, images, variants and more. What gets updated on products you already have is chosen later, on the connection page. There you will also find price rules, variants, collections and every other field. See Update product content, one field at a time.

Schedule

Sync frequency decides how often the connection runs by itself. The menu only shows the options your plan allows. On the Free plan the only choice is "Manual only", with a note beside it that reads "Scheduled syncs need a paid plan". You can still run a sync by hand on every plan. See Schedule syncs.

If you pick a repeating schedule, the first sync is queued as soon as you save. Leave it on manual if you want to preview first.

Mapping

For a REST API feed, the last sections are Inventory endpoint & mapping and Images and metafields. Here you tell Everstock where the records are and which supplier field holds the SKU, the barcode, the quantity and the rest. Images and metafields starts closed, because most feeds need neither; click Show images and metafields to open it. A preset fills this in for you. See Map your supplier fields to your store.

You need two things mapped: a matching key (SKU or Barcode) and Quantity. Until both are there, a banner reads "This mapping can't sync yet". That banner is a warning. It does not stop you saving.

Test, then save

Click Test connection before you save. For a REST API feed it fetches the first page of the feed and dry runs your mapping on a sample. It writes nothing. On success a toast names what it kept, for example "Fetched 3 sample records". The supplier fields it found appear as buttons you can click to map, and a preview table shows SKU, Barcode, Title, Quantity, Price and Issues for each sample record. If the test fails, a banner headed "Couldn't reach the supplier feed" appears next to the endpoint fields.

Then click Save in the save bar. If a required field is empty, the message appears next to that field, for example "Enter a name for this connection." If you are at your plan's connection limit, the form is replaced by a "Connection limit reached" banner and an Upgrade button.

What happens next

Saving takes you to the new connection's page. If you saved on manual, nothing has reached your store yet. Click Preview changes for a dry run, then Sync now when you are ready.

A sync writes what it finds by default. If you want to check each run first, turn on Hold changes for my approval. On the Free plan a run covers up to 2,000 of your products or variants, counting any it would create, and a bigger run is held whole with nothing written. Supplier items you don't sell and don't create never count, so a large supplier feed is fine when you sell only part of it. See Plans, connection limits, and changing plan.

Need help? Visit the support page or email hello@usenormalize.com.