ChannelEngine Orders Sync for WooCommerce — Documentation

What this plugin does

ChannelEngine Orders Sync for WooCommerce connects one ChannelEngine tenant to WooCommerce through the Merchant API. It imports new marketplace orders every 15 minutes, acknowledges them, pushes shipments when you fulfil, pulls cancellations, and pushes stock every hour.

Background jobs run on Action Scheduler (WP-Cron if unavailable). Nothing runs until Enable syncing is ticked.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.8 or later and PHP 7.4 or later
• WooCommerce 7.0 or later, HPOS or legacy order storage
• A ChannelEngine account with a Merchant API key
• Products whose WooCommerce SKU equals the Merchant Product Number in ChannelEngine

Installation

1. Install the zip at Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and activate it with WooCommerce active.
2. Open WooCommerce → ChannelEngine Sync. Tabs: Settings, Sync log, Status.

Connecting to ChannelEngine

1. In ChannelEngine open Settings → Merchant API keys and create a key.
2. In the plugin, enter your tenant name — just the name, e.g. acme for acme.channelengine.net, not the full URL.
3. Paste the API key and save.
4. Press Test connection. When it succeeds, tick Enable syncing and save.
5. Optionally press Sync orders now to pull immediately rather than waiting for the schedule.

Settings reference

Buttons on the settings screen

How orders are imported

The plugin fetches orders with status NEW from ChannelEngine every 15 minutes. Each becomes a WooCommerce order with line items, billing and shipping addresses, shipping costs, currency and taxes, and records the originating channel and the channel’s order number.

Lines are matched by SKU against the Merchant Product Number. A line that doesn’t match is still imported as a placeholder with a warning note on the order. After import, the order is acknowledged so ChannelEngine moves it to IN_PROGRESS and the marketplace knows it has been accepted.

Imports are keyed on the ChannelEngine order ID, so repeating a sync never duplicates an order. Orders fulfilled by the marketplace itself are flagged and excluded from shipment pushes.

Pushing shipments and handling cancellations

The ChannelEngine panel on the order screen shows the channel, the channel order number, the ChannelEngine ID, whether the order was acknowledged and whether the shipment was sent. Enter the carrier or shipping method and the tracking number there and save the order.

When the order reaches the status in Push shipment when status becomes, the plugin creates a shipment for all lines with that carrier and tracking number. ChannelEngine forwards it to the marketplace. You can change the payload with the rau_ceos_shipment_payload filter — useful for a custom tracking URL or method.

If the marketplace cancels an order, the next sync sets the WooCommerce order to your cancelled status and adds a note.

Stock sync

Every hour the plugin sends stock for products with a SKU. Out-of-stock products push zero; products that don’t manage stock push a placeholder quantity you can change with rau_ceos_unmanaged_stock_value. Filter the full offer list with rau_ceos_stock_offers.

The sync log and Status tab

The Sync log records imports, acknowledgements, shipments, cancellations, stock pushes and errors with raw request and response detail. Filter by level; order-related entries link to the order. Entries are kept for seven days.

The Status tab shows connection and syncing state, the API endpoint, last and next order sync, last and next stock push, orders this month, errors in the last 24 hours and the scheduler in use.

What the free version includes

• Up to 100 imported orders per month
• One ChannelEngine tenant
• 15-minute order sync and hourly stock sync
• 30-day order look-back
• 7-day log retention
• One tracking number per order

Troubleshooting

For developers: hooks

Every hook below is part of the plugin’s public surface and safe to use from a theme’s functions.php or a small site plugin.

// Add a tracking URL to every shipment.
add_filter( 'rau_ceos_shipment_payload', function ( $payload, $order ) {
	if ( ! empty( $payload['TrackTraceNo'] ) ) {
		$payload['TrackTraceUrl'] = 'https://track.example.com/' . $payload['TrackTraceNo'];
	}
	return $payload;
}, 10, 2 );

Uninstalling

Deleting the plugin removes its settings, counters and log table. Imported orders remain in WooCommerce.

Questions people ask

Does it create products in WooCommerce?

No. It never touches your catalogue — only orders, order notes and stock.

Can I import orders from only some channels?

Per-channel rules are part of the Pro edition. The free version imports every channel connected to the tenant.