Connect order channels

An order channel is where your orders come from. Zippendo does not create store orders on its own — it imports them from a connected channel so you can create shipments in one place. This walkthrough covers every channel you can add from Order Channels in the client, except Shopify. Shopify installs from the App Store and finishes in a different flow — follow Connect Shopify for that.

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What an order channel is

A channel is a named connection on your organization. After it is connected and Active:

• New orders from that source appear under Orders.
• The channel name is listed in the sidebar under Channel orders, so you can open that store’s orders in one click.
• Opening an order shows the Order Channel, customer, address, and lines. Use Create Shipment (or Send order if a shipment already exists) to fulfil it.

If your organization uses brands, assign a Brand on the channel after you connect. Orders synced from that channel — and the shipments made from them — belong to that brand. Unassigned channels stay organization-wide. The WooCommerce and custom connect flows do not ask for a brand up front.

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Supported channels in the app

Open Order Channels from the sidebar. The page title is Order Channels. The subtitle is Connect your e-commerce platforms to import orders automatically. Two tabs sit in the header (they are URL state — ?tab=): Those cards are the full catalog. There is no separate “webshop” or “API” card. A webshop or ERP you built yourself uses Custom channel. Creating orders through the REST API also uses a channel you already created (usually custom). Shopify: Connect Shopify. The rest of this page is WooCommerce and custom. A live custom card shows Custom integration, an Active or Disabled badge, Connected date, and either Last order received or No orders received yet. Click the card to open settings. Disconnected channels are leftovers from a removed store. They have no settings page. The subtitle is No active integration. Use Remove if you no longer need the row — that also deletes orders imported under it.

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Connect WooCommerce

One-click connect is the default. You enter your store URL, approve the connection on your own store, and WooCommerce generates the REST API keys. Prefer to paste keys you created in wp-admin? Use Enter API keys manually in the same modal.

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Before you start

• WooCommerce admin access.
• The store reachable over HTTPS for one-click connect. If the store is not on HTTPS, use the API keys step.
• At least one sender address under Settings → Sender if you want a Default Address on the channel (used as the sender on shipments created from this store). You can skip it and set it later.

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One-click connect

Back in Zippendo you should see the toast WooCommerce store connected! with Webhooks have been set up for real-time order sync. The store appears under Connected stores.

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Enter API keys manually

Use this when you already have keys, or one-click cannot reach the store. Use Back to one-click connect if you change your mind. The URL and address you already typed are carried over.

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WooCommerce settings after connect

Open the store from Connected stores. The header description is the store URL (or WooCommerce store settings). WooCommerce admin opens {store}/wp-admin in a new tab. Two tabs (these are on the settings page, not in the URL): Orders & checkout

• Automatic sync — periodically poll the store for new orders as a backup to webhooks.
• Sync interval (minutes) — 5–1440.
• Only unfulfilled orders — import only orders that are not yet fulfilled.
• Auto-create shipments — create a shipment when a new order arrives.
• Auto-fulfill in WooCommerce — on by default. Pushes tracking back to WooCommerce when you dispatch a shipment.
• Brand — orders from this channel belong to this brand.
• Default sender address — sender for shipments created from WooCommerce orders.
• Save changes after you edit the draft.
• Checkout token — for the WooCommerce checkout plugin. Generate token / Rotate token / Revoke. The plaintext token is shown once.

Connection

• Store URL, Status (Active / Disabled), Last sync (or Never).
• Test connection — verify the stored keys still reach the store.
• Webhooks — WooCommerce order hooks and their status (Active or Disabled by WooCommerce). WooCommerce turns a hook off after repeated delivery failures. Re-register recreates them.
• Danger zone — Disconnect removes the channel and its webhooks. Orders already in Zippendo stay.

There is no enable/disable switch on the WooCommerce screen. Status is a badge. To stop importing, Disconnect. Field-level notes and checkout plugin install: Connecting WooCommerce and WooCommerce checkout plugin.

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Create a custom channel

Use Custom channel for a webshop, ERP, or WMS Zippendo does not have a one-click integration for. Orders arrive as signed pushes to an Ingest URL, or through POST /orgs/{orgId}/orders with an API token. Tracking goes back out through org webhooks (shipment.dispatched, tracking.updated), not a per-channel callback. The hint on the modal is accurate: after create you get an ingest URL and a signing secret so your system can push orders.

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Custom channel settings

The settings header uses the channel name. Description: Your own integration: push orders to the ingest URL, or use the API and SDKs. View documentation opens the custom channels reference. Order ingestion

• Every push must include an HMAC-SHA256 signature of the raw body, keyed with the signing secret.
• Ingest URL — copy your URL from this field. Production looks like https://api.zippendo.com/webhooks/order-channels/{channelId}. Screenshots in this tutorial were taken against a local docs environment, so the host may show localhost — do not paste that into a live shop.
• Generate secret the first time, then Rotate secret / Revoke.
• After a generate or rotate, Zippendo shows the secret once: Copy the secret now — it is only shown once.

Required headers on each push: X-Zippendo-Topic (order.created, order.updated, order.cancelled, or ping) and X-Zippendo-Signature. Payload, status codes, and a ping connectivity test are in Custom channels. Operations Click Save changes after you edit auto-dispatch or the default address. Channel enabled and Brand save as soon as you toggle them. Danger zone — Delete removes the channel. The ingest URL stops accepting orders immediately.

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Other ways orders get in

The catalog is only Shopify, WooCommerce, and Custom channel. These are the other paths that still use a channel row:

• REST API / SDKs — POST /orgs/{orgId}/orders with orderChannelId set to a custom (or other) channel. Duplicate externalId on the same channel returns 409 ORDER_EXISTS. See Custom channels and the REST API quickstart.
• Manual / leftover rows — a manual channel has no connect card and no settings screen. It shows under Disconnected channels if nothing else represents it (for example after a store was removed). Remove cleans it up.
• Sidebar → Channel orders — not a fourth channel type. It lists the channels you already have so you can filter Orders to one store.

There is no user-facing “enable webhooks” toggle for custom ingest. Minting a signing secret is what turns ingest on. Org-level outbound webhooks (tracking back to your system) live under Settings → Webhooks, not on the channel.

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How orders appear after connecting

WooCommerce: webhooks fire on create/update/cancel, and Zippendo also polls on the interval you set (Automatic sync). Custom: your system pushes, or you create the order via the API. Either way the list is the same. Columns: Order ID, Customer, Status, Channel, Shipments, Created At. Status values you will see include Pending, Processing, Fulfilled, and Cancelled. Open a row to see Order Information (order number, status, Order Channel, total), customer, shipping address, lines, and the Shipments tab.

• No shipment yet, and the order is not fulfilled or cancelled: header action is Create Shipment.
• A shipment is already attached and ready: header action is Send order.
• Shipments tab lists existing shipments or No shipments yet.

Creating the shipment itself is Create a shipment. Browsing and filters: Orders.

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Troubleshooting

More on late imports: Order sync delays.

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Next steps

Field-level: Connect WooCommerce · Custom channel API · Order channel settings