Automatic sources (suppliers)

A source is a list Koalab reads on its own: your supplier's Google sheet or a file at a link they keep. It updates the price, stock, cost and name of the products you already have, without you uploading anything; it does not create products. You decide how often it is read and how much autonomy it has.

1. 01 / 06

   Create the source

   In Sources / Suppliers, pick the catalog in the tab if you have more than one: the source feeds that catalog and from there it reaches each channel. Then «Add a source» and give it a name. Above the list you see «X of Y used», according to your plan. The one marked «Default» cannot be renamed or removed.

2. 02 / 06

   Say where the list comes from

   Two options. «URL (CSV/XLSX)»: the link to a file from your supplier; if it needs access, in «Authentication» choose «Username & password» or «Header (token)», the key they give you. «Google Sheets»: connect your account and read a private sheet without publishing it; that connection is shared by the catalog's sources. Finish with «Detect columns»: without it, «Which column is which» does not open.

3. 03 / 06

   Map the columns

   «Detect columns» assigns the ones it recognizes by their title —SKU, Price, Stock, Quantity, Reference…—. Check «Match by» (how each product is found: SKU or WooCommerce ID), Name, Regular price, Sale price, Stock and Cost. Careful: a supplier's list usually carries what you pay them, and that is your cost, not your «Regular price». If in Organization → «Rules» you have «Price from cost», Koalab works out your selling price from that cost, in the currency you chose there. «Name» changes the product's name in Koalab and on its channels. With WooCommerce ID, a row whose number is not linked, or is on two stores, is left out and counted. What does not come in the file can stay «Unassigned» or be marked «Not in the file»: you only need the column to match by and one for price or stock.

   Sources / Providers — Settings

   Andes Supplier · DefaultGoogle Sheets · Daily

   Which column is which

   Done once. If the supplier reorders the columns it doesn't matter: the heading rules.

   Match by

   SKU▾

   SKU

   REF▾

   Name

   DESCRIPCION▾

   Regular price

   PRECIO PUBLICO▾

   Sale price

   Not in the file▾

   Stock

   EXISTENCIA▾

   Cost

   Unassigned▾

4. 04 / 06

   Set the frequency

   «Manual only», «Daily», «Every 6 hours» or «Hourly». Starter schedules up to three sources at a time, daily; with the slots taken, the others only offer «Manual only», and the screen says so. Professional, all the ones you have, daily; the two short frequencies are Business. «Run now and review» saves what you have on screen, runs it and takes you to the same review as «Upload a list»: nothing enters the catalog until you apply it.

5. 05 / 06

   Decide how much autonomy

   Three modes. «Everything goes through your review»: each change waits in «Pending approval». «Applies what's safe», the recommended one: it applies what does not set off your alerts and leaves the rest in «Pending approval», such as a sharp price drop. «Applies everything»: it applies without asking and only holds clear errors: price 0 or negative, or a sale above the price. What is applied reaches the channels where those products are already published, each with its rules (markup, rounding, stock buffer): the source does not apply them before, so they never add up twice. In «Everything goes through your review» names do not change: «Pending approval» does not take names.

6. 06 / 06

   Watch its runs

   With automation on, the source sums up its last run: how many rows were applied, how many were left waiting, how many changed nothing and how many were not found in the catalog. If a Google sheet loses its connection, «The last read failed» appears, with «Reconnect» or «Pause». If a scheduled source cannot be read —Google without permission, a broken link or a file in another shape—, you and whoever has access to that channel get an email, once per problem; if the link just had a bad moment, it waits for a second failure in a row. When it arrives you decide in Profile → Notifications, under «Failed uploads, sources and imports».