Retailer Quick Start Guide for Shopify

Introduction

Mothership adds additional functionality to Shopify's ecommerce platform that makes it easy for Shopify-based merchants to supply products to and accept orders from other online retailers. Mothership is comprised of two related apps:

Mothership is the supplier app used by Shopify merchants to drop ship their products for other retailers. This quick start guide is written for users of this app. This app is available through the Shopify App Store and is used to publish feeds of their product catalogs, manage retailers, and place order on behalf of your retailers.
Mothership Connect is a free web and Shopify-based app for retailers who want to sell products supplied by merchants using Mothership. For retailers that use Shopify, Mothership Connect is available in the Shopify App Store. Retailers that use other ecommerce platforms can connect to Mothership-based suppliers using Mothership Connect's web interface available at https://retailer.mothership.fm.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is written for Shopify-based retailers who are connecting to a supplier that uses Mothership.

Prerequisites

You should have the following items before you begin:

A Shopify store where you can install Mothership Connect app.
A drop ship supplier that uses Mothership.
An invite key to connect with the drop ship supplier. You can find this key in the invite email sent by the supplier from Mothership.
A valid credit card which will be charged by the supplier when an order is placed for you in Mothership.

Setup and Configuration

Follow the steps below to get up and running with Mothership Connect quickly.

Install Mothership Connect into your Shopify store by visiting https://apps.shopify.com/mothership-connect and clicking the big green 'Get' button on the right. Follow the prompts to authorize Mothership Connect to access your store's data.
After you authorize the app, you will need to confirm your email address. Mothership Connect will use this email address to send you important updates about activities related to your orders. The email address should be monitored.
Next, indicate whether or not you want Mothership Connect to trigger fulfillment update emails in Shopify whenever your supplier fulfills an order. These emails will be sent to your customer and are identical to the ones that are normally sent out whenever you fulfill an order.
On the next page, you will be promoted to enter an invite key to connect to a supplier. This key is found in the invite email sent to you by your supplier and looks something like this: 09b5b62e-155f-4561-ad10-d7677e01a24c. Click the 'Submit' button.
If your invite code is valid, Mothership will connect you to the supplier's account page. Please review the list of countries the supplier ships to. Contact the supplier for additional information about the supplier's shipping policies.
At the top of the Invoices & Orders section, you will see a box titled "Invoicing Schedule". This section indicates the frequency with which the supplier requires you to pay for the orders placed through Mothership. You can be invoiced on a per-order basis, meaning you must pay the invoice prior to the order being placed with the supplier. Alternatively, you can be put on a periodic invoicing schedule, which means that you will be invoiced for all of the orders placed within the previous 1, 7, 15, or 30 day period. Orders originating from retailers on a periodic invoicing schedule are placed with the supplier automatically and as soon as they are processed by Mothership. Contact the supplier to arrange changes to your invoicing schedule.

When you are invoiced, you will receive an email from Mothership that contains a link to a checkout page within the supplier's store. You will need to proceed through the checkout in order to pay the invoice. As mentioned before, if you are on a per-order invoicing schedule, your order will not be placed with the supplier until you pay the invoice.
If you scroll further down the page, you will find a section called 'Selected Products'. This section gives you access to the supplier's product catalog and lists all of the products currently imported from the supplier into your store. Click the 'Add Products' button. Browse through the catalog. When you find a product you want to import, click on the link to view the product's details. Click on the 'Add to your store' button on the left to import the product.

Note, all imported products are added to a hidden Mothership collection in your store. Additionally, each product is unpublished, giving you an opportunity to update the pricing, product description, and images.
You're now ready to start accepting orders.

Placing Orders

Mothership Connect listens for orders placed in your store. If you are on a per-order invoicing schedule, you will be immediately receive a link to a checkout in the supplier's store. You must pay the invoice before an order is placed with the supplier. If you are on a periodic invoicing schedule, your order will be placed with the supplier automatically as soon as it is processed by Mothership.

Orders placed with the supplier include the shipping address of the end customer. You will be invoiced for the cost of the goods sold an any applicable shipping charges. Invoices will be emailed to the address you specified on your account. Payment of the invoice must take place through the Shopify checkout found at the link contained within the email. The checkout page will contain a itemize list of the items purchased with the supplier.

Shipping

When an order is placed, Mothership Connect determines the applicable shipping rate and includes any shipping fees in the order total. In the even that there is an overlap in applicable shipping rates, the cheapest rate will be selected.

Importantly, Mothership Connect cannot place orders with shipping addresses located outside of the supplier's shipping zones. You can see a list of the countries that the supplier ships to on the supplier's configuration page in the Shopify admin panel. You should make sure that your supplier ships to all of the locations to which you ship.

Fulfillments

When the supplier fulfills the order, Mothership Connect automatically updates the order in your Shopify store to reflect the fulfillment and any shipping information provided. Additionally, if you configured Mothership to trigger the notification, your customer will also receive an email about the fulfillment.

Returns

You will need to establish a return process with your supplier. When a return occurs, Mothership will refund the applicable charges to the retailer's card when you initiate the refund process from the order management screen in your Shopify Admin panel.

Support

If you ever run into problems or encounter a bug, please do not hesitate to reach out to support@mothership.fm.