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WooCommerce as master for products

This page explains how the product sync works if you choose WooCommerce as your product master.

Recommended if you use variable products on WooCommerce

If you use variable products on WooCommerce, then we recommend having WooCommerce as the master platform for products.

WooCommerce is the source of truth for product data. Product changes should be made on WooCommerce and the integration will update Epos Now automatically.

  • Product changes sync from WooCommerce to Epos Now only.
  • New products created on WooCommerce are created on Epos Now automatically.
  • Product updates sync to Epos Now for the fields enabled on your account.
  • Product deletes on WooCommerce can archive the linked product on Epos Now, or do nothing.
WooCommerce as product master direction
Always manage synced product data on WooCommerce

If a field is configured to sync from WooCommerce to Epos Now, then changes made to that field on Epos Now may be overwritten by the next WooCommerce update.

How It Works​

Here is a visual guide to how it works at a high level.

Creating Products​

What happens when you create a product on WooCommerce

Every time you create a product on WooCommerce, the integration checks Epos Now first to decide whether it should link to an existing product or create a new one.

If the product already exists on Epos Now

  • We find the matching product using the rules set on your account
  • We link the WooCommerce product to that Epos Now product
  • We update the linked product instead of creating a duplicate
  • We leave the existing Epos Now stock level unchanged

If the product does not exist on Epos Now

  • We create a brand new product on Epos Now
  • We link the products automatically
  • If Epos Now is the master for stock, we set the initial stock level on Epos Now to match WooCommerce
  • We place the product into your default Epos Now category

Before you publish​

To keep the sync clean:

  • if the product already exists on Epos Now, make sure the matching field is filled in before publishing so that a duplicate is not created
  • use private status if the product should sync but should not be visible online yet
  • leave the product in draft if it is not ready to sync

Matching rules​

The matching rules are chosen during setup. This might be the SKU, barcode, or another identifier shared between both platforms.

If you want to be able to generate barcodes on WooCommerce, this guide may help: How to generate barcodes in WooCommerce

Category behaviour​

If category linking is not being used, new products will go into the default Epos Now category on your account, which is usually called WooCommerce. You can then categorise the products in Epos Now directly.

If you want the products to sync into a linked Epos Now category, use Category Linking.

Updating Products​

When we receive a product update from WooCommerce, we first check if the product is already linked to Epos Now. You can see all existing links in our product linker.

If a linked product is found, then we update the fields that are enabled to sync on your account.

If you do not want certain fields to update on Epos Now, we can switch those fields off. For example, some businesses prefer to keep product prices on Epos Now separate from their online prices.

For fields that are not included in your mapping, you can update those directly on Epos Now and we will not overwrite them.

Deleting Products​

We do not hard delete any products on Epos Now.

When a product is deleted on WooCommerce, we can set the integration to either:

  • archive the linked product on Epos Now
  • leave the product on Epos Now as is

Our integration relies on knowing which WooCommerce product links to which Epos Now product.

When you first setup the integration, if you already have products on both platforms, then these should be linked before the sync is switched on so that duplicates are not created.

You can use our product linker to:

  • find product matches automatically
  • link products manually
  • review existing links
  • control per-product settings such as ignore product update

Once the initial linking is done, the product sync will take care of new links automatically when new products are created.

If you do not have reliable SKUs, then barcodes can also be used as part of the matching. This guide may be useful: How to generate barcodes in WooCommerce

For more details, have a look at: How to use the product linker

Categories​

WooCommerce allows multiple categories to be selected on a product, but Epos Now only allows a single category.

If a WooCommerce product has multiple categories, then you should set the master category in the EposNow (Slynk) tab on the WooCommerce product so that the integration knows which linked category should be used on Epos Now.

If no linked category is found, then the default Epos Now category from your settings will be used when a new product is created - this category is usually called WooCommerce.

For the full logic and examples, have a look at: Category Linking

Product Names and Descriptions​

We have added extra product fields in WooCommerce for you to specify the product name and description that should be used on Epos Now. This is useful when clients want to use abbreviated product names and descriptions on Epos Now without affecting the product name and description on WooCommerce.

If these fields are not filled in, then the integration will use the standard WooCommerce product name.

There are a couple of Epos Now limits to be aware of:

  • the product name can only be 128 characters long
  • the product description can be up to 4000 characters long

For more details, have a look at: Product names and descriptions on Epos Now

Prices​

On WooCommerce, you can specify both a regular price and a sale price.

We have a setting that allows you to choose whether the integration should use the sale price when one is set.

If this setting is enabled, then the integration will use the sale price when it exists, otherwise it will use the regular price.

If this setting is disabled, then the integration will always use the regular price.

You can also choose not to sync the selling price at all. This is useful if you want to manage your in-store pricing directly on Epos Now.

WooCommerce sale price scheduling

WooCommerce sale price scheduling is not supported at this time as WooCommerce does not send out webhooks when it adjusts the price on this schedule. If a sale price is set on WooCommerce it will be applied on Epos Now straight away (assuming you have that setting enabled)

There is also an option to sync cost prices if needed.

If you are using cost prices on Epos Now, this guide may also be useful: Cost prices in EposNow

Promotions​

Promotions do not sync between WooCommerce and Epos Now. You can use any promotion/discount plugin on WooCommerce to apply promotions on top of the product price, and you can do the same on Epos Now using their promotions feature.

Product Types​

WooCommerce​

Simple products​

Full support for simple products in this direction.

Variable products​

Full support for variable products in this direction.

Each variation is treated as its own single product in Epos Now.

If you are converting existing simple products into a variable product, have a look at: Converting simple products to variable products

Epos Now​

Standard products​

Full support for standard products in Epos Now.

Measured and weighed products​

Full support for measured and weighed products.

If you link multiple WooCommerce products to a single Epos Now product, then only one of those WooCommerce products should be used to update the product data on Epos Now. The other linked products should have ignore product update enabled.

If you need to set or change the Epos Now product type from WooCommerce, have a look at: Converting between standard, measured and weighed products

If you sell multiple WooCommerce products against a single measured or weighed product on Epos Now, have a look at: Measured and weighed products

WooCommerce Fields Added By Our Plugin​

When product sync is enabled, we add extra WooCommerce fields for Epos Now data and sync controls.

For simple products these can be found in the EposNow (Slynk) tab. For variable products, the same fields are available inside each variation.

When you are first setting up, our integration can copy the data for these Epos Now specific fields from Epos Now into WooCommerce so that you have a good starting point for product data in WooCommerce.

For more details, have a look at: Custom fields for EposNow data on WooCommerce

Product Images​

Product images do not sync between WooCommerce and Epos Now.

If you need images on both platforms, these should be managed separately.

Common Issues​

If product sync is not behaving as expected, the most common issues are:

  • duplicate matches found when checking existing products
  • invalid characters in the SKU
  • multiple WooCommerce products linked to the same Epos Now product without ignore product update set correctly

For the full list, have a look at: Product sync error messages