Bol.com → Shopify connector

The exchange

What goes over, and what comes back

This is the one Schakel connector where both systems really tell each other something. Bol.com brings the sales, Shopify is where you work, and the stock count travels between the two.

Channel Bol.com seller account

Orders to Shopify
Returns to Shopify
Stock both ways
Tracking to Bol.com
Products both ways

Where you work Shopify your own store

Two channels selling off the same shelf share one problem: the shelf does not know it. This connector has Bol.com and Shopify listen to each other in both directions, so the number you see in one screen is the number that holds in the other. Everything else on this page follows from that.

Both directions

What travels back and forth

One entry per flow, with the direction it runs and how often. Nothing here needs starting by hand unless it says so.

Orders to Shopify every five minutes: Every open Bol.com order becomes a Shopify order. Lines are matched on EAN barcode, so an order with three items arrives as one order with three lines. From that moment you pick it, pack it and fulfil it like any other order in your shop.
Stock both ways on every change: Sell in Shopify and the new count goes to Bol.com. Sell on Bol.com and it goes the other way. This is the part that genuinely runs in two directions, and it is also the part you notice the absence of.
Tracking to Bol.com the moment you fulfil: Fulfil the order in Shopify and the tracking number goes straight to Bol.com with the carrier attached. PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS and UPS are recognised, so the shipping status on Bol.com is right without you retyping it.
Returns to Shopify every five minutes: New Bol.com return requests land in your overview instead of in a portal you have to remember to open. You approve or refuse them, and that answer travels back to Bol.com.
Your Bol.com catalogue into Shopify to Shopify whenever you ask: If a Bol.com offer is not in Shopify yet, Schakel builds a product from it: title, description, brand, photos, price and stock all come along. They arrive as drafts so you look them over first. Comparison is on EAN, so anything you already sell is linked rather than created a second time.
Your Shopify products onto Bol.com to Bol.com whenever you ask: The other direction works too: Shopify products become Bol.com offers, with a tag deciding which ones go. There is a section further down on what that involves.
Invoice requests to your overview every five minutes: Business buyers asking for an invoice on Bol.com land in a list of their own, so a request does not disappear between your ordinary orders.
The log in Schakel every run: Every run is written down: what was pulled in, what was sent out and what was skipped. If something goes wrong you can see which order it was about instead of guessing.

Stock

One shelf, two shopfronts

This is why people take this connector, and it is the hardest part of it. You have one physical stock and two channels selling out of it. As long as both channels see the same number, it holds.

Bol.com Shopify

Nine on the shelf. Two went this morning, and both channels know it.

What happens when it drifts

Without a connector the two counts drift apart the moment it gets busy. When you are down to your last one, it stands for sale on both channels. Whoever orders first gets it and the other gets a cancellation, and on Bol.com a cancellation counts against your seller performance.

LVB stock is Bol.com warehouse stock

For items handled by Logistiek via bol, Bol.com reports the count in its own warehouse. That is not the number on your own shelf. If you sell both from your own stock and out of LVB, decide which of the two you want travelling to Shopify, otherwise you are circulating a number about a different shelf.

Two Bol.com accounts, one shelf

If two Bol.com seller accounts ship out of the same stock, the push direction has to be decided rather than assumed. Send the same Shopify count to both accounts and the same shelf stands fully for sale twice over. We set that up with you.

Before and after

What running two channels costs you

Task	By hand	With Schakel
Knowing what stock sits where	A spreadsheet you keep yourself	One count, equal on both sides
Retyping orders	Out of the seller portal, one by one	They arrive as Shopify orders
Creating a product twice	Title, photos and price, twice over	Once, then moved across
Finding a return	A second portal to keep watching	In your overview, answer travels back
Selling the same unit twice	Happens on the last one	Stock travels, both ways

Onto Bol.com

Your Shopify products as Bol.com offers

Selling in Shopify today and wanting to be on Bol.com as well does not mean retyping your catalogue. You put a tag on the products that may go, and Schakel turns those into offers.

A tag decides what goes

Only products carrying the tag you name are taken. So you start with ten products instead of your whole catalogue, and you widen it later by putting the tag somewhere else.
You start it yourself

It is a button, not a background job. You pick the moment, and afterwards you see per product what happened: created, or skipped and why.
Schakel makes the offer, not the product page

An offer hangs off an EAN that Bol.com already knows, with your price, your stock and your delivery time on it. The product page itself stays Bol.com catalogue content.
From then on it travels with the rest

Once the offer exists, its stock is kept in step by the same sync that handles everything you already sell there.

Getting started

How you begin

01
Install Schakel in Shopify

You get an install link and add Schakel as an app to your own store. You sign in through Shopify itself, so there is no separate account to make.
02
Connect your Bol.com account

In your Bol.com seller account you create an API key and paste it into the settings. The key is stored encrypted and belongs to your store alone.
03
Choose what may sync

Per part you switch on what you want: orders, stock, shipments, returns. Products are matched on EAN barcode, and whatever does not match by itself you link in one screen.
04
Let the first run go

You run the first sync while you watch. The log shows per part what came in and what went out. If the picture is right, you leave it to its own rhythm from there.

Ready for both channels to show the same stock?

Start free, no credit card. The connector runs as an app inside your own Shopify store.

Set this up See the plans

This connector does not do bookkeeping. Invoices, commission and VAT from Bol.com run through the Bol.com to Moneybird connector. Your API keys are stored encrypted, and you can revoke access from either side at any time.

What you need

A Shopify store on a paid plan
A Bol.com seller account with Retailer API access
EAN barcodes on your Shopify variants, or let Schakel create the products for you

Not sure how to get those keys? Step by step:

Bol.com Shopify

Where it runs

Inside your Shopify admin, as an app. You sign in through Shopify, no separate account.

Free to start

Then from €10 a month billed yearly, or stay on free. See the tiers

Set this up

Another pair

Connect a different pair

Bol.com and Shopify is one of many. Pick two systems and see what travels between them.

Common questions

Does this work with Bol.com Belgium?

Yes. Bol.com uses one seller account for the Netherlands and Belgium, so both run through the same connector.

What if a product has no EAN?

You map it by hand in the product screen. That mapping is remembered from then on.

I only sell on Bol.com today. Do I have to retype everything in Shopify?

No. Schakel builds Shopify products from your Bol.com offers, with title, description, brand, photos, price and stock. Tick the ones you want, or take the lot in one go. They arrive as drafts, so you look them over and publish them yourself.

Will Schakel create duplicate products?

No. Schakel compares every Bol.com EAN against the barcodes actually in your store, right before anything is created. If you already sell it, it gets linked instead of created again.

Can I connect multiple Bol.com accounts?

Yes, you can attach several Bol.com accounts to one Shopify store.

Does anything change for my existing orders?

No. Schakel only creates new orders and never touches your existing Shopify orders.

Can you connect Bol.com to Shopify?

Yes. Schakel connects through the official APIs of Bol.com and Shopify, so you install nothing on your own server and nothing travels outside those two parties.

What does the connector match products on in Shopify?

On EAN barcode or SKU. Those have to line up on both sides; anything that does not match automatically you map once by hand, and it is remembered after that.

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