E-commerce dominates our lives these days. A good E-commerce platform is essential for running your business. If you belong to the cell phone repair industry and offer accessories, branded or refurbished cell phones, it makes even more sense to use a platform that propels you in the right direction.

WooCommerce is one of the most popular platforms currently available in the market. Powering over 28% of all online stores, it's a tool that can give you the edge in conducting online business. With WooCommerce you can sell almost anything, whether digital or physical, anytime and anywhere.

RepairDesk is delighted to announce the launch of its integration with WooCommerce. Now repair shop owners can run their businesses online and cater to customer orders in a more effective and efficient manner.

Note: Your website should be built on WordPress to use this integration effectively. woo commerce store must have PUT, GET, POST requests enabled from WordPress Hosting Server.

Benefits

Some of the salient benefits of this integration are as follows:

 - Sync RepairDesk with WooCommerce

 - Import items from RepairDesk to your online website

- import items from your online website to RepairDesk

 - Add photo and item details from RepairDesk to your website

 - Automatic generation of invoices in RepairDesk as an order is confirmed on your site.

 - Match your invoices and payments

- Map the category of your Website with RepairDesk

- Able to Add online prices other than Retail prices if they are different

A. Setting up WooCommerce Integration in RepairDesk

Setting up WooCommerce in RepairDesk is very straightforward. Just follow the steps outlined here:

1. Login to your WordPress account and install WooCommerce plugin. You can download the plugin from here. Once the plugin is installed, it will appear in the left navigation menu in WordPress.

B. Integration settings in RepairDesk

1. Now login to RepairDesk and go to the Integrations page. Select WooCommerce from the menu.

On the WooCommerce integration settings page click on Setup. You would need to enter the following information:

Select the store for which you need to setup WooCommerce integration.

URL to your Woocommerce Site: Enter the base URL for your Woocommerce site (WordPress).

For Reference:

Finally, click on the Save button.

Once you have setup the configuration and saved these settings the integration will be activated and the trigger " Enable Sync to Woocommerce" will be enabled automatically. By default, the trigger will be off

Manage inventory > Product > Add product 

Webhooks

Once you have successfully setup the configuration, webhooks will be automatically created on your wooCommerce site. You can check the automatically created webhooks by logging into your site.

1- Login to your WordPress account.

2- Select WooCommerce from the left side

3- Click on the settings

5- Select webhooks in advance settings

6- After clicking on the webhooks, you would see the automatically created webhooks (Product created, Order created, Order updated, Order deleted)

C. Triggers

You would also need to enable the following triggers under the Triggers tab:

Enable Sync to WooCommerce: Activate integration and sync RepairDesk items with WooCommerce.

Note: This trigger will be enabled automatically once you have set up integration with WooCommerce.

Create invoice when order created: If this trigger is enabled, an invoice will be generated automatically when an order is created on your site.

Sync images: if this trigger is enabled, then images of all the items will synchronize to your WooCommerce site when a product is updated on the RepairDesk.

Manual sync: This trigger will help you to synchronize only selected categories.

 So you need to select the categories first that you want to sync on your site     

Import products from WooCommerce: This trigger will help you import products from Woocommerce to Repairdesk

Sync prices: Synchronizes prices of all items between RepairDesk and WooCommerce site.

Sync Product Description: If this trigger is enabled, product descriptions will automatically get updated on RepairDesk when updated on WooCommerce Integration.

You can add online prices for items that will be displayed on the website. if both retail and online price are given in the system then the online price will be synced with the website.

If both the Sales and Online prices are given then on WooCommerce store, priority will be of the Sales price. If the sales price is not given then the online price will be shown on the store.

D. Product Categories & Invoices

Your product categories such as accessories, batteries, cables, etc in RepairDesk can be displayed on your WooCommerce site. You can select the product categories in the integrations setting page that you want to display on the WooCommerce site. All items under selected categories will be synced with WooCommerce and will appear on your site.

You can select items that are under a category synced with RepairDesk to be displayed to not to be displayed on WooCommerce site. To un-sync such an item, just open the item in RepairDesk, and under Triggers disable the trigger: "Sync with WooCommerce".

Similarly, if you want to enable sync for a particular item, just enable the trigger "Sync with WooCommerce" and that item in RepairDesk will be synced with WooCommerce site.

Here we would also like to mention something about the stock updates and item details.

Stock Update: RepairDesk's WooCommerce Integration will automatically update your stock in RepairDesk and WooCommerce as an order for a customer is completed. If a customer orders a particular item and its order is completed, the stock in RepairDesk and WooCommerce site will automatically be updated.

Item Details: After you have enabled integration with WooCommerce, details of an item in RepairDesk will also appear on WooCommerce. These details consist of basic information such as item name, price, stock levels, etc.

Now let us show you how to enable product categories in RepairDesk.

1. All of your item types will be appearing below. Select the type/ categories of items you want to sync with the WooCommerce site. 

2. If you're dealing with trade-in item, select the Trade-In option. If you want to create a category under Trade-In, enter its name in the field: "Trade-In category Items".

Note: Once a trade-in item is synced with WooCommerce the item name will be displayed on your site in the following format: "Manufacturer  - Device  - Color  - Size  - Network  - Condition". E.g. "Apple iPhone 6 Black 64GB Verizon Like New".

3. Finally, click on the Save button to complete the configuration, and voila! You have successfully integrated WooCommerce with RepairDesk.

Invoices: Before we close, we would like to mention how an invoice in RepairDesk is linked with a customer's order on your WooCommerce site.

When a customer places an order and that order is marked as completed, it is synced with RepairDesk. RepairDesk will not only fetch customer details and display them in the invoice but would also mention the Order ID against which the invoice is generated.

The Order ID will help you in identifying which invoices were created against customer's order on your online store.

You can also see the further details of your woocommerce’s customer in the Manage customer section

Other details such as items in the customer order and payment details will be added to the invoice in RepairDesk once the order status has been marked as completed from WooCommerce backend.

FAQs

1. Does this integration support serialized inventory?

Yes, serialized inventory is supported in our WooCommerce integration. Its workflow is as follows:

i) When integration is enabled, items in RepairDesk will be synced with WooCommerce.

ii) When a customer selects the item in order and the order is confirmed, this item will be added to the customer invoice.

iii) After the order status is set to Order Completed the invoice will be synced with RepairDesk.

iv) Finally, once the invoice is added to RepairDesk, under item details you will be able to see serial numbers for this particular item. Manually select the serial in the invoice and hit Save.

2. Can I import items from the WooCommerce site to RepairDesk?

Yes, items from WooCommerce can be imported to RepairDesk.

Note: Only items with SKU will be imported to RepairDesk.

3. Some items are not being synced. Why is that?

Only items with SKUs will be synced. If an SKU for an item already exists then the item will be updated. A new item will be added to WooCommerce if that SKU is not present on WooCommerce site but exists in RepairDesk.

4. Can I select some items not to be synced with WooCommerce?

Sure! Just open the item in RepairDesk and under Triggers disable the trigger: "Sync with WooCommerce".

5. Do I have to manually add customers in RepairDesk who buy items from my site?

No. Once an invoice is created, customer data is fetched and the customer is added to RepairDesk.

6. When are payments added to RepairDesk?

Once a customer has booked an order on your WooCommerce site, it will not be added to RepairDesk until you have confirmed the order from the backend. Please select the order status to "Order Completed" to mark it as completed. 

Once an order is confirmed and marked as completed, payment details for that order will be added to RepairDesk.

7. How long does it take to sync items from RepairDesk to WooCommerce?

Once you have setup WooCommerce Integration, your items are automatically and instantly synced with WooCommerce.

8. Will the item photos be displayed on my site as well?

Definitely! Our integration will enable you to display the picture of the item in RepairDesk on your WooCommerce website. Please note that at this moment only one picture of the item is supported and this main image will be displayed

on your WooCommerce site once you have enabled WooCommerce integration with RepairDesk.

9. How can I map categories of RepairDesk With WooCommerce?

There are two ways to map categories which are as follow:

i)  Home / Settings / Integration / WooCommerce / Setup / Triggers

Here you can map RepairDesk categories with Woocommerce by selecting from Dropdown.

ii) We can also map item categories individually, if items category is mapped individually then Priority will be given to the individual item.

10. On which basis items are synced with the repair desk?

Items are based on SKU, if SKU is already present then that item will be updated and if there is no SKU matching then the new item will be added to the system.

11. Is there any option I can sync subcategories along with categories on woo commerce?

Yes! you can map subcategories with woo commerce. Once you map the category then an option will be available where you can map its subcategories with it as well.

Note: you can not create subcategories in woo-commerce and map them with repair desk existing sub-categories. Once you map them from RepairDesk they will automatically be created on WooCommerce.

12. I am facing issue with WooCommerce integration with RepairDesk?

Please reach out to our friendly support team using live chat who’ll work with TIER II support to investigate it further. Troubleshooting integration issues may take a couple of days since WooCommerce is an open-source platform.

The integration may have stopped working because:

• Your hosting provider is blocking the RepairDesk IP address,

• One of the plugins installed on your website is causing a conflict between RepairDesk & WooCommerce. While troubleshooting we may need to disable the plugin 1 by 1 to see which plugin is causing the issue

• WooCommerce version or API settings are not set up properly in RepairDesk

Once one of our talented TIER II support specialists investigates this we’ll be able to share more information.

If you have thousands of products, we highly recommend using Cloud Ways for WooCommerce integration with RepairDesk.

The way integration is designed is whenever a product is sold on WooCommerce or information is changed in RepairDesk, it updates across both platforms. WooCommerce API supports 100 API requests per minute hence it is important to use a good hosting platform that supports high volume.

In the context of fetching information from hosting, Version 1 and Version 2 refer to different methods used to retrieve information.

Version 1 involves fetching information through headers. This method is supported by certain hostings where the necessary data is passed through headers in the HTTP request. This approach allows for seamless retrieval of information without the need to include the data in the URL parameters.

On the other hand, Version 2 involves fetching information through GET parameters. This method is supported by hostings that require the data to be included in the URL parameters of the HTTP request. In Version 2, the required information is appended to the URL as key-value pairs, allowing the hosting server to extract and process the data accordingly.

The choice between Version 1 and Version 2 depends on the specific hosting provider and their preferred method of handling data retrieval. It is essential to understand the requirements and capabilities of your hosting environment to determine which version is compatible and appropriate for fetching the desired information effectively.

15. Which SSL certificate should I use?

An SSL certificate is a security measure that ensures the information exchanged between your website and its visitors is encrypted and protected. It creates a secure connection and gives visitors peace of mind that their data is safe.

When it comes to SSL certificates, there isn't a specific type or brand that works well with RepairDesk Integration. The important thing to consider is whether your RepairDesk IP has been blocked by an IP rule in the firewall.

If your website is experiencing issues related to SSL, most likely it's not due to the certificate itself. Instead, you should check if your website's IP address has been blocked by a rule in the firewall. This blockage can prevent visitors from accessing your website or cause other connectivity problems.

If you're facing SSL-related problems, it's recommended to investigate whether there are any IP block rules set up in the firewall that might be affecting the accessibility of your website.

16. What options do I need to enable from the hosting side?

To ensure your website functions properly, there are a few options that need to be enabled on the hosting side. Please find below the options as follows::

Legacy API: Think of it as a way for your website to communicate with other systems or platforms. Enabling the Legacy API allows your website to connect and interact with different tools and services seamlessly.

REST API: Similar to the Legacy API, the REST API is another communication method for your website. Enabling the REST API ensures that your website can interact with external applications and services effectively. It's like giving your website the ability to talk and share information with other online tools.

Permalink: This refers to the structure of your website's URLs. Enabling the Permalink option allows you to customize how your website's links appear. It's important because it helps improve the readability of your URLs and makes them more user-friendly.

Firewall Plugin: Firewalls are like digital security guards for your website. They protect it from malicious attacks and unauthorized access. However, in some cases, a specific firewall plugin may interfere with the proper functioning of certain features on your website. If you're experiencing issues, it's recommended to temporarily disable the firewall plugin to see if it resolves the problem.

In a nutshell, to ensure smooth operation of your website, make sure to enable the Legacy API and REST API for seamless communication, configure your Permalink settings for user-friendly URLs, and consider temporarily disabling any firewall plugin if you're encountering issues that may be caused by it.

17. How can the user sync the Categories from WooCommerce to Repairdesk when starting fresh?

When starting fresh, it is not possible to automate the synchronization of categories from WooCommerce to RepairDesk. This is because manual entry of categories is required to prevent duplicates or any other issues with the data.

Automated synchronization processes may unintentionally create duplicate categories or cause data anomalies, which can lead to confusion and errors. To ensure a clean and accurate transfer of categories, it is necessary for the user to manually enter them into RepairDesk.

While this may require some additional effort from the user, it helps maintain the integrity of the data and ensures that the categories are correctly mapped between WooCommerce and RepairDesk.