Shopify: Product Mapping & Syncing

Overview

Use Ribbn’s Shopify integration to sync products to your Shopify storefront while keeping Ribbn as your source of truth for inventory and product management. Ribbn is where you digitize one-of-a-kind items, map sellers to products, set commissions, and make edits; the Ribbn app in Shopify is primarily used for syncing products into Shopify so they can be published online.

Key concepts (Ribbn vs. Shopify)

Who manages what?

What gets transferred when you publish to Shopify?

When you select products in Ribbn and publish/sync them to Shopify, Ribbn transfers key product data including media, plus additional fields as Shopify Meta Fields (e.g., taxonomy, size, brand, condition, seller info, tags, etc.). fileciteturn0file0turn0file13

Get started: connect Ribbn to Shopify

1. Open Shopify and Ribbn in separate tabs in the same Chrome browser.
2. Download the Ribbn app from the Shopify App Store.
3. In Shopify → Ribbn app, click Connect to Ribbn.
   • Log in to your Ribbn account.
   • This connects your Ribbn and Shopify accounts.
4. You’re ready to begin mapping/syncing products from Ribbn to Shopify.

Product mapping & syncing workflows

Sync a product from Ribbn to Shopify

At a high level:

1. Create or update your product in Ribbn (this is the system of record). fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
2. Sync/publish the product to Shopify using the Ribbn → Shopify publish action. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
3. In Shopify, the product will appear as Draft initially. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
4. Change the Shopify product status to Active when you’re ready for it to be visible in your webshop. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17

Creating multi-variant products (size, color, etc.)

If you sell products with multiple variants, set them up in Ribbn first:

1. In Ribbn, open the product you want to edit.
2. Go to Stock Management > Product Class > Multi Variant. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
3. Build your variant options (example: sizes 38, 39, 40). fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
4. Return to the table view. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
5. Select the item(s) → click the Action bar → Shopify > Publish items on shopify. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
6. Verify the sync in Shopify → Ribbn app → Product status log. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17

Verify sync success and troubleshoot failures

After you publish from Ribbn:

• Success: the product appears in Shopify as Draft. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
• Failure: in the Product status log, you’ll see Failed. Use the dropdown next to the failed entry to view the error message, including which item (URL handle) failed and why. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17

Status mapping: Ribbn vs. Shopify (avoid accidental sales)

If you change a product’s status in Ribbn (example: marking it Back to Quality Control), you must also update the product’s status in Shopify. Ribbn status changes do not automatically deactivate the product in Shopify. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17

To prevent unintended sales, either:

• Set the product to Draft in Shopify, or
• Manually remove it from Shopify. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17

Notes & limitations

• All product edits must be made in Ribbn. Changes made directly in Shopify won’t sync back. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
• Removing a product from Shopify does not remove it from Ribbn. fileciteturn0file2turn0file17
• You cannot delete a product from Ribbn using Shopify.
• If a product has variants, the quantity for that variant can decrease based on Shopify-side changes.
• For one-of-a-kind items, when inventory reaches 0, the product status in Shopify is set to Draft (this commonly happens immediately after an in-store sale for unique items). fileciteturn0file0turn0file13

Related guides (Support Hub)

Shopify App (Products)

Migration / FAQ

Orders (related context)