Connecting an External ERP or Inventory System

What This Integration Does

If you manage your catalog in an external ERP, accounting, or inventory-management system, a connector keeps your Cartly store in sync with it automatically — products, stock levels, prices, images, and product options grouped into proper Cartly variants come in, and orders placed in your store export back out, including their status as it changes.

Connecting Your System

1. Go to Apps, find your ERP or accounting integration, and click Install
2. Enter the connection details and credentials for your external system when prompted
3. Click Test Connection to confirm Cartly can reach your system
4. Open the integration's configuration page to choose what syncs and how

Catalog Import

Depending on the connector, your catalog arrives either in real time via webhooks or on a schedule that runs periodically in the background. Either way, the import brings in products, variants, prices, multi-warehouse stock levels, and images.

Choosing Which Fields Sync

You control exactly which catalog fields the integration is allowed to update on an already-imported product. Available toggles include:

• Name and Description
• Images
• SKU / Barcode
• Weight
• Custom attributes (mapped to Cartly metafields — see below)

Stock and price are always kept in sync. Fields you leave off are never overwritten by the sync, so you can safely combine data managed in Cartly with data managed in your external system.

Mapping Price Lists

Most ERP and accounting systems support multiple price lists or price types (for example, a retail list and a wholesale list). In your integration's configuration, map the price type you want to use to Cartly's three price fields:

• Price — the selling price shown to customers
• Compare-at price — the original price, shown struck through when a product is on sale
• Cost — your cost of goods, used for margin reporting (see Tracking Product Cost (COGS))

Mapping Warehouses to Locations

If your external system tracks stock across multiple warehouses, map each warehouse to the matching Cartly inventory location. Stock levels then sync per location, so multi-warehouse fulfillment stays accurate on both sides.

Mapping Custom Attributes to Metafields

If your external system stores custom product attributes (material, care instructions, certifications, and so on), map each attribute to a Cartly metafield. Enable attribute syncing, then for each attribute choose the target metafield namespace, key, and type. Mapped attributes update automatically on every sync.

Matching Existing Products on First Import

If your Cartly store already has products before you connect the integration, choose how the first import matches them to avoid creating duplicates:

• By SKU — matches products whose SKU is identical in both systems
• By barcode — matches products whose barcode (UPC/EAN/ISBN) is identical in both systems

You can enable one or both matching rules. Products that do not match an existing SKU or barcode are created as new products.

Product Options, Variants & Characteristics

When your external system organizes a product into modifications, SKUs, or characteristics that differ by attribute (color, size, and so on), the integration groups them into a single Cartly product with proper options and variants — the same option/variant model used by the Options Builder.

Order Export

Orders placed and paid in your Cartly store export back to your external system automatically, as a document addressed to the correct counterparty. Cartly resolves the counterparty per buyer, so repeat and new customers are matched to (or created as) the right party in your external system. Depending on your configuration, discounts, tax, and delivery charges can also be reflected directly on the exported document's lines, so the totals match what the customer actually paid.

Order-Status Back-Sync

When a manager updates an order's status in your connected system — for example, marking it fulfilled or shipped — Cartly reflects that change by moving the order along its own fulfillment lifecycle automatically. Payment statuses are protected: a status change coming back from your external system never rolls back or reverses an order's payment state.

Re-Exporting Older Orders

Orders placed before the connector was fully configured are not exported automatically. Open any such order and use the manual re-export action to send it to your external system after the fact.

How Updates Arrive: Webhooks Plus a Safety Net

Where the connector supports it, changes in your external system are pushed to Cartly in real time via webhooks, so your catalog reflects updates within moments. As a safety net, a scheduled background sync also runs periodically and reconciles anything a webhook might have missed — so your catalog and your external system never drift apart for long, even after a temporary outage on either side.

Monitoring the Sync

Each sync run is logged with its result. Open the integration's detail page to see recent sync history, including any items that failed to sync and why, so you can correct the underlying data at the source and re-run the sync.

Managing or Removing a Connector

Every connected integration is listed under Admin → Integrations, where you can review its configuration, reconnect it if credentials change, or remove it entirely if you no longer need it.