Shopify Integration

Connecting Hive to Shopify

Hive can connect one Shopify store to each creator company. Once connected, you can:

• Map Hive SKUs to Shopify products
• Send verified backer orders from Hive to Shopify
• Import fulfillment and tracking updates from Shopify back into Hive

Connecting Your Shopify Store

To connect your store:

1. Open Account Information.
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Find the Shopify Integration card.
4. Click Connect.
5. Enter your permanent Shopify store domain.
6. Approve the Hive app when Shopify redirects you to your store.

Use your store’s permanent Shopify domain in this format: `your-store.myshopify.com`

Do not use your custom storefront domain.

After Shopify redirects you back to Hive, Hive will verify the connection.

In some cases, the connection may be successfully verified while webhook setup is still pending. This can happen when Shopify is still reviewing or approving access to protected customer data. Until that access is available, some automatic updates from Shopify may not be enabled.

Push Verified Backers Automatically

When this setting is enabled, Hive automatically queues verified backer orders to be uploaded to Shopify.

When it is disabled, orders are not uploaded automatically. You can still send individual orders manually by using the Send to Shopify action in the Backers tab.

Mark Shopify Orders as Paid

When this setting is enabled, Hive creates the Shopify order with a successful imported payment transaction. The payment amount is based on the funds collected through Hive and Kickstarter.

When it is disabled, Hive creates the order in Shopify without marking it as paid.

Disabling Automatic Order Uploads

Disabling automatic order uploads does not remove:

• Your Shopify connection
• Your SKU mappings
• Existing links between Hive orders and Shopify orders

You can continue sending orders manually whenever needed.

Disconnecting Your Shopify Store

Disconnecting the store removes the local Shopify SKU mappings and order synchronization records associated with that creator company.

This is necessary because a future Shopify connection may point to a different store. Orders and products already created inside Shopify are not deleted.

SKU synchronization is the first required step of the Shopify integration.

Hive cannot send a backer order to Shopify until every Hive SKU included in that backer’s pledge is mapped to a Shopify product variant.

Opening the SKU Synchronization Tools

Open your SKU List.

When Shopify is connected and verified, Hive displays the Shopify mapping status beside each SKU and adds Shopify synchronization tools to the SKU management area.

Each SKU may have one of the following statuses:

• Mapped
• Hive Only
• Shopify Only
• Duplicate in Shopify
• Needs Review
• Error

Import and Auto-Match

The Import / Auto-Match tool reads Shopify products and variants through the Shopify Admin API.

For each Shopify variant, Hive stores:

• Shopify Product ID
• Shopify Variant ID
• Shopify Inventory Item ID
• Shopify SKU code
• Shopify product and variant title

Hive then attempts to match Shopify variants to Hive SKUs using the exact SKU code.

Missing Shopify SKU Codes

If a Shopify product variant does not have a SKU code, Hive records it as an error so that you can review it manually.

Duplicate Shopify SKU Codes

If Shopify contains more than one variant with the same SKU code, Hive marks those entries as needing review.

Hive cannot safely select the correct variant automatically when duplicate SKU codes exist.

Uploading Hive SKUs to Shopify

For SKUs marked as Hive Only, you can select one or more rows and upload them to Shopify.

Hive creates draft Shopify products and sends the available SKU information, including:

• SKU code
• Title and description
• SKU image
• MSRP

After Shopify creates the product, it returns the Product ID, Variant ID, and Inventory Item ID. Hive stores these IDs and uses them as the permanent mapping between the Hive SKU and the Shopify variant.

Importing Shopify SKUs into Hive

For SKUs marked as Shopify Only, you can select one or more rows and import them into Hive.

Hive creates a new project SKU using the Shopify SKU code and title, and then maps the new Hive SKU to the existing Shopify product variant.

Manual Mapping

When Hive cannot create a safe automatic match, use Manual Mapping to connect a Hive SKU to the correct Shopify product variant.

Manual mapping is useful when:

• The Hive and Shopify product names are different
• A SKU code has changed
• Shopify contains duplicate SKU codes
• The automatic match selected no result
• You need to correct an existing mapping

Before Sending Orders to Shopify

Before uploading any backer orders, review the SKU List and confirm that every SKU that may appear in a backer pledge is mapped to the correct Shopify product variant.

Any pledge containing an unmapped SKU cannot be sent to Shopify.

Once SKU synchronization is complete, Hive can send verified backer orders to Shopify.

For each order, Hive sends the available information, including:

• Shipping address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Mapped line items
• Shipping cost
• Tax information
• Order tags
• Hive reference identifiers

These identifiers allow Hive to match the Shopify order to the correct backer and project, prevent duplicate orders, and import fulfillment updates later.

Hive Order Identifiers

Orders created by Hive include Shopify tags such as:

• Hive
• Hive Backer <id>
• Hive Project <id>
• Hive Company <id>

Where Shopify allows it, Hive also stores these references in the order’s metadata and custom attributes.

These identifiers should not be removed, as Hive uses them to maintain the connection between the Shopify order and the original Hive backer.

Uploading an Order Manually

From the project’s Backers tab, verified backers will display a Send to Shopify action when the Shopify integration is enabled.

Before creating the order, Hive validates:

•  The backer’s order information
• The shipping information
• The SKU mappings
• The Shopify connection

If any Hive SKU in the pledge is not mapped to a Shopify product variant, Hive will list the missing SKUs and will not create the order.

Once all validation checks pass, Hive sends that backer’s order directly to Shopify.

Uploading Orders Automatically

When Push Verified Backers Automatically is enabled under Account Information → Advanced, Hive automatically queues verified backers for Shopify upload.

Hive processes this queue in the background.

If the same backer is added to the queue more than once before processing is complete, Hive combines the duplicate queue entries. This ensures that one backer produces one effective Shopify synchronization.

Currency, Shipping, Taxes, and Item Prices

Hive creates the Shopify order using the project’s currency.

When applicable:

• Shipping charges are added as a Shopify shipping line.
• Taxes collected through Hive are included in the Shopify order’s tax information.
• The merchandise total is distributed across the mapped Shopify line items.

How Hive Allocates Item Prices

Crowdfunding pledges and add-ons are often sold as bundles. Because of this, the amount collected from the backer may not match the individual retail prices of the SKUs included in the pledge.

To keep the Shopify order total aligned with the amount recorded in Hive, Hive first calculates the merchandise value:

`Amount collected − Shipping − Tax = Merchandise total`

Hive then distributes that merchandise total across the Shopify line items using each Hive SKU’s MSRP as a weighting value.

This creates a consistent value for each line item while preserving the total amount collected from the backer.

Marking Shopify Orders as Paid

When Mark Shopify Orders as Paid is enabled, Hive creates the Shopify order with a successful imported payment transaction based on the funds collected through Hive and Kickstarter.

When the setting is disabled, Hive creates the Shopify order without marking it as paid.

This setting only controls the payment status of newly created Shopify orders. It does not collect or transfer funds through Shopify.

Preventing Duplicate Orders

Before creating an order, Hive checks whether that backer is already connected to a Shopify order.

If Hive already knows the corresponding Shopify order, it updates the existing order’s metadata and synchronization information instead of creating a duplicate.

Shopify places restrictions on changes to certain completed orders. As a result, changes to line items or order totals may require manual review or adjustment directly in Shopify.

After orders have been sent to Shopify, you can fulfill them using your normal Shopify fulfillment workflow.

When fulfilling an order in Shopify, add the available shipping information, including:

• Carrier
• Tracking number
• Tracking URL

How Tracking Updates Reach Hive

When Shopify sends a fulfillment update, Hive:

1. Verifies that the notification came from Shopify.
2. Stores the fulfillment event.
3. Matches the Shopify order to the correct Hive backer.
4. Updates the backer’s fulfillment information in Hive.

Depending on the information provided by Shopify, Hive may update:

• Tracking number
• Shipping carrier
• Tracking URL
• Shopify fulfillment order ID
• Fulfillment system
• Backer status to Shipped

Fulfillment Reconciliation

In some cases, a Shopify webhook may be delayed or may not reach Hive.

To help prevent missing tracking updates, Hive also performs regular fulfillment reconciliation with Shopify. This process checks recently fulfilled Shopify orders and applies the same tracking and shipping-status updates in Hive.

This provides an additional synchronization layer if a real-time Shopify notification is missed.

Shipping Notifications

Hive does not automatically send a shipment confirmation email when tracking information is imported from Shopify.

This is intentional. Many Shopify fulfillment workflows already send shipping notifications to customers, and sending another automatic email from Hive could result in duplicate messages.

To notify backers that their order has shipped, use either:

• Your normal Shopify fulfillment notification workflow
• A deliberate communication sent through Hive

This approach gives you control over when and how backers receive shipping updates while avoiding duplicate or unnecessary emails.