Merchant Best Practices - Fabric

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This document outlines best practices and configuration options for merchants using the Dropship platform to manage supplier fulfillment. It covers workflows for order processing, fulfillment, invoicing, merchandising, returns, and cancellations—designed to help merchants streamline operations, ensure order accuracy, and optimize supplier collaboration.

Order Management

Cost specified on order (Merchant-Managed)

You maintain SKU-level costs in your own system and include them in orders sent to Dropship.Best Practices:

• Keep internal costs current to avoid order rejections.
• Automate cost syncs where possible.
• Validate costs before submitting orders.
• Outdated costs may lead to supplier cancellations.

Cost specified on Dropship (Platform-Managed)

Costs are submitted by suppliers and approved by you within Dropship.Best Practices:

• Review supplier cost proposals promptly.
• Set internal SLAs for proposal approval.
• Use Dropship workflows to ensure accuracy and visibility.
• Delayed approvals may result in fulfillment issues.

Shipping Label Generation and Ship Account Management

Label generation in Dropship (Platform-Based for Non-Integrated Suppliers)

Best Practices:

• Define approved carriers. fabric supports UPS, FedEx, FedEx Smart Post, USPS using Smart Post, and DHL.
• Configure ship accounts within Dropship.
• Assign accounts to relevant supplier connections.
• Clearly communicate label expectations.
• Audit label usage and charges regularly.

Label generation outside of Dropship (External)

Best Practices:

• Confirm suppliers can handle external label generation.
• Share account credentials securely if needed.
• Track usage and define label formatting/timing expectations.
• If specific label requirements, such as format, data, or return-to-sender address, exist, merchants must review and approve the label format with suppliers before allowing external label use.

Invoicing Workflows and Configuration

Invoicing handled externally when auto-invoicing is enabled

This method is ideal when the finance system handles payments.Best Practices:

• Enable auto-invoicing per supplier.
• Define invoice formats clearly.
• Use tagging, either manually or using API, for payment tracking.
• Prevent duplicates using invoice status tags.
• Define adjustment or allowance rules with the supplier.

Invoicing created in Dropship for manual export

Best Practices:

• Define a regular export schedule on your end, such as monthly, as Dropship does not support automated export scheduling.
• Establish invoice validation controls.
• Use “Acknowledged” and “Paid” tags.
• Train suppliers on invoice creation and shipping sync.
• Consider auto-invoicing for consistent workflows.

API-Based invoice integration

Best Practices:

• Integrate Dropship Invoice API with finance system.
• Automate acknowledgment and payment tagging.
• Document fallback manual processes.
• Audit API logs regularly for completeness.

Merchandising Configuration and Best Practices

Product data management

Best Practices:

• Keep migration templates minimal, such as SKU, UPC, cost, or price.
• Define required vs. optional fields early.
• Tailor templates to Product Catalog service or internal requirements.
• Avoid unnecessary supplier burden.
• Align on field validation rules, such as image counts.

Proposal-Based product imports

Best Practices:

• Use category-specific templates.
• Provide upfront validation guidance.
• Encourage suppliers to self-validate before submitting products.
• Use proposal feedback workflows within Dropship.
• Approve only complete and valid proposals.
• Sync product data to Product Catalog service or ERP using API or manual exports.
• Manage retailer SKUs using API or manual imports, or allow Dropship to generate them automatically if you don’t define your own.

Shopify-Based imports

Best Practices:

• Use Shopify imports only with trusted suppliers, as these bypass platform-level product validation.
• Be aware that key fields, such as country of origin, category, and romance copy, are not captured in Shopify imports.
• Manually review imported product data in the Products Dashboard to ensure completeness.
• Request attribute update proposals from suppliers to fill in any missing or required fields. This feature is available only for already approved products that require changes or enhancing product data from migration items.
• Do not rely solely on Shopify imports if complete and accurate merchandising data is critical to your operations.

Import request management

Best Practices:

• Submit import requests only after validating essential product data, such as SKU, name, UPC, or merchant SKU.
• Confirm the product create permission is enabled for the merchant–supplier connection before sending a request.
• Ensure suppliers review and approve import requests in fabric. If data is incorrect, suppliers must decline and request updates before resubmission.
• Use support-assisted approvals only if suppliers are unresponsive, and confirm with the merchant that submitted data is accurate.
• After approval, manually trigger the import job to avoid delays in product creation.
• For Shopify-connected suppliers, sync variants and inventory on both the supplier and merchant sides after the import is complete.

Shopify publishing

Best Practices:

• Review all product and variant data for completeness before publishing to Shopify.
• Ensure each variant in a product includes at least one unique identifier, such as size, color, or material, to meet Shopify’s uniqueness requirements.
• Request suppliers to update product data in fabric if variants lack sufficient uniqueness to be published.
• Validate image URLs provided by suppliers and confirm they are active and properly hosted.
• Notify suppliers if images are missing or broken, and request updated links or external image delivery as needed.
• Do not attempt to publish products that fail data validation or lack required attributes, as Shopify will reject them.

Returns Management and Best Practices

Returns handling and configuration

Best Practices:

• Clearly define who receives the returned item—merchant or supplier—based on the return label address.
• Apply a returns allowance (%) to compensate suppliers who accept returns on your behalf.
• Ensure suppliers update their inventory feed to reflect re-sellable returned items. Dropship does not restock items automatically unless you choose to enable it.
• Understand that credit memos in Dropship are for tracking purposes only. Actual credits must be issued externally.
• Establish clear guidelines for when returns should be created manually within Dropship versus through API integration.

Return reason categorization

Best Practices:

• Use standard return reasons for analytics.
• Structure return fields for reporting consistency.
• Include optional tracking or RMA info for smooth processing.

Supplier coordination

Best Practices:

• Define expected return approval timelines.
• Request prompt credit memo submission for tracking.
• Use RA% or penalties to manage inefficient suppliers.

Order Cancellation Management and Best Practices

Supplier-Initiated cancellations

Best Practices:

• Encourage early cancellation if fulfillment issues arise.
• Standardize cancellation reasons for analytics.
• Dropship supports partial cancellations, but merchants may choose to disable them based on their business policy.
• Suppliers must cancel orders only when justified. For example, due to incorrect cost. Merchants must define whether incorrectly cancelled orders can be reopened as part of their business rules.
• Resolve systemic data issues to reduce future cancellations.

Merchant-Initiated cancellations

Best Practices:

• Cancel before supplier acknowledgment whenever possible.
• Use standard cancellation reasons, such as customer requests.
• Automate cancellation flows through Merchant APIs.
• Communicate directly when cancellations are blocked.
• Have fallback plans for post-acknowledgment cases.

Cancellation reason management

Best Practices:

• Maintain a shared, standardized reason code list.
• Use consistent language across UI dropdowns.
• Audit cancellation trends to identify root causes and take action.