How To Link Shopify To Amazon & eBay To Reach More People

Is multi-channel marketing a part of your online sales strategy? If you’re looking for easy ways to reach all your customers, wherever they are, you first need an online store that can serve as your eCommerce sales base. Then, you can add links to the social media sites and online marketplaces where your customers are already spending their time.

You can establish multiple sales channels with almost any online sales platform. But it’s hard to find a shopping cart that makes multi-channel selling as easy as Shopify does. With Shopify, the payoff is outsized, compared to the effort required. Studies show that stores that add just one marketplace to their online store can see a 38% increase in revenue. And those who sell on two additional marketplaces can bring in 120% more than those with no marketplaces.

No matter what platform your store is built on, embracing multi-channel selling makes good business sense. Whether you’re interested in connecting your store to Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or any other site, make sure the platform you choose supports multi-channel selling. For example, the Shopify App collection now includes integrations for all those social media sites and online marketplaces. So by adding those integrations, you can manage your marketplace and website sales in one Shopify dashboard.

In this article, we’ll take a hard look at two marketplaces that hold big sales potential: Amazon and eBay. How well do the Shopify eBay integration and the Amazon integration work? Let’s take a look at the merits and flaws of each, and assess how they could help you sell more.

Why Using Shopify For Multichannel Selling Could Be A Good Move

Setting up and managing an online store can be a lot of work, even if you choose a platform that’s easy to use and well suited to your needs. When you start to look into expanding your online presence by branching out to different social media sites and marketplaces, it makes sense to start with a shopping cart that does a lot of the work for you and won’t tack on a bunch of extra charges to boot.

Look at Shopify’s Facebook integration, for example. You could open up a Facebook Shop and use that to generate sales. But if you do that, you’ll still need to figure out a way to process payments with Shopify. If you go it alone, you’ll be on your own for inventory management, of course. And while you’d be free to post links to your business website, if you’re not set up there for online sales, you won’t be able to build your business. Most important, you’ll have to go through the same process when you decide to expand to another site or marketplace.

On the other hand, if you use a Shopify integration, you unlock your eCommerce potential to link to a number of sites, almost effortlessly. A solution like Shopify’s integration promises to sync everything for you automatically. Selling through a marketplace or social media can boost your credibility with new customers — and boost your sales, too, by widening your sales funnel and bringing your products into more potential customers’ view.

Ready to take a look at how it works? Let’s start with the Shopify Amazon integration, so you can see how easy it is to link Shopify to Amazon and jump into the world’s biggest online marketplace.

How To Link Shopify To Amazon

Starting to sell on Amazon is a giant step when it comes to marketplace selling. Boasting more than 300 million shoppers worldwide, Amazon offers merchants huge potential for expanding their customer bases and increasing sales.

Shopify’s Amazon integration allows merchants to link Shopify to Amazon with just a few clicks. This connection gives you the ability to monitor inventory, sales, and customer interactions from one comprehensive dashboard. The integration is free to download but does require users to have a paid Amazon Professional Seller account. 

Step 1. Add Amazon To Your Shopify Sales Channel

Before you can integrate Amazon with your Shopify account, you just need two things:

• A Shopify Account
• An Amazon Professional Seller Account ($39.99/ month plus additional per-item fees)

Making the connection between Amazon and Shopify is easy. Once you’ve signed up for your Amazon Seller Account, log into your Shopify account, navigate to the “Sales Channels” panel, and click to install the integration. Then you’ll have to follow a few prompts to allow the connection to share information across platforms and confirm developer access for Shopify.

Once that’s done, you’ll be able to sync your products and inventory across both platforms. With a built-in integration like this, it’s easy to connect your Shopify and Amazon accounts.

Don’t stop there, though. Your Shopify products won’t be listed automatically just because you activate the Amazon sales channel on your Shopify account. You’ll need to take a few more steps to finish setting up the integration to work properly.

Step 2. Get Amazon Approval For New Listings

Most products can be added for sale on Amazon with no delay. For certain products, brands, and categories, approval is required before your listing can go live. You can find extensive documentation on Amazon.com that will explain all the limitations you may encounter. Many common categories do not require approval, including but not limited to clothing, shoes, and jewelry; beauty and personal care; home and kitchen; patio and garden; sports and outdoors; and toys and games.

You can check for limitations on the items you wish to list on Amazon by visiting your Seller Central home page. Click on Catalog, and then click on Add a Product. Search for the item you want to sell, and then you see your search results, click on the link next to the item that says Show Limitations.

Then use the Apply to sell button to start the process. Most applications are quickly approved, but you may be asked for more documentation.

Step 3. Add Offers & Listings

If another Amazon seller already lists products exactly like yours, you can easily add what is called an “offer” and start selling your own products on the marketplace in addition to selling them on your Shopify store. That’s the easiest way to start selling on Amazon. From your Shopify admin, open the Amazon app and click Create listing. Select the product you want to add to Amazon, then click Select product.

On the search page, select Find product. That will pull up a list of similar products available for sale on Amazon. View the full product details next. If your Shopify product matches one of those products exactly, Select it and then go to the Edit listing page to match Amazon variants to your Shopify variants. For each variant you want to list, enter a price and set your inventory. Then hit Publish to take your listing live.

What if you’re selling products that aren’t already available on Amazon? You’ll need to create new listings. Before you can do that, you’ll need to have a UPC or EAN code for each product and variant you want to list. That’s how Amazon identifies your products on its site. You can create those codes in the Inventory section of your Shopify product pages.

Next, head to your Amazon Seller Account and choose Create listing. Pick an item from your Shopify catalog and click Select product, then choose Create listing. You’ll see a category list, allowing you to choose the category that matches your product. Some of your product details will sync automatically, but you can edit the listing using the fields under Amazon listing details. In the variants section, for example, you can select sizes or colors that apply to your products. Fill in the details, choose inventory management settings, list production time, and add images. Then click Publish, and you’re ready to sell on Amazon!

If you’re completely new to Amazon, you may find that you can only list a certain number of products at once. Amazon will allow you to create more listings once you establish a sales history. Linking your Shopify account to Amazon doesn’t require you to set up a full store on the marketplace, but you may benefit from exploring the basics of setting up and running a successful Amazon store.

Step 4: Set Inventory & Price For Amazon

When you link Shopify to Amazon, your inventory is automatically synced if you use Shopify inventory settings. Amazon shoppers will be able to see the quantity available for each product. If you’d rather, you can manually enter an inventory quantity available for Amazon shoppers. If your stock runs low, you can temporarily suspend Amazon sales by setting the inventory quantity to zero without taking the permanent step of deleting the listing. And if you want to permanently decouple a listing, you can do that from your Amazon Seller page.

While each Shopify listing includes a price, you can list unique prices for products that appear on Amazon. In other words, you can sell a product for $15 on your own store and list the same product for $20 on Amazon — or vice versa. 

When a customer buys something from you on Amazon, you’ll receive a notice on Amazon Seller Central as well as on the Overview page of the Amazon sales channel in your Shopify admin. However, if the customer sends you a message, you will receive that message only through your Amazon Seller account. Orders received through Amazon will show up on your orders list in your Shopify admin. When you fulfill an order in your Shopify admin, it will update in both locations. However, once again customer communication occurs only via Amazon.

Information about payments will appear in your Amazon Seller account under the reports setting, but you can use the Shopify Amazon integration to track your sales on Amazon via Shopify’s reporting tools.

What Users Are Saying About Linking Amazon & Shopify

When the Shopify integration with Amazon was introduced, many users were hopeful that this would be a simple solution. However, early reviews raised significant red flags. And unfortunately, years later those red flags seem to be flying still.

The Amazon integration has received 189 reviews on the Shopify App Marketplace since 2017, where the integration has accumulated a dismal rating of 1.4/5 stars from users. The vast majority of reviews (132) award the integration just one lonely star.

In general terms, the negative reviews indicate significant communication problems between Shopify and Amazon. And although Shopify developers frequently respond to users’ comments, I don’t see a pattern of actually addressing or rather fixing the areas of concern. In fact, some of the same complaints that appear in 2021 can also be found in complaints from 2017.

Here’s what some recent reviews have to say about the integration:

• Expensive Charges: Numerous users say that they incur large expenses with Amazon without being able to use the integration fully.
• Tedious To Create Listings Manually: Customers say that it takes too much time to upload products to Amazon and enter details. And unfortunately, the Shopify Amazon integration does not support Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).
• Poor Customer Service: I’ve seen numerous complaints regarding customer service. To be fair, it is not always clear whether customers are complaining about Amazon or Shopify. One user expressed frustration with the feeling that Amazon and Shopify each blamed the other for problems.
• Does Not Work: I’ve seen lots of reviews stating that the integration simply doesn’t work. They say the systems don’t sync properly or that syncing stops working seemingly for no reason, and that the app seems like it’s still in beta testing.

Although there aren’t many of them, it’s important to consider the 5-star reviews posted, too. Some users say that once they’ve gotten past the initial learning curve, the Shopify Amazon integration works as advertised. But even when looking at those few positive reviews, trouble signs appeared. One of the 5-star reviews said that the integration might appear to be broken because changes can take a full 24 hours to update. Good golly! To me, such a long update time is the epitome of a broken integration.

In short, anyone wanting to link their store with Shopify to Amazon should pay attention to the overwhelmingly negative reviews. It’s disheartening to see one of the leading eCommerce platforms offer such a poorly performing integration with the world’s most popular online marketplace.

With that said, if I were a vendor selling on both Amazon and Shopify, I would still consider giving this integration a try. It is far from ideal and still in need of a lot of work, but it may give you a way to jump into multichannel selling and reach more customers.

Here’s hoping Shopify continues its work on this integration soon and resolves these issues by the next time we revisit it.

Getting Started With A Shopify eBay Integration

Amazon gains an outsized share of attention. Sure, it’s one of the most popular marketplaces for US-based merchants, but it isn’t the right platform for everyone. Those who sell used or collectible products especially may benefit more from integration with the eBay marketplace. With more than 182 million active users, eBay is packed with potential for expansion.

Fortunately, Shopify and eBay have got sellers’ backs. eBay has a built-in integration for Shopify with the purpose of simplifying the cross-channel selling experience by letting users sync inventory information and process orders from one platform. How does the Shopify eBay integration work? Let’s find out!

If you’re not already an active eBay user, don’t worry. There’s no waiting period before you can start selling, and businesses of any kind can sell on the marketplace. And although eBay is well known as an auction site, the vast majority of items listed and sold on eBay these days are brand-new products sold at fixed prices. So even if you’ve never shopped or sold on eBay, take some time to explore the Shopify eBay integration. It could open up a new marketplace for your products.

Here’s how to start:

Step 1: Connect eBay To Your Shopify Channel

It doesn’t take much to integrate eBay and Shopify. The app is free to download and use. Unsurprisingly, you’ll need two things before you can start:

• A Shopify Account
• An eBay Seller Account (from $4.95/month plus additional per-item fees depending on plan level)

Once you have set up accounts with both those platforms, making the connection is simple. You simply add the marketplace under your Sales Channels tab and then select Add sales channel on the following page. You will then be able to click the Connect button, which will redirect you to your eBay account where you can complete the connection.

You’ll have to enter your eBay ID and password to log in to eBay. If you don’t already have an eBay account, you’ll be prompted to set one up. Even if you have an existing account, you may be asked to provide some basic information about your business, such as contact information or ownership details. Finally, you’ll be asked to allow the Shopify eBay integration permission to function. Click “I agree,” and you’re in!

Step 2: Configure eBay Policies & Create Listings

Follow the prompts offered to set up a few guidelines for the eBay listings you create using the Shopify app. This could include information about your location, sales terms, and how you fulfill orders. You can use eBay’s best practices, which often appear as the default setting, or you can customize them as you wish.

Once you complete the policies step, you’ll be ready to add some product listings. You can publish all of your Shopify inventory at once, or choose individual products to start with.

Either way, you’ll soon see a table showing your product listings for eBay. You can edit the table by clicking on individual cells. Add keywords and make sure your product listings are clear. When you’re finished, click Save and publish all products to take your listings live.

Step 3: Sync Inventory Information

Once you’ve linked Shopify and eBay, the app takes over. Shopify and eBay work together to update product inventory, descriptions, images, and pricing in real-time. You will be able to manage eBay orders from your Shopify dashboard after they’re automatically imported to your Shopify store. You can even manage your eBay policies from inside Shopify while communicating with customers using the built-in eBay messaging system.

What Users Say About Integrating eBay & Shopify

The Shopify eBay integration has a total of 785 reviews on the Shopify App Store, and while it’s definitely a mixed bag, the cumulative ranking of 3.3/5 stars means that users’ experience with the app is slightly more positive than not. The 450 users posting four- and five-star reviews slightly outmatch the 248 who awarded just one star.

The healthy mix of both 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews, from the same general time period, is somewhat baffling. How can the user experience with one application be so vastly different? It’s not a case of a once exemplary app going downhill or of a new release making massive improvements over time. Even some positive reviews include negatives, such as the one that starts by saying “I agree with some of the negative reviews” before explaining how to overcome some of the integration’s limitations.

Here are a few of the recent comments I’ve seen posted more than once in just the past few months:

• Lots Of Bugs & Kinks: Users report glitches and hiccups in the integration. One user, who rated the app “OK to use” said importing eBay orders into Shopify sometimes takes 10 minutes and sometimes takes 10 hours. Perhaps inconsistent performance is the root cause of the mixed reviews.
• Easy: In contrast, lots of users are absolutely loving how easy it is to install the application and use it. Many users appreciate how easy it is to import products in bulk. Others, as we have come to expect, say that nothing works right.
• Mixed Review Of Support: Customer support appears to be a mixed bag. Some even praise customer service, saying they’ve gotten quick fixes for problems — although other users say they can’t get the support they need from either eBay or Shopify.

In short, the eBay Shopify integration isn’t perfect. However, it’s worth noting that it seems to have more reviews. and more positive reviews overall, than the Shopify Amazon integration. The app is free to download and starting an eBay subscription is relatively inexpensive. So if you’ve been looking into expanding into eBay selling, the Shopify eBay integration may be the exact tool you didn’t know you need.

FAQs: Shopify Integration With Amazon & eBay

Final Thoughts About Linking Shopify With Amazon & eBay

Shopify is one of the most popular shopping cart software available, and our experience with Shopify has been generally positive over the years. If you’re looking for an easy entrance into online selling, Shopify ticks a lot of boxes and could be an easy eCommerce solution you can use to start selling online quickly and with success.

However, although we often recommend Shopify for eCommerce, it’s impossible to give the Shopify eBay integration or the Shopify Amazon integration full marks. Although it seems Shopify is on the right track by making it easy to connect these two marketplaces to its platform, Shopify’s execution of that goal is somewhat lacking, despite a track record stretching back several years. Users have been raising the same issues since 2017. Why hasn’t Shopify made improvements to the apps that eliminate those problems?

Because Shopify is such a strong eCommerce platform, we hope Shopify and their partners at Amazon and eBay will continue to improve the functionality and dependability of these marketplace integrations. Users who are able to link Shopify to Amazon or eBay unlock enormous eCommerce potential. Although the road may be rocky, and the integration may not ultimately be the solution you hoped it would be, the potential for sales success is high enough and the risk is low enough that we think it’s worth your while to give the Shopify Amazon and eBay integrations a look — despite the potential hazards.

Have you used a Shopify marketplace integration? Whether your experience was good or bad, let us know about it in the comments below!