3PL integration · the first operation in a takeover
Shopify, your 3PL and NetSuite — three systems, one number.
Inventory sync is the first operation we build for most DTC brands, as one part of a 90-day takeover — ShipBob, ShipHero or Extensiv kept in agreement with Shopify and NetSuite, every correction under a rule and on the record, owned by us.
- 09:14
approve_refundApprovedRefund on order 48213, $86.40, damaged in transit
Rule: Refunds v4 · under $150, within 30 daysSupport · Jess
- 10:02
sync_inventoryReconciledShopify and ShipBob disagreed on 14 SKUs after yesterday's receiving
Counts corrected; 6 SKUs purchasable again.
Rule: Inventory drift · hourly checkScheduled check
- 11:37
approve_returnEscalated · declinedReturn on order 4890, $212, day 64
Declined by Maria: outside the return window. Store credit offered.
Rule: Returns v3 · over $150 or past 60 daysEscalated to Maria R.
Sound familiar?
Why Shopify, your 3PL and NetSuite never quite agree.
- 01
Receiving delays
Inventory lands at the warehouse before it's logged, so Shopify still shows it out of stock — or the other way around.
- 02
Manual adjustments
A pick error or a damaged unit gets corrected at the 3PL and never makes it back to Shopify or NetSuite.
- 03
Multiple warehouses
Two warehouses, one SKU, and each system aggregates the count differently.
- 04
Backorders and partial shipments
An order ships from two locations in two boxes. NetSuite books it as one shipment, or none.
- 05
Returns not restocked
A return arrives at the 3PL, and it's a week before it's sellable in Shopify again.
Not just the pipe
The sync is one operation. The layer is the product.
An integration moves data. What we run puts a rule and a record on every action that moves through it — a refund over $150 goes to a named person, and the record says who approved it and why. Your staff and your AI agents act through the same layer. The inventory sync is where it starts.
What we connect
The 3PLs we connect.
- Fulfillment
- ShipBob
- ShipHero
- Extensiv
If yours isn't listed, or you run your own warehouse, ask — most 3PLs and WMSs expose an API we can run against.
What we own end to end
One connection, run in parallel until the numbers match.
Inventory sync and drift is usually the first operation we build for a DTC brand. Every correction lands on the record: what moved, which system was wrong, and who — or which rule — approved the fix. How rules and the record work.
How the cutover works
Three steps, and nothing goes live until the numbers match.
Step 1
We audit the three systems.
Every field that maps between Shopify, your 3PL and NetSuite, and where the counts already disagree today.
Step 2
We run in parallel.
The new sync runs beside whatever you have today until a full cycle of orders matches, SKU for SKU.
Step 3
We cut over and retire the old flow.
Old Zapier or Celigo flows come off, the sync becomes our responsibility, and drift gets a fix instead of an alert.
What we own end to end
Every leg of the sync, not just the inventory count.
Receiving and inventory sync
Counts corrected across Shopify and NetSuite the same day they change at the warehouse.
Pick, pack and ship status
Fulfillment status flows back to Shopify and NetSuite as it happens, not on a nightly batch.
Returns restocked
The moment your 3PL logs a return as received, it's sellable in Shopify again — not on the next nightly batch.
Shipping cost and fee reconciliation
What the 3PL bills matched against what NetSuite expects, so close isn't a manual check.
Backorder and split-shipment handling
Orders that ship from two locations, or ship late, recorded correctly the first time.
After the cutover
Then it stays fixed.
Most 3PL integrations don't stay broken because nobody could fix them once — they stay broken because nobody owns fixing them again. We do. That's the difference between a flow and an operation: a flow runs until something changes; an operation gets rebuilt.
When your team wants to use AI to do real work inside your systems, it goes through the same rules and the same record. That's what makes it safe.
Questions we get
Does this replace our 3PL?
No — you keep your 3PL. We run the connection between it, Shopify and NetSuite, and the rules on top.
Does this replace our ops manager?
No. It gives them the exception queue and the record instead of the plumbing. The person who approves the $340 refund is still yours — the thing that gets it to them is ours.
What if we're switching 3PLs?
Swapping 3PLs is our project, not yours. See what a takeover includes.
We already have a Celigo or Zapier flow for this.
It stays if it works; we take over what doesn't. How we compare to Celigo.
How is this priced?
Same as the rest of the takeover — a fixed price, quoted after a 30-minute stack review. How pricing works.
We run more than one warehouse.
That's normal, not an edge case — multi-warehouse counts are exactly what tends to drift first. We map it in the stack review.
We'll tell you what's wrong in yours today.
Thirty minutes, your Shopify, 3PL and NetSuite setup mapped, and the first three things we'd fix. No pitch deck.