Q. How does Ascend’s integration with my ecommerce website work?
A. Ascend offers the following integration with your ecommerce website:
- Inventory Export for ecommerce: Configure Ascend to automatically update inventory information on your website daily.
- Sales Import for ecommerce: Increase inventory and reporting accuracy by downloading your ecommerce sales into Ascend.
Q. What is the single most important thing I can do to successfully sell online?
A. Maintain an accurate inventory. If your inventory numbers are not accurate, you could be advertising availability for out-of-stock products, or unnecessarily having suppliers fulfill orders for in-stock products.
Q. How do I ensure my website’s product catalog matches my Ascend system?
A. Use Ascend’s Inventory Export for ecommerce function to update your website daily with Ascend’s inventory quantities and pricing.
Contact your ecommerce website provider to determine whether additional services are required.
Q. Can my current web developer implement Ascend ecommerce functionality directly with my website?
A. Yes. After submitting a request to be an Integrator, web developers will gain access to an Integrator Shared Secret they can use to set up your system.
Q. I want to participate in the Supplier Fulfillment program and have suppliers fulfill my website orders. What’s required?
A. If you want suppliers to fulfill orders from your website, contact your ecommerce website provider to check the Supplier Fulfillment option.
Before participating in Trek Fulfillment, you will be required to provide signed copies of the following to Trek:
- Trek’s Internet Rider
- Custom Packing Slip Information form
- An updated Dealer Agreement
Q. Can I work with Trek to ensure that all Trek-fulfilled orders are shipped to the same location?
A. Yes, talk to your sales representative for details.
Q. How can I display my sale pricing on my website?
A. Use Ascend’s Inventory Export for ecommerce function to update your website daily with pricing information for your Ascend inventory.
Contact your ecommerce website provider to determine whether additional services are required.
Q. Why do I need a separate merchant account for processing payments online?
A. Using a separate online merchant account gives you greater protection against fraud. Processing payments via a retail merchant account indicates the card was physically presented for the payment. You assume all liability for verifying the cardholder's identity. If the cardholder disputes the charge, you may be subjected to a charge-back.
Using separate merchant accounts for online and in-store payments also makes reconciling your books easier.
Q. I am a multi-store and use class tracking in QuickBooks®. Will having a separate, single merchant account for processing online payments affect my reconciliation?
A. QuickBooks® reconciliation is done by account, not class. When your online merchant account and Ascend's ecommerce payment type are assigned to the same QuickBooks® account, there are no issues with reconciliation.
Q. Does Ascend update the customer’s order status on my website?
A. No, this is not currently a feature provided by the Ascend ecommerce integration.
Q. Does the customer info from the website overwrite my customers in Ascend?
A. No, changes to customer information must be entered manually.
Q. Trek has fulfilled an order from my website. Why is it still not available for download into Ascend?
A. Orders are available for download in Ascend after 2:30 am Eastern Time (ET) on the business day after the order has shipped.
Q. How does Ascend match the products on my website to the products in my system?
A. When at least one of the following sets of fields are identical, Ascend and your ecommerce provider will automatically match products:
- Ascend UPC and ecommerce Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)
- Ascend Manufacturer Part Number and ecommerce MPN
- (ecommerce Sales Import only) Ascend In-Store SKU and ecommerce Code
Note: If more than one identical counterpart is found for a product, the product cannot be matched automatically.
Q. How do I handle products from vendors who don’t use UPCs or EANs?
A. It is preferable to use UPC, EAN, or GTIN to ensure products can be automatically matched. When this is not possible, Manufacturer Part Number can be used. However, as this is not required to be a unique value, you may be required to manually match this product between Ascend and your ecommerce provider.
Q. How do I sell gift cards or certificates on my website?
A. Manually create identical placeholder products in both your Ascend system AND ecommerce website. When the sale is downloaded in Ascend, remove the placeholder product and sell the gift card(s) or certificate(s) as normal.
Q. Why should I process the customer's credit card or PayPal payment before the customer picks up the product?
A. Processing a customer's payment before the product is picked up gives you greater protection from credit card fraud. When the customer enters payment information on your ecommerce website, a pre-authorization for the charge is made. Your merchant account is credited only when the payment is processed.
Best Practice: Verify credit card and cardholder information, e.g. signature and government-issued photo ID, at the time of pickup.
Q. My state does not require tax on Internet sales, but a customer is returning an item bought on the website. How do I refund the customer at the same tax rate as they were charged?
A. After adding the product(s) to the Ascend return, modify the sales item's tax rate.
Q. How do I refund shipping charges, e.g. if a special order is canceled before it’s shipped?
A. Create a non-inventory product in Ascend. Add this product to the return with a negative quantity. Update the sale item price to reflect the shipping charge. If required, modify the sales item's tax rate.
Q. How can I remove sales from the ecommerce Sales screen?
A. Sales which are in Completed status are automatically removed.
Additional resources
Website: Workstand Help Center
KB22-194