Shopify setup guide
How to start selling on Shopify
Hertwill's Shopify dropshipping app adds high-quality products from European and US brands to your Shopify store, and runs right inside your Shopify admin. Here is the step-by-step guide from install to your first order.
Installing creates your Hertwill account.
What you do
Seven steps to your first sale
Work through these in order. Everything after step seven happens without you.
Install the Hertwill app
Install Hertwill from the Shopify App Store. That creates your Hertwill account, using the email address of your Shopify store — there is no separate sign-up. The app then opens inside your Shopify admin under Apps → Hertwill, starting with a short setup guide on its home page.
Work in Shopify or on hertwill.com — it is one account
Most of Hertwill now lives inside your Shopify admin: the catalog, your Import List, My products, plans and settings. All of it is still on hertwill.com too, and your payment card, orders and invoices are on hertwill.com. Use whichever you prefer; changes show up in both places.
Logging in to hertwill.com
Your account uses the email address of your Shopify store. If you have not set a password yet, request one on the Lost password page and open the newest email.
Choose products and add them to your Import List
The setup guide in the app recommends starter products for the categories you pick, or you can browse the full catalog — in the app or on hertwill.com. All prices are wholesale, and Hertwill handles the shipping, so you do not need a warehouse. Each product shows where it ships to: check that it ships to the countries your customers are in.
Some brands need approval first
Some brands require approval before you can sell them. Click "Apply for a Brand" — if your store is live and looks trustworthy, you can expect quick approval.
Set your prices, sync and publish
Open your Import List, set your margin and adjust individual prices if you like, then click "Sync to store". The products are added to your Shopify store with images, variants and your sales prices.
Synced products start as drafts
Customers cannot see a product until you publish it. In Shopify, open the product under Products, set Status to Active and tick Online Store under Publishing. In the app, My products shows "Draft in Shopify" until the product is published.
What you can safely edit in Shopify
Images, titles, prices and descriptions are all safe to change. Do not change SKUs or inventory settings, or duplicate products — that breaks stock syncing and order fulfilment. To remove a product from your store, delete it from the My Products list in Hertwill.
Let Hertwill manage your shipping rates
Hertwill can set up shipping in Shopify for you. Products you sync are placed on Hertwill Shipping delivery profiles — one per parcel size — with our shipping rates, and we keep those rates up to date. You control this with the "Let Hertwill manage shipping rates in Shopify" setting in your store settings on hertwill.com, or under Settings in the app.
Prefer your own rates?
The setting applies to products synced from now on. Turn it off and Hertwill stops adding products to its profiles or updating rates. The profiles and the products already on them stay as they are in Shopify, and you set the rates yourself.
A product shows as "Unavailable" or "Sold out" on your storefront
Customers can only buy a product if it ships to their country. Check where the product ships to in Hertwill, and when you preview your store, make sure the preview country is one your customers are in. If you manage shipping rates yourself, or the product was synced before you turned the setting on, Hertwill must be shipping in the profile the product is on: in Shopify go to Settings → Shipping and delivery, open the profile, click Start shipping next to Hertwill under "Not fulfilling from", and add a rate for that country.
Pick your plan
The free plan lets you sync up to 5 products. If you want to add more, upgrade to a paid plan — in the app or on hertwill.com. Plans you choose in the app are billed through Shopify.
Get your Shopify store ready to accept orders
Hertwill handles the products, shipping rates and fulfilment, but a few things must be set up on the Shopify side before your first sale.
Add your payment card
Add a bank card under Billing & Invoices on hertwill.com. For each order we charge the wholesale price of the products plus shipping (plus VAT where applicable), separately from your plan. If you operate as a company, enter your company details on hertwill.com and your invoices are issued accordingly.
No card, no fulfilment
You only need the card when your first order comes in, but without one on file we cannot fulfil your orders. Add it before you start selling.
What we handle
After that, it runs without you
Once automatic fulfilment is on, the whole cycle runs without you.
Stock stays in sync
Hertwill updates product quantities in your store automatically. When a supplier runs out, the product goes out of stock in your store; when it is available again, it comes back.
Shopify sends us the order
With automatic fulfilment on, Shopify sends the order to Hertwill as soon as it is paid. Without it, you request fulfilment for each order from the order page.
If automatic fulfilment is off
Shopify stores fulfil manually by default. Until you request fulfilment for an order, it does not reach us, and product availability may change in the meantime — so we recommend turning automatic fulfilment on (step 6).
We charge your card, and the order ships
We charge the card on your Hertwill account the wholesale price plus shipping, and the order is packed and shipped to your customer.
Tracking appears in Shopify
When the order ships, we add the tracking number to the Shopify order and it shows as fulfilled. Shopify emails your customer the tracking link, in your store's name.
Mixed orders are fine
If your store also sells products that do not come from Hertwill, we fulfil only the Hertwill items. We update the fulfilment status of those items, not the status of the whole order.
Test orders are real orders
A test order is charged and shipped like any other. To stop one, cancel it in Shopify before it is fulfilled.
Delivery takes 3–8 business days, 4–10 in the UK
Most orders arrive in 3–8 business days in the EU and US, and 4–10 business days in the UK.
Statuses, tracking and invoices
Follow each order in Shopify under Orders. Order statuses, tracking numbers and invoices are also in the Orders section of your Hertwill account.
Start selling on Shopify
Install the Hertwill app from the Shopify App Store, then add products to your Import List.