6 Steps to Setup Success

Welcome to PSS! We are privileged to have you as a user and aim to make your eCommerce business as successful as it is capable of being. The steps outlined below will get you off the starting line and on your way to eCommerce success. Throughout the way, if there is anything we can do to make your training experience more enjoyable, please let us know. After you complete the steps below you will reach out to your Account Manager so that he/she can evaluate your readiness to go live.

The 6 steps to set up success

1. Configure your PSS Account

2. Integrate your marketplaces

3. Fine-tune your Marketplace Settings

4. Configure your Inventory Rules

5. Take the time to learn the material

6. Know your Help & Support channels

Step 1. Configure your PSS Account

Your PSS Login Credentials are included in the email titled "Your PSS Login Credentials"; below the yellow highlight. Log into PSS and proceed to the below.

This section is fairly straightforward, simply telling PSS who you are and which distributors you utilize.

To access this General Settings page simply click the Settings button on right side of the menu bar and proceed to Account Settings.

Primary Contact Information

Account Holder Name

The name for the account holder

Primary Contact Email

Where any automated system messages should go. Must be regularly monitored email address as some system message require immediate attention.

Phone Number

In case of a situation that required immediate attention, our support technicians will use this number for contact. Please include an extension, if applicable.

*Make sure to hit Save at bottom of the page when complete.

Online Configuration - Webstore

Store Name

The name of your store

Webstore Domain

If your webstore URL is http://myshop.com/, enter myshop.com above

Online Configuration - Distributors

Input your Dealer ID for each distributor that you have access to. *Make sure to hit Save at bottom of the page when complete.

Step 2. Integrate your Marketplaces (eBay, Amazon)

Now we are going to connect your various marketplace stores to the PSS Application. This will allow PSS to communicate with your store on a regular basis.

You only need to integrate the marketplaces that you will be using with PSS. Focus on each one individually:

Step 3. Fine Tune your Marketplace Settings

How you configure these settings will dictate the level of success you have selling on each marketplace. If you rush through these settings and do not take the time to learn how each of them works, you may be left dealing with "problems". And the last thing any of us want is problems.

These settings manage things like Payment Methods, Inventory Buffers, Fulfillment Lead Times, Payment Policies, Return Policies, and various Price Settings.

Step 4. Configure your Inventory Rules (MANDATORY)

Automated inventory; the lifeblood of any eCommerce business, fully automated by PSS! Once configured these rules will tell PSS how to handle the inventory that we are pulling from each of the distributor warehouses. Here you will decide the price range of products that you want to drop-ship and/or, assign the number of days that product will take to get from the distributor to you.

Inventory Aggregation

PSS combines inventory from multiple distributors for each unique product. This is to help reduce duplicate listings and allow for listings to remain active by aggregating multiple inventory sources into a single listing. We do this by combining inventory for products recognized as having the same Brand and MPN values.

Key Definitions

Lead Time - The number of days that you need to get tracking into the marketplace, or the number of days that product takes to get to your shop before you are going to send it to the buyer. To determine the lead time we recommend visiting UPS or FedEx to calculate the time from the distributor warehouse zip code to your zip code. UPS Time & Cost Estimator.
Drop-ship Cutoff - The dollar amount that you want to start drop-shipping at. PSS will issue a 1 day lead time for all product that is over the Drop Ship Cutoff dollar amount.
Exclude Warehouse - When this box is checked the warehouse simply will not be included in inventory calculations. Uncheck the box if you wish to utilize the warehouse. The default for new accounts is to exclude all warehouses so you will need to uncheck these boxes.

Examples and Explanations

Example #1: Most dealers don't want to pay the fee to have a $6.00 valve stem seal drop-shipped so they will set a Drop Ship Cutoff to ensure that cheaper product is shipped to them before going to the buyer. If you had a Drop Ship Cutoff of $50.00, this $6.00 valve stem seal would fall under the cutoff and the listing would tell the buyer that you will not have shipping into eBay for the number of days you have entered into the Lead Time field for that warehouse.

Example #2: If a dealer only wants to drop ship product they would set the dropship cutoff to one dollar. From there the Lead Time field is obsolete because everything is above the dropship cutoff. Typically someone in this boat would want to avoid listing cheaper products; thus they would go to their Marketplace Settings and raise the Marketplace Buffer to something like $20 or $30.

Example #3: If you set Western Power Sports, CA warehouse to Dropship Cutoff of $150 this means that all product over $150 is going to get a lead time of 1. This means that you have 1 day to get tracking into your marketplace. For the product under $150 the marketplace is going to get the Lead Time that you input in the Lead Time column.

Example #4: Some distributors do not drop-ship (Parts Unlimited for some). This means that you will want a high drop-ship cutoff; one that will ensure all product gets assigned the proper lead time. To disable drop shipping you simply set the dropship cutoff to $9,999. From here just make sure that your lead times are accurate based on how many days the product takes to get to you. UPS Time & Cost Estimator.

How should I set my Inventory Rules?

Everyone has their own way of doing things and each dealer has their own unique set of circumstances so, there is no ultimate way to configure this. We offer the following words of wisdom:

Don't set all your Lead Times to the same value across the board. Take the time to determine how long the product takes to get to you from each warehouse.
Leverage on the nearby warehouses with 1-2 day Lead Times.
You can always start conservative and then start taking more risk once you see how fulfillment on your listings goes for the first month.
These marketplaces are fairly competitive and a lot of buyers look for fast shipping these days. Make sure that a portion of your listings are eligible for drop ship or a 1 day lead time.
If you only want to drop-ship just set all of your drop-ship cutoffs to $1.00. Done.

PLEASE ATTEMPT TO CONFIGURE YOUR INVENTORY RULES PRIOR TO REACHING OUT TO YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER.

Step 5. Take the Time to Learn the Material

PSS is a fairly complex and powerful listing tool. There are many minor features and options that can have profound effects. If you are serious about eCommerce and are striving to make this a successful venture it would be wise to go slow and get to know how this software and automation functions.

We are here to fully help and support you. We want you to be successful. We want to be a key element in the growth of your business. But it takes buy-in and hard work on your end to use this tool to its full extent; just put in the time learning the material early and you will be just fine.

Here are the primary areas of the help library that you should review to start:

Step 6. Know your Help & Support Channels

PSS gives you two reliable communication channels to make sure that you always have a way to get your questions and issues resolved in a timely, and effective manner. Keep in mind that this technology manages price and inventory for hundreds of thousands of unique products, for millions of listings across multiple marketplaces. Some situations will be resolved faster than others due to the size and scope of our footprint.

Support Channel #1 - Your Account Manager

You will be assigned an Account Manager on day 1. His or Her job will be to make sure that you are progressing through the setup process and successfully navigating the help content. You should use your Account Manager as the single point of contact for the first 30-60 days with PSS to ensure that any additional training opportunities are taken advantage of. Your Account Manager has likely seen the success and failures of many ventures along the way and will be a great resource for you.

The contact information for your Account Manager should be in the Welcome email you receive upon signup with PSS.

Support Channel #2 - PSS Help Desk and Technical Support

Our backend Support Team consists of professionals on both the Development and Catalog side of things. You can open Support Tickets directly from PSS Dash. Click Help from the main nav

Due to the technical aspect of support requests, we elect to not permit our Support Team to speak on the phone unless there is an urgent matter that can not be communicated over email. Our Support Team is a great option for:

All things technical - If the software is not behaving as expected for any reason

Should you ever want or need someone to speak with on the phone, your Account Manager will always be available to assist you. Feel free to reach out to them as often as you wish.