The channel module in Tradebox One contains a list of all of the external sales channels Tradebox is integrated with. To access the channel configuration settings go to Channels and double-click on the channel from the list. The channel is split into 6 tabs:

• Details - Channel integration and configuration settings
• VAT - Tradebox's VAT settings
• Orders - A list of orders downloaded through this channel
• Sales - Graph comparing last 3 calendar year's sales
• Statuses - Map marketplace statuses to Tradebox statuses
• Sage 50/Xero - Settings for accounts integration

This article is focused on the channel integration and configuration settings for an Amazon Merchant channel.

There is a save button at the bottom of each tab. Clicking this saves and closes down the channel details and takes you back to the channel list. If you are amending multiple tabs at once, you can navigate between the tabs without saving. It's only necessary to click the save button once you've made all your amendments in every screen.

Details

Channel Details

Name: The name given to the sales channel to identify it. This is a free text field. It is recommended that the name is something that easily identifies the channel Tradebox is integrated with. This field is editable.

Currency: This field displays the currency of the Amazon marketplace the channel is integrated with. The field is automatic, based upon the Amazon marketplace chosen in the setup wizard, and cannot be edited.

 

API Connection Details

Marketplace: Displays the Amazon marketplace, as chosen during the channel setup wizard. This can't be changed, short of deleting and recreating the channel.

Seller ID: The Seller ID provided via Amazon Marketplace Web Services (MWS) to uniquely identify the seller account.

Marketplace ID: The token generated by Amazon MWS that indicates the Amazon region.

Auth Token: The Authentication Token generated via Amazon MWS to authorise the integration.

Tradebox Developer Account No: This field displays Tradebox's Developer Account Number for the specific Amazon Marketplace the channel is set up for. This is required when creating keys via Amazon MWS.

 

Billing Addresses

Amazon presents Tradebox with a billing name and a recipient name for each order but only presents one address, which is the shipping address. Regardless of which option is chosen in this screen, if the billing name and recipient name are the same, Tradebox will copy the Amazon shipping address into the billing address fields as it creates the order.

Where the buyer and the recipient name don't match, Tradebox gives two options for the address of the order:

• If the option Only If The Recipient And Billing Names Are The Sameis chosen, the order would be created with no billing address. The only billing field populated would be the name, and the billing country will be assumed to be UK.
• If the option Even If The Billing And Recipient Names Are Different is chosen, the shipping address will always be copied into the billing address fields. The billing name will still be displayed as it is on Amazon.

 

Carriers

Tradebox gives the option to choose default carriers from a list provided by Amazon. Choosing carriers is required if you wish to use Tradebox to mark items as shipped on Amazon.

Choose your defaults for Standard Carrier, Expedited Carrier and International Carrier from the drop-down menus.

If you choose Other then you'll also need to choose the Carrier Name from the second drop-down that appears, much the same as if you were dispatching through the Amazon website.

 

Order Processing

• Place all downloaded orders on hold: If ticked, all orders downloaded by Tradebox are assigned an On Hold order status. When an order is in this status, the order cannot be marked as shipped or passed to an accounts package. Effectively the order is frozen until a user changes its status.
• Create Tradebox Product Records: This option is not applicable and will be hidden if you have chosen to run stock control in your accounts package, or no stock control. If ticked, Tradebox will create new products in the Product Module where a SKU in a downloaded order does not already exist. The product record created will only contain the minimum information required such as SKU and description, and will use your default tax code.
• Don't Update Tradebox Stock Levels: This option is not applicable and will be hidden if you have chosen to run stock control in your accounts package, or no stock control. If ticked, Tradebox will not amend stock levels in its own database based on orders received through this channel. To be used, for example, if you don't store your own stock for this channel.
• Ignore Orders Dated Prior To: Allows the user to configure Tradebox to ignore any transactions prior to a given date preventing orders that fall before this date from being downloaded.
• Ignore Orders Dated After: Allows the user to download orders up to a certain date and prevent any orders downloading after that date. This would usually be used where certain settings would apply up to a specific date, and different settings after that date, for example, the date you become VAT registered.
• Days To Download: How many days worth of sales you want Tradebox to download for this particular channel. For Amazon, this only applies to the first download Tradebox does. After the initial download, Tradebox will only check for orders that have been placed or updated since the last download occurred. If you ever want to force Tradebox to check an entire time period again, you can do so by going to Channels, right clicking the Amazon channel and selecting Reset Amazon Last Sync Date.

• Invoice Date: applies only to invoices generated within Tradebox, not within an accounts package. Choose from:

  • Order Date - The date the order was placed
  • Payment Date - The date the order was paid for
  • Despatched Date - The date the order was despatched

By default, this option is set to Order Date. Payment Date and Despatched Date can only be used if they are provided by your site and the order is downloaded at a stage when they are populated.

• Discount Type: All Amazon Merchant and FBA discounts passed by Amazon are Item Line discounts. This option is preset and inaccessible in an Amazon channel.
• Download Fees: If ticked Tradebox will download and store the fees from each available Amazon Settlement Report in the download date range. More information on Amazon Fees can be found in the Guide to Amazon Fees.
• Order Type: Tradebox can differentiate between customer orders and Amazon Business orders; if you sell on Amazon Business you may wish to create a separate sales channel purely for those sales in order to set options at the channel level like using individual customer records in Sage, or have all EU sales treated as B2B.
• Prime Orders: Choose whether to handle All orders, Seller-Fulfilled Prime only, or all orders excluding Seller-Fulfilled Prime. You may wish to set up a separate channel to deal with Seller-Fulfilled Prime orders in order to more closely control Prime orders; for example running the download for that channel more often than others.
• Apply Tax: Only applicable to Amazon US channels. Ticking this box will add the amount of any US sales tax that has been charged to the order total.
  Please note that Tradebox does not break US sales tax out or report on it separately. Aside from this field, any other reference to tax rates or tax codes in Tradebox refer to VAT. US sales will apply the default tax rate you have set for Rest of World (or a US-wide tax code, if you have specified one in Configuration > Countries) to all US sales.

 

Uploads

These options apply to Tradebox's upload of free stock quantities to your marketplace. Not all users use the upload routine. Please see our Uploading Stock Levels guide for more information.

• Don't Upload Zero Quantities: Tradebox will not upload a stock level of zero to any item on Amazon.
• Upload Negative Quantities as Zero: If a stock level is negative, Tradebox will convert the stock level to zero instead.
• Upload Quantities for Bundles: Bundle products in Tradebox are by default excluded from uploads. Ticking this box will include them. 
• For Sage BOM use Quantity to Make Up: If you're using Sage stock control and have BOM (bill of materials) products, Tradebox can calculate the number of BOM end products that can be made up from the component products, and upload that to Amazon.

 

VAT

The VAT section of the channel details shows a set of default tax codes for UK and Rest of World. The illustration above shows the default codes for a business on the standard VAT scheme. The UK Sales dropdown only applies to users who are running without any stock control; if you are using stock control in either Tradebox or an accounts package, Tradebox will automatically use the tax code on the product record and the UK sales options will be greyed out.

All EU Sales are B2B: As of 01/07/2021, this option primarily applies to businesses based in NI, as VAT on EU Business sales may need to be accounted for if you are based in other parts of the UK. If all EU sales coming through this sales channel are business sales with a valid VAT number, this box should be ticked as it will instruct Tradebox to treat this sale as zero rated. If connecting to an accounts package, this will automatically use whichever tax code you have mapped to the EU B2B Sales tax rate in Configuration > Tax Rates in Tradebox.

Use Product Tax for Carriage: If you are selling goods with a mixture of tax codes, you may wish to select this option. With this setting turned on, if all of the products on an order are non-vatable, then no VAT will be applied to the carriage. If any product on the order is standard rated then the carriage will also be standard rated, even if the majority of the products are non-vatable.

Use Single Tax Code for ALL Entries: If ticked, all sales and carriage through the channel will use the code you choose from the dropdown that appears. This takes precedence over all other VAT settings except the per-customer tax code within the Contacts screen.

EU VAT Calculation Method

Where EU sales are not B2B, there are three additional options for how to treat sales that are shipped to the EU.

1. Zero Rated VAT EU Orders: For use if you wish all EU orders to be treated as zero rated, the same as your ROW sales. 

2. Countries Table on Orders Not Exceeding €150: To be used where you are liable for VAT on EU orders up to a value of €150. This will instruct Tradebox to check the tax rates you have applied against each EU country in Configuration > Countries within Tradebox. This will be determined based on the country the order is being shipped to.

3. Countries Table Regardless of Value: This is used if you are liable for VAT on all EU orders, regardless of their value. 

For more details on how Tradebox deals with VAT, see our article here.

Orders

The orders section of the channel will display all orders that have been downloaded for that particular channel. It displays the following information:

Type: Displays either SO (Sales Order) or SC (Sales Credit Note).

Date: The order date. By default, this is the date the order was placed.

No. The Tradebox order number, which is automatically assigned on download.

Channel No. The order number from the channel, in this case, the Amazon order number.

Customer: The customer's name.

Value: The total value of the order.

Status: The order status within Tradebox.

Double clicking on any order in the grid opens the order in full. The grid can be sorted by any column and is sorted by order date by default.

Sales

 

The Sales page of the channel details shows a breakdown of the sales value for this channel by month over the past three years, with the option to view as a bar graph or line chart.

Statuses

The top section of the Statuses tab displays a list of marketplace order statuses and the corresponding Tradebox order statuses they are mapped to. This controls at which status your orders will download to Tradebox. The bottom section of the grid controls which statuses are set to post to your accounts package (if integrated). To edit a marketplace status, select edit or double click on it and a pop up box will appear that allows you to choose what Tradebox status to map it to, and whether you want that status to download. To edit a Tradebox status, select edit or double click on it and a pop up box will appear that will allow you to choose whether or not you want orders with that status to post to your accounts. You can add or delete marketplace statuses using the Statuses - Add New and Statuses - Delete functions in the Action menu in the bottom right.

Click here for a more detailed guide to order statuses.

Sage 50/Xero

If you have opted to link Tradebox to an accounts package, you will see either Sage 50 or Xero displayed as an additional tab within the channel. This holds the connection details for your accounts package, and, once connected a new range of tabs will open up. The Sage 50 connection page is shown below:

For full instructions on setting up the accounts link, see the relevant guide:

To set up a Sage 50 accounts link click here or to set up a Xero accounts link click here.