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

Details

Channel Details

eBay User ID: is the ID name of the eBay account you are integrating Tradebox with. This must appear exactly as it does on eBay and should only be changed if you change your ID on eBay itself. A separate channel needs to be created in Tradebox for each eBay ID you wish to connect with.

Currency: displays the currency of the channel. This field is set during channel creation and can't be changed later short of deleting and recreating the channel. If the Site field is set to all, the channel will download all orders converted to GBP. If the Site field is set to a single regional marketplace, the channel will download orders to Tradebox in their native currency.

API Connection Details

Token: stores the eBay API token that's tied to your eBay account. eBay hard expire your token every 18 months as a security precaution. When this occurs you will receive a warning in the software alerting you that the token has expired. To renew, see our guide.

Site: displays which eBay marketplace(s) the channel is integrated with as chosen in the setup wizard. By default, this is set to all; if set to anything different then the channel will only download orders through the specified marketplace.

If you've set up an all sites eBay channel and wish to change this to UK only, use the Actions > ebay - Change to UK Site only option within the channel details screen. This process is not reversible.

Feedback Comments

Tradebox can be configured to automatically leave feedback on eBay orders as they're downloaded. To turn on feedback, tick the Leave Feedback on Download of Order box and choose which comment to use from the dropdown; there's also a Select at random option.

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. Tradebox will never download any duplicate sales, but it can cover old ground to see if any orders that didn't meet your criteria on first check are now valid for download, and also update order statuses if applicable. The eBay API imposes a hard upper limit of 30 days of historic information, it is not possible to recover orders older than 30 days from eBay.

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.

Download eBay Fees: enables download of the monthly eBay fees, which are displayed in Reports > Ebay Fees. These fees can then be posted to an accounts package. For more information please see our eBay fees guide.

Download PayPal Fees: enables the user to download individual PayPal fees which are displayed in Reports > PayPal Fees. Only fees tied to an eBay sale through this channel are downloaded. These fees can then be posted to an accounts package. For more information please see our PayPal fees guide.

Use Variation Title as Order Line Description: allows any available variation descriptions within the eBay order to be added to the downloaded product description, e.g. Nike Trainers could become Nike Trainers - Size 9 - Red.

Mark Variation Products as Inactive: only applies if using Tradebox as your stock control method. If ticked, only main listings will be shown in the Tradebox product list, any that are a variation listing on eBay will be hidden to avoid clogging up the product list. 

Use PayPal Address as Shipping Address: allows the PayPal shipping address to be used on the order, rather than the shipping address from eBay. When this option is ticked, additional fields will appear to allow you to enter your PayPal API Credentials which are required for this process.

Use Extended Order ID: By default, Tradebox will bring through the eBay sales record number. Select this to use the longer order eBay order number.

Update Product Records: eBay listing ID is required for stock upload to eBay. If ticked, automatically download listing IDs as part of the service loop. Please note that this can add a delay to your Tradebox service and is not recommended if you have a large number of ebay listings.

Uploads

Settings that apply to Tradebox's free stock upload routine. See our guide to uploading stock levels for more details.

Don't Upload Zero Quantities: If ticked, products with no free stock are excluded from the upload process.

Upload Negative Quantities as Zero: If a free stock level is negative, Tradebox will convert that level to zero instead; it then follows the same rules that genuine-zero stock items do based on your other settings.

Upload Quantities for Bundles: Bundle products in Tradebox are by default excluded from upload. Ticking this box will include them.

Use 'Out of Stock' Option: this is a setting specific to eBay and allows a listing to be marked as 'out of stock' when a stock level of zero is passed to the listing. If this is not ticked, zero quantities will not be uploaded in order to avoid ending the listing. Before the Out of Stock option can be used in Tradebox, this function needs to be applied in the eBay preferences:

1. My eBay > Site Preferences
2. Under Selling Preferences select Show
3. Tick the Use-Out-Of-Stock option and click on Apply

For Sage BOM use Quantity to Make Up: Applies if you're using Sage stock control and have BOM (bill of materials) products. Unticked, Tradebox uses the free stock level of the 'end product'. Ticked, the stock level of the end product is bypassed and instead Tradebox calculates the number that could be made up from the free stock levels of the item's subcomponents. This will apply to any product in Sage whose BOM tab is populated.

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.

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

For EU sales, there are four options you can choose from. 

1. Remove Destination VAT - Zero Rate: If this is selected, Tradebox will take the total amount provided by eBay, not including the tax they have collected on your behalf, and treat that value as zero rated for tax.

2. Calculate Destination VAT on orders less than €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. The tax rate will be determined based on the standard rate of the country the order is being shipped to, or the product tax for that country.

3. Calculate Destination VAT on All Orders: This is used if you are liable for VAT on all EU orders, regardless of their value. The tax rate will be determined based on the standard rate of the country the order is being shipped to, or the product tax for that country.

4. Zero Rate Gross Value: With this option, Tradebox simply takes the total value from the website and applies a zero rate tax code to it. When this option is selected, a secondary option becomes available which allows you to choose which of your zero rated tax codes you want to use for these sales.

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.