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Gardners Setup & Fulfillment

For UK customers

Gardners is currently available to UK customers. US customers use Ingram. Provider availability is based on your Emersoft Books account or store region, not an order's delivery address, and a store cannot use both providers yet.

Emersoft Books can use the Gardners catalogue for book search and inventory, and can also send eligible Shopify orders to Gardners for delivery to your customers.

These are separate capabilities. Being able to search the Gardners catalogue does not mean your account is ready for fulfillment.

Before you start

Install Emersoft Books and make sure you have:

  • A Gardners trade account enabled for Home Delivery / CDF
  • Electronic ordering access approved by Gardners
  • Your Gardners account number
  • SFTP host, port, username, and password
  • Gardners' current Books Fulfilment Price List

A card-only Gardners account cannot dispatch orders directly to your customers. Ask Gardners to confirm that your account supports automated Home Delivery orders.

If you need a new account, use the Gardners account application. Gardners describes its consumer-direct service under Retailer Services.

Connect your Gardners account

In Shopify Admin, open:

Apps > Emersoft Books > Settings > Gardners

1. Add SFTP credentials

Enter the host, port, username, and password supplied for your Gardners connection.

When saved, Emersoft Books stores the credentials securely. Complete the test order below to verify the connection end to end.

2. Configure fulfillment

Enter:

Setting What it means
Gardners account number The account charged for fulfilled orders
Test mode Sends test orders that Gardners will not physically fulfill
Max wait How long Gardners may wait for missing items before releasing available items

The default Max wait is 30 days. Set it to 0 if available items should be released without waiting for the rest of the order.

Test mode

Test mode is enabled by default. Turn it off only after the test order has been accepted successfully.

Prepare Shopify

In Apps > Emersoft Books > Settings > Gardners, find Inventory Sync and click Activate Inventory Sync. This creates a Shopify location named:

Emersoft Books Fulfillment - Gardners

Activating Inventory Sync enables stock updates; it does not enable order fulfillment. Books imported from Gardners are assigned to this location after it exists.

Add at least one shipping rate in:

Shopify Admin > Settings > Shipping and delivery

Without a shipping rate for this location, customers may be unable to buy these books at checkout.

Set your GBP shipping rates

Gardners CDF rates are not calculated at checkout by Emersoft Books. Use the current Gardners Books Fulfilment Price List and the terms agreed for your account when deciding what to charge customers. Gardners makes the price list available on request.

Gardners fulfillment requires GBP store currency

Emersoft Books reads the Shopify order's shipping total in the store currency and sends that numeric amount to Gardners as pence. It does not validate or convert the shipping currency. Use Gardners fulfillment only when your Shopify store currency is GBP. If your store currency is not GBP, contact Emersoft support before accepting Gardners orders.

For the Emersoft Books Fulfillment - Gardners location, create one or more manual Shopify rates:

  • Flat rate — charge the same amount for every eligible order.
  • Order price-based rate — change the shipping amount according to the cart value.
  • Weight-based rate — change the amount according to the total product weight.

Gardners catalogue weights are indicative and do not include packaging. Allow for packaging when setting weight thresholds or deciding whether a rate covers your fulfillment cost.

Use manual rates for the Gardners app location

Shopify app locations do not have a physical address, so Shopify cannot use the Gardners fulfillment location as the origin for native carrier-calculated rates. Configure manual rates or reuse suitable rates from another Shopify location.

How the shipping fee is passed to Gardners

The customer-facing shipping charge and the amount Gardners charges your account are separate:

  1. With your Shopify store currency set to GBP, you configure a shipping rate in Shopify.
  2. The customer selects an available option and pays the final shipping amount at checkout.
  3. Emersoft Books reads the total shipping amount recorded on the Shopify order, converts the GBP amount to whole pence, and sends it to Gardners as the order's delivery charge.
  4. Gardners charges your trade account separately according to your current Fulfilment Price List and account terms.

For example, if the Shopify order records £4.95 shipping, Emersoft Books sends a delivery charge of 495 pence to Gardners. If the order records free shipping, it sends 0 pence.

For an order fulfilled only by Gardners, several Gardners books still receive one order-level delivery charge. Emersoft Books sends the total once rather than repeating it for every book.

Mixed-location orders send the combined shipping total

If an order also contains products fulfilled from another Shopify location, Shopify may combine the locations' rates into one order shipping total. Emersoft Books sends that entire combined total to Gardners; it does not isolate the Gardners portion. Test this checkout pattern and confirm the resulting delivery charge is acceptable before offering mixed-location orders. Contact Emersoft support if you need separate shipping amounts.

The Shopify rate is not a Gardners cost quote

The delivery charge sent with the order is the amount collected from your customer. It is not a live quote, reimbursement, or confirmation of what Gardners will invoice you. Review your Gardners invoices and update Shopify rates whenever Gardners changes your account pricing.

Shipping option names do not select a Gardners service

Unlike Ingram shipping method mappings, Emersoft Books does not map Shopify option names such as Standard or Express to different Gardners service codes.

Changing a Shopify shipping option's name or price changes what the customer sees and pays. It does not select a different Gardners delivery service. Contact Gardners if your account requires a specific service arrangement.

Test every shipping zone

Complete a test checkout for each country, market, and price or weight tier you intend to support.

Review imported prices

Gardners catalogue prices are provided in GBP. Emersoft Books does not automatically convert them into your store currency. Review prices before publishing imported products.

Test the connection

  1. Keep Test mode enabled.
  2. Import an in-stock book.
  3. Confirm that it uses the Gardners fulfillment location.
  4. Complete checkout using an address you control.
  5. If your store uses manual fulfillment, open the Shopify order and click Request fulfillment.
  6. Confirm that the order receives a Gardners acknowledgement or order note.

A test order verifies submission and acknowledgement only. It will not verify physical dispatch or tracking.

Complete a live test

After the connection test succeeds:

  1. Turn off Test mode.
  2. Place one controlled order for an inexpensive, in-stock book.
  3. Check the acknowledgement in Shopify.
  4. Wait for the dispatch update.
  5. Confirm that Shopify receives the shipment and tracking information.

What happens after an order is submitted

  1. Emersoft Books sends the fulfillment request to Gardners.
  2. Gardners replies with the outcome for each book.
  3. Shopify order notes show whether a book was accepted, partially supplied, backordered, or cancelled.
  4. Gardners may send an order in more than one shipment.
  5. Each dispatch creates or updates the Shopify fulfillment and adds tracking when Gardners supplies it.

In-stock Home Delivery orders received by Gardners before 16:00 Monday–Friday can normally be dispatched that working day, but this is not guaranteed.

Displayed availability is not a stock reservation. Gardners still needs to accept and process the order.

Cancellations

A cancellation is a request, not an immediate or guaranteed result.

  • Before Gardners acknowledges the order, Emersoft Books can normally accept the cancellation directly.
  • After acknowledgement, Shopify waits for Gardners' response.
  • Gardners may reject cancellation if a book is Firm Sale, a Special Order, already dispatched, or cannot be matched to the account.

Always check the final Shopify order note before confirming a cancellation to your customer. See the Gardners Terms and Conditions for Gardners' current cancellation terms.

Go-live checklist

  • [ ] Home Delivery/CDF and electronic ordering confirmed with Gardners
  • [ ] SFTP credentials saved
  • [ ] Gardners account number saved
  • [ ] Inventory Sync activated and Gardners location created
  • [ ] Shopify store currency set to GBP
  • [ ] GBP Shopify shipping rates match the current Gardners Fulfilment Price List
  • [ ] Shipping zones and rate thresholds tested at checkout
  • [ ] Mixed-location checkout tested if offered
  • [ ] Test order accepted
  • [ ] Imported GBP prices reviewed
  • [ ] Test mode disabled
  • [ ] First live order and tracking confirmed

If an order does not progress as expected, contact Emersoft support and include your Shopify store URL and order number.