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Pubnet Setup & Credentials

Before you can create and submit purchase orders, you need to connect your Pubnet EDI account to Emersoft Books. This is a one-time setup step. The Emersoft team will walk through it with you during your Omnichannel Pro onboarding.

If you need help at any point, the official Pubnet support resource for booksellers is available at info.pubnet.org/support/for-booksellers.

What you need before you start

A Pubnet account

Pubnet is the EDI network used across the book trade to transmit purchase orders between booksellers and publishers. You need an active Pubnet account to use this feature.

Your Pubnet account gives you:

  • FTP credentials — the username and password used to connect to the Pubnet FTP server for transmitting orders
  • Bill to SAN — your Standard Address Number as the buyer. A SAN is a seven-digit identifier assigned to your business in the book trade (e.g. 1234567)
  • Mailbox ID — your Pubnet mailbox identifier, used to receive incoming EDI documents (855 acknowledgements, 856 ship notices)

Don't have a Pubnet account?

If you do not have a Pubnet account, visit info.pubnet.org/support/for-booksellers for guidance on getting set up. Your book distributor or publisher can also advise. The Emersoft team can help you confirm your credentials are correctly configured during onboarding.

A SAN for each physical location

Pubnet treats each physical location as a separate account. This means:

  • Each store location that will be placing or receiving orders needs its own Ship to SAN — a separate Standard Address Number identifying that location
  • Each location also has its own separate trading relationship (contract) with each supplier — the same supplier may need to be added under each location's SAN independently

If you operate a single location, you only need one SAN. If you operate multiple locations, each one needs its own SAN entered in the app settings before that location becomes available in the PO creation workflow.

Step 1 — Connect your Pubnet credentials

  1. In Shopify Admin, go to Apps > Emersoft Books.
  2. Open Settings > Providers > Pubnet.
  3. Enter your Pubnet credentials:
  4. FTP credentials (username and password)
  5. Bill to SAN (your buyer SAN)
  6. Mailbox ID
  7. Click Save.

The app verifies the connection. If it fails, double-check that the credentials match exactly what Pubnet issued — they are case-sensitive and must not have extra spaces. Contact support if you cannot resolve it.

Step 2 — Map your Shopify locations

After connecting your credentials, you need to map each of your physical Shopify store locations to its corresponding Pubnet SAN.

  1. In Settings > Providers > Pubnet, scroll to the Locations section.
  2. Your Shopify store locations are listed automatically.
  3. For each location that will be placing or receiving orders, enter its Ship to SAN.
  4. Save.

Only locations with a SAN configured here will appear as available destinations when creating a new purchase order. Locations without a SAN are not shown in the PO creation flow.

One SAN per location

Each physical location must have its own SAN registered with Pubnet. If a location does not yet have a SAN, contact Pubnet or your distributor to establish one before adding orders for that location.

Step 3 — Select your suppliers

The app includes a built-in list of all publishers and distributors that participate in the Pubnet EDI network — you do not need to look up or enter any SANs manually.

  1. In Settings > Providers > Pubnet, go to the Suppliers section.
  2. Browse the list of available Pubnet suppliers.
  3. Select the suppliers you want to order from.
  4. Save.

Selected suppliers will appear in the supplier dropdown when you create a new purchase order.

Your trading relationship must be established before ordering

Selecting a supplier in the app does not create a trading relationship with them — it only makes them available in the PO creation flow. Before you can successfully submit a PO to a supplier, you must have an established Pubnet trading relationship with them under your SAN (or location SAN). This is arranged directly with the supplier outside of the app. If a submitted PO is rejected, confirm with the supplier that your SAN is registered and active in their system. For help, visit info.pubnet.org/support/for-booksellers.

Troubleshooting

Issue What to check
Credentials rejected at save Confirm the FTP username, password, Bill to SAN, and Mailbox ID match exactly what Pubnet issued — check for extra spaces or incorrect capitalisation
A location is not available in the PO creation flow Check that it has a SAN entered in Settings > Providers > Pubnet > Locations
A supplier is not in the list Contact the Emersoft team — the supplier list is maintained by the app; if a supplier is missing, get in touch
PO submitted but rejected by publisher The publisher may not have your location SAN registered as an authorised ordering account — confirm your trading relationship with them directly, or visit info.pubnet.org/support/for-booksellers

Emersoft team assistance

If you need help with any part of this setup — obtaining FTP credentials, finding your SANs, or confirming your trading relationships — the Emersoft team can assist during onboarding. Get in touch.