How do I set up SendCloud for RetailVista?

To be able to use the SendCloud integration, it is necessary to purchase an additional package service license (CAL). A CAL is required for each used 'type' of package service. So it is possible to create multiple SendCloud package services, for example, one SendCloud package service per country.

In addition to the package service CAL, a SendCloud integration license is required. This is a so-called 'Plus' license where the number of sales orders is counted.

To set up an integration between RetailVista ERP and SendCloud, it is necessary to generate API tokens in the SendCloud website. Log in to the SendCloud admin environment with the username and password received from SendCloud. The website URL is https://app.sendcloud.com/v2/. Then go to settings via the gear icon in the top right corner and choose 'Integrations' under 'General'. Add a new integration of type 'SendCloud API'. Name it 'RetailVista ERP' and choose 'Save'.

After saving, a public key and a secret key will be generated. These two pieces of information are needed in RetailVista ERP to establish the integration.

Now create a new package service and set its type as 'SendCloud'. It is recommended to create a separate SendCloud integration for each country, as this allows selecting the available carriers per country. This way, you can choose different carriers for a shipment to Belgium compared to a shipment to Germany, for example.

In the 'Advanced' tab, enter the value https://panel.sendcloud.sc/api/v2/ as the API URL, and enter the public and secret keys created by SendCloud as the ApiKey and ApiSecret respectively. To be able to work with clicking on a track & trace code generated by SendCloud, a click-through URL is also required. The value of this URL is https://mijnwebshop.shipping-portal.com/tracking/?country={countrycode}&tracking_number={barcode}&postal_code={zipcode}, where 'mijnwebshop' should be replaced with the webshop URL that SendCloud has agreed with the customer in the contract.

Save the created package service, reopen it, and then click on 'Sync carriers'. By doing this, all available carriers from the SendCloud contract will be visible in the 'Carriers' tab. These are essentially the carriers controlled by SendCloud. It is necessary to choose to show all carriers, inactive or not, in the 'Carriers' tab. By default, new carriers are created as 'Expired' carriers, so they are not visible by default.

Finally, it must be decided which carriers are available to end users within this 'SendCloud NL' environment. Remove one or more carriers from 'Expired' status.

Because carriers are sometimes added to SendCloud (and sometimes certain carriers are withdrawn), it is necessary to create a task schedule. This synchronizes once a day with SendCloud, among others, and automatically adds new carriers. Any carriers no longer supported by SendCloud are disabled by this synchronization and are therefore no longer selectable in the packing application and/or RetailVista POS.

Go to 'Transport type' maintenance and specify SendCloud as the package service for the appropriate transport types. It is strongly recommended to create a transport type per country. The example below shows 'Shipping NL', where in addition to the package service, a carrier can also be specified that will be suggested by default in the packing application. Make the transport type available for 'Sales orders'.

SendCloud also offers the possibility to dynamically determine which carrier should be used. For this purpose, so-called shipping rules can be configured within SendCloud.

The advantage of this is that the packer does not have to think about which carrier to choose. During the carrier synchronization, a carrier with the description 'shipping_rules' is automatically added to the list of available carriers.
If this carrier is chosen, it will be indicated in the package registration at SendCloud that it should determine the correct carrier itself. Of course, the relevant shipping rules must be entered in SendCloud for this. From now on, the SendCloud integration is a fact and can be tested from RetailVista POS or from the packing application to ensure it works properly.

Please note that a relationship is specified at the location and the "Package services" tab is filled with the correct data. Otherwise, the packages will not be registered.