Shopify
Connect your Shopify store to Bias Checkout. Shoppers check out with Bias, and paid orders go back to Shopify for fulfillment.
Your storefront and catalog stay in Shopify. When a shopper clicks your cart’s checkout button or an unbranded Buy it now button, Bias opens its checkout instead of your store’s. Shopify still prices the cart, applies your discounts, and calculates shipping and tax. After payment, Bias creates a paid order in Shopify and keeps refunds and disputes in sync with it.
Before you connect
- A live Bias account. In a sandbox, Settings → Integrations shows Integrations aren’t available in sandboxes.
- A Shopify store that sells in USD.
- A Shopify login that can manage apps for the store’s organization. Bias installs its own app, named “Bias”, on the store.
A Shopify store can be connected to one Bias environment at a time, and each environment connects to one store.
Connecting
- In the Bias dashboard, go to Settings → Integrations and click Connect Shopify under Shopping carts.
- Click Continue to Shopify, sign in, and confirm the verification code shown in Bias.
- If asked, choose your organization and store. If your store isn’t listed, click Enter a store domain manually and enter its
myshopify.comdomain. - Click Install when Shopify asks you to approve the app.
You’ll be redirected back to Bias, and Bias starts importing your catalog. Nothing changes on your storefront until you turn on checkout traffic. There’s nothing to add to your theme.
Turn on checkout traffic
Checkout traffic under Shopify controls what share of checkouts go to Bias: Off, 10%, 25%, 50% or 100%. Choose a share and click Save. Shoppers outside the share use your store’s usual checkout.
Start with a small share and check a few orders in Shopify before moving to 100%. To keep checkout on your own domain, click Set up a custom domain in the same section.
What’s synced
| Entity | Direction | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Products, variants and prices | Shopify → Bias | On connect and when a product changes in Shopify |
| Discounts, shipping and taxes | Shopify → Bias | Calculated by Shopify during each checkout |
| Orders | Bias → Shopify | A checkout is paid in Bias |
| Refunds | Both directions | A refund is made in Bias or in Shopify |
| Disputes | Bias → Shopify | A dispute is opened or changes status |
Products
Each Shopify variant becomes one product in Bias with one price, the variant’s options as attributes, and one image. Draft and archived products, gift cards, subscription-only products and bundles are imported but inactive. Deleting a product in Shopify deactivates it in Bias.
While the store is connected, Shopify manages these products. In the dashboard they show Synced from Shopify, which links to the variant in Shopify, and you can only edit their metadata. Through the API, you can’t change their name, description, SKU, attributes, status, images or default price, add prices, or delete them. The product’s source identifies the store and whether it’s still connected.
To sync right away, click the ⋯ menu next to Shopify and choose Sync now. Products that can’t be imported, such as ones with a price of more than two decimal places, are listed under Shopify with the reason. Fix them in Shopify and they sync on their own.
Checkout
Shoppers can enter discount codes at checkout, and automatic discounts carry over from the cart. Each appears on the checkout session as an applied discount with no reusable discount. Free-shipping discounts have target: "shipping". Shipping options and delivery estimates come from your Shopify shipping settings, and only countries you ship to can be entered.
The line items and shipping options on a checkout session from your store come from Shopify, so you can’t update them through the API.
Some carts always use your store’s usual checkout:
- carts that contain gift cards, subscriptions, bundles or items with uploaded files
- carts in a currency other than USD
- carts with a product that hasn’t finished syncing or is inactive in Bias
- carts where Bias’s total would be higher than the cart’s
After paying, the shopper sees a confirmation page with a link to their order status.
Orders
When a checkout is paid, Bias creates a paid order in Shopify with the items, customer, addresses, shipping, taxes and discounts. Shopify sends its usual order confirmation. Every order is tagged Bias and links to its payment in Bias. Fulfill orders in Shopify as usual.
Bias adds a review tag to orders worth checking: Review total, Review inventory, Review capture or Review contact.
Refunds and cancellations
Refunding a payment in Bias records the refund on the Shopify order. Refunding an order paid through Bias in Shopify refunds the payment in Bias, up to the amount left on it. Restocking and returns stay in Shopify.
Canceling an order in Shopify refunds the payment only if you refund it as part of the cancellation. If money is left on the payment, Bias adds a note to the order. When a refund can’t be completed, Bias tags the order Review refund and notes why.
Disputes
When a payment is disputed, Bias tags the Shopify order Bias dispute and a status tag such as Bias dispute: needs response. The status tag changes as the dispute does. Respond to the dispute in Bias. See Refunds and disputes.
When something needs attention
If Bias can’t create an order or finish a refund, the issue appears under Needs attention in the Shopping carts section, with the payment and the reason. Click Retry once you’ve fixed the cause. Account owners also get an email, at most once a day.
If the app needs new Shopify permissions, Bias shows Approve permissions; checkout keeps working until you approve. If Bias can’t reach your store, it shows Reconnect required. Choose the matching option in the ⋯ menu.
Disconnecting
To disconnect, go to Integrations, click the ⋯ menu next to Shopify, and choose Disconnect. Bias Checkout stops right away, Bias removes its app from your store, and the synced products become inactive in Bias. Payments and refunds stay in Bias, and orders stay in Shopify. Uninstalling the Bias app in Shopify has the same effect.
Limitations
- Only USD stores are supported. If your store changes currency, checkouts go back to your usual checkout and syncing pauses until it returns to USD.
- Bias routes checkouts from your Online Store theme. Branded accelerated checkout buttons keep using your usual checkout.
- Inventory stays in Shopify. Orders created by Bias reduce stock there as usual.