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bol.com

The Dutch market bol.com  is the leading online market in Benelux and offers many different products, including multimedia, electronics, toys, etc.

1. Registering with bol.com

Before setting up bol.com in plentymarkets, you have to register with bol.com .

2. Automated processes

Connecting to this market allows for the following automated processes to take place:

Offers:

  • stock synchronisation every 15 minutes

  • hourly price synchronisation

  • hourly synchronisation of delivery times, visibility of offers etc.

  • daily deletion of offers for deleted or deactivated variations

Orders:

  • order import every 15 minutes

  • hourly import of returns registered on bol.com
    Note: Returns are imported with the status [9.00] by default.

3. Setting up bol.com in plentymarkets

Set up bol.com in plentymarkets to sell items on the market bol.com. There are two ways to set up the bol.com interface:

  • In the assistant Base settings - bol.com (How?)

  • In the Setup » Markets » bol.com » Settings menu (How?)
    Note: You cannot link bol.com delivery times in the Setup menu. Go through the bol.com assistant to map delivery times with plentymarkets.

3.1. Setting up bol.com in the assistant

The basic settings for bol.com are carried out in the Setup » Assistants » Omni-Channel menu with the Basic settings - bol.com assistant. With this assistant, you set up your bol.com account in plentymarkets. You also carry out settings for warehouses and map plentymarkets delivery times with bol.com delivery times.

Carrying out settings in the assistant:

  1. Go to Setup » Assistants » Omni-Channel.

  2. Click on the assistant Base settings - bol.com.

  3. Follow the instructions on the screen. If you need additional information about one of the options, expand the info box shown below this instruction ().

  4. In the step Summary, check your settings to makes sure they are correct.
    Tip: Click on the arrow in the step Summary () to show the settings.

  5. If everything is as it should be, click on Finalise.
    → The settings are saved.

Options in the assistant
Setting Explanation

Step Settings

Select the client that should be used to sell your items.

From the drop-down list Client, select a client. This client is used to generate the item URL in the catalogue and bol.com orders are assigned to this client.

Would you like to activate your bol.com user account?

Account not activated = The settings are saved but the data exchange with bol.com is not started.
Account activated = Data exchange with bol.com is started once the assistant is completed.
Recommendation: Check all settings before activating the user account.

Step Access data

Enter the API access data.

The API access data can be generated in the seller section at bol.com.

  • Client ID (mandatory) = Enter the user ID for the API interface you received from bol.com.

  • Client Secret (mandatory) = Enter the password for the API interface that you received from bol.com.

Step Warehouse

Select how stock for bol.com should be calculated.

Select the stock quantity for the offer export. Select one of the following options:

  • Use stock quantity sum of all sales warehouses

  • Use main warehouse of item

  • Select warehouses = Select one or more warehouses.
    → The warehouses listed under Warehouses can be selected. Place a check mark to select a warehouse.
    Important: The option Warehouse selection affects the item export. If an item is not linked to the warehouses selected here, then this item will not be exported.

Step Delivery times

Link bol.com delivery times

Link one or more bol.com delivery times with delivery times saved in plentymarkets. The linked delivery times will be shown with your items on bol.com.

3.2. Setting up bol.com in the Setup menu

In the Setup » Markets » bol.com » Settings menu, you can carry out the basic settings for bol.com. However, note that bol.com delivery times cannot be mapped in this menu. Go through the bol.com assistant to map delivery times with plentymarkets.

Setting up bol.com in plentymarkets:

  1. Go to Setup » Markets » bol.com » Settings.

  2. Carry out the settings. Pay attention to the explanations given in Table 1.

  3. Save () the settings.
    → The settings are saved.

  4. Go to Setup » Assistants » Omni-Channel.

  5. Click on the assistant Base settings - bol.com.

  6. Navigate to the step Delivery times.

  7. Link one or more bol.com delivery times with delivery times saved in plentymarkets.

  8. Complete the assistant.

Table 1. Basic settings for the market bol.com
Setting Explanation

Activate the automatic data exchange

If the data exchange is activated, offer and order data is exchanged with bol.com. For further information, refer to [processes].

Client ID

Enter the Client ID. The API access data can be generated in the seller section at bol.com.

Client Secret

Enter the Client Secret. The API access data can be generated in the seller section at bol.com.

Client

Select a client. Orders are assigned to this client during the order import.

Warehouse selection

Select the stock quantity for the offer export. Select one of the following options:

  • Use stock quantity sum of all sales warehouses

  • Use main warehouse of item

  • Select warehouses = Select one or more warehouses.
    → The warehouses listed under Warehouses can be selected. Place a check mark to select a warehouse.
    Important: The option Warehouse selection affects the item export. If an item is not linked to the warehouses selected here, then this item will not be exported.

4. Activating the order referrer

An order referrer tags an order with the sales channel on which the order was generated. You also need to activate the order referrer in order to link items, characteristics etc. with bol.com. Go to Setup » Orders » Order referrer to activate the order referrer.

Activating the order referrer for bol.com:

  1. Go to Setup » Orders » Order referrer.

  2. Activate the option bol.com.

  3. Save () the settings.

5. Setting the variation availability

Tip: The settings you need to activate in order to sell a variation on bol.com are described in the FAQ.

You need to activate the variations that you want to sell on bol.com. This is done in the Availability tab of a variation within the Item » Edit item » [Open item] » [Open variation] menu.

Making a variation available for bol.com:

  1. Go to Item » Edit item » [Open item] » [Open variation] » Tab: Settings.

  2. Open the variation that you want to sell on bol.com.
    Tip: To sell all variations of an item on bol.com, carry out the settings for the item’s main variation. This activates the availability of all variations of the item.

  3. In the Availability area, activate the option Active.

  4. Click on the Availability tab.

  5. In the Markets area, click in the selection field.
    → A list of all available markets is displayed.

  6. Activate the option bol.com.

  7. Click on Add ().
    → The market is added.

  8. Save () the settings.
    → The variation is available for bol.com.

The variation group function allows you to edit several variations at once. You select the variations that you want to edit.

Making several variations available for bol.com using the variation group function:

  1. Go to Item » Edit item.

  2. Set the filter Table type to Variations.

  3. Choose additional filters on the left if needed and click on Search ().

  4. Select () the variations to be edited from the overview on the right.

  5. Click on Variation group function.
    → The Variation group function window opens.

  6. Navigate to the area Market availability.

  7. Activate the checkbox to the left of the option bol.com.

  8. Activate the checkbox to the right of the option bol.com.

  9. Navigate to the area Availability.

  10. Activate the checkbox to the left of the option Active.

  11. Activate the checkbox to the right of the option Active.

  12. Click on Execute to apply the settings.

Batch processing allows you to edit several variations at once. You use filters to limit which variations are edited.

Making several variations available for bol.com using batch processing:

  1. Go to Item » Batch processing.

  2. Click on the tab Variations in the upper left corner.

  3. Use the filters on the left to specify which variations should be processed.

  4. Navigate to the area Market availability.

  5. Activate the checkbox to the left of the option bol.com.

  6. Activate the checkbox to the right of the option bol.com.

  7. Navigate to the area Availability.

  8. Activate the checkbox to the left of the option Active.

  9. Activate the checkbox to the right of the option Active.

  10. Click on Apply to apply the settings to the variations.

Note: All item data has to be in Dutch for bol.com.

6. Linking categories

Link your plentymarkets categories to the bol.com categories in order to display your items in these bol.com categories. Further items from the linked category are assigned automatically.

Linking categories:

  1. Go to Setup » Markets » bol.com » Category link.

  2. Click on Search ().
    → The Select category window opens.

  3. Select the bol.com category that best matches your plentymarkets category.

  4. Click on Apply.
    → The name and category path of the bol.com category are displayed.

  5. If you know the name of the bol.com category, enter it directly into the Market category field to link it to your plentymarkets category.

  6. Save () the settings.

7. Creating and linking characteristics

Now, create characteristics and link these characteristics to the bol.com characteristics. You need different characteristics depending on the bol.com category. Matching characteristics to a bol.com category can be found within the bol.com data model file. Download the bol.com data model file here  .

Table 2. Important bol.com characteristics
Characteristic Explanation

bol_used

If you want to sell used items on bol.com, you have to indicate this used condition by using the property bol_used.

  • Characteristic not linked to item = The item is new.

  • Characteristic linked to item = The item is used.

When you create the characteristic, in the line bol.com characteristic, enter the bol.com characteristic bol_used.
Creating a characteristic

  1. Go to Setup » Item » Characteristics.

  2. Click on the New characteristic tab.

  3. Enter a name for the characteristic under Name (internal).

  4. Select nl for Dutch from the Language drop-down list.

  5. Enter the Dutch name that you want to use for this characteristic into the Name field.

  6. Select the option Text from the Characteristic type drop-down list.

  7. In the row bol.com characteristic, enter the bol.com characteristic from the column Attribute name of the bol.com data model file.

  8. Save () the settings.

Linking the characteristic to an item

Link the bol.com characteristics with the items that you want to sell on bol.com.

  1. Go to Item » Edit item.

  2. Open the item.

  3. Click on the Characteristics tab.

  4. Activate the characteristic in the Activate further characteristics area.

  5. Save () the settings.
    → The characteristic is displayed in the Characteristics area.

  6. Optional: Carry out additional settings. Pay attention to the explanations regarding characteristics.

  7. Save () the settings.

8. Defining a sales price

Sales prices define the conditions under which a variation is sold at a specific price and on a specific sales channel. That means that to sell variations on bol.com, you need a sales price in which the order referrer bol.com is activated. The price that you save for this sales price is the price that will be shown on bol.com.

Defining a sales price for bol.com:

  1. Go to Setup » Item » Sales prices » [Open sales price].
    Tip: No sales prices? Then create a new sales price first.

  2. Open the Settings tab.

  3. Activate the referrer bol.com.

  4. Save () the settings.

9. Setting up the item export

This section explains how to transfer your items to bol.com. Items are transferred to bol.com with the elastic export. First, create the data format BolItemExport and then send the CSV file to bol.com.

The following fields are mandatory for the item export:

  • EAN

  • SKU

  • Name

  • Categories

  • Item description

  • Image

  • Manufacturer

Also note that item data has to be in Dutch for bol.com.

Setting up the item export:

  1. Go to Data » Elastic export.

  2. Click on New export.

  3. Carry out the settings. Pay attention to the explanations given in Table 3.

  4. Carry out further settings for item filters and format settings. Pay attention to the explanations given in table 2 on the Elastic export page.

  5. Save () the settings.
    → The export format is given an ID and it appears in the overview within the Exports tab.

  6. In the Data » Elastic Export » Tab: Exports menu, click on Download (arrow icon) to download the file that you have created.

Table 3. Settings for the item export
Setting Explanation

Settings

Name

Enter a name. The export format is listed by this name in the overview within the Exports tab.

Type

Select the type item from the drop-down list.

Format

From the drop-down list, select the format BolItemExport for the item export.

Limit

Enter a number. If you want to transfer more than 10,000 data records to bol.com, then the output file is not generated again for another 24 hours. This is to save resources.

Provisioning

Select FTPS.

File name,
server,
Port,
User name,
Password,
path

Enter a parameter. The access data including the password and user name are provided by bol.com. The file name is created based on the pattern <sellerID>.txt. You need to save the file in the folder /SQUARE/feed.

Transfer

Select daily as bol.com allows a maximum of 4 exports per day.

10. Setting up Fulfilment by bol.com (FBB/LVB)

bol.com orders can be fulfilled in two different ways:

  • Fulfilment by Retailer (FBR) = You ship the order yourself.

  • Fulfilment by bol.com (FBB/LVB) = bol.com ships the order.

Note that plentymarkets does not fully support Fulfilment by bol.com. You can mark your items for Fulfilment by bol.com when you export item data to bol.com. However, FBB orders and returns are not imported to plentymarkets. In addition, stock information can not be retrieved from the bol.com fulfilment warehouse.

To sell a variation with Fulfilment by bol.com (FBB or LVB), you need to activate the market availability bol.com FBA:

Activating the market availability bol.com FBB

  1. Go to Item » Edit item » [Open item] » [Open variation] » Tab: Settings.

  2. Open the variation that you want to sell with Fulfilment by bol.com.

  3. Click on the Availability tab.

  4. In the Markets area, click in the selection field.
    → A list of all available markets is displayed.

  5. Activate the option bol.com FBB.

  6. Save () the settings.

11. Check list: Requirements for listing offers on bol.com

In order to list your variations as offers on bol.com, the following settings have to be carried out:

Table 4. Mandatory fields for the variation
Mandatory data Explanation

EAN or ISBN

An EAN or an ISBN must be saved for the variation.

  • In the Setup » Item » Barcode menu, an EAN or ISBN must be created and linked to the referrer bol.com.

  • The EAN must be added to the Settings tab of the variation in the Barcode area and a barcode code must be entered.

Price

A price must be saved for the variation.

  • The sales price must be activated for the referrer bol.com in the Setup » Item » Sales prices.

  • The sales price must be added in the Settings tab in the Sales price area of the variation.

  • A price must be saved for the sales price.

Availability

The variation must be available for the market.

  • In the Availability tab of the variation in the Markets area, the marketplace availabilities bol.com or bol.com FBB must be activated.

    • Referrer bol.com = You ship orders yourself.

    • Referrer bol.com FBB = bol.com ships your orders.

12. Activating the payment method

As soon as an active account for bol.com exists, the payment method Bol.com is automatically available in your plentymarkets system. No separate configurations are needed for this. You just need to permit the payment method in one or more customer classes.

Permitting the payment method in a customer class:

  1. Go to Setup » CRM » Classes.

  2. Open the customer class for which you want to permit the payment method.

  3. For the setting Permitted payment methods, activate the option Bol.com.

  4. Save () the settings.

13. Automatically sending shipping confirmations

Set up an event procedure to automatically send shipping confirmations to bol.com when the outgoing items have been booked.

Setting up an event procedure

  1. Go to Setup » Orders » Events.

  2. Click on Add event procedure ().
    → The Create new event procedure window opens.

  3. Enter a distinct Name for the event procedure.

  4. Select the Event according to Table 5.

  5. Save () the settings.

  6. Carry out the further settings according to Table 5.

  7. Activate the option Active ().

  8. Save () the settings.

Table 5. Event procedure for automatically sending shipping confirmations to bol.com
Setting Option Selection

Event

Order change: Outgoing items booked

Filter 1

Order > Order type

Order

Filter 2

Order > Referrer

bol.com

Procedure

Shipping > Send shipping confirmation to bol.com

14. Automatically sending cancellations

Set up an event procedure to automatically inform bol.com of cancellations. Whenever you are dealing with cancellations, you need to send bol.com a reason for the cancellation. Open the System » Orders » Status menu and create additional order statuses as needed. The following cancellation reasons can be transferred to bol.com:

  • Out of stock

  • Cancellation requested by customer

  • Item is in a bad condition

  • Higher shipping costs

  • Incorrect price

  • Item not available in time

  • No bol.com warranty

  • Item ordered twice

  • Item retained

  • Technical issue

  • Item untraceable

  • Other

Setting up an event procedure

  1. Go to Setup » Orders » Events.

  2. Click on Add event procedure ().
    → The Create new event procedure window opens.

  3. Enter a distinct Name for the event procedure.

  4. Select the Event according to Table 6.

  5. Save () the settings.

  6. Carry out the further settings according to Table 6.

  7. Activate the option Active ().

  8. Save () the settings.

Table 6. Event procedure for automatically sending cancellations to bol.com
Setting Option Selection

Event

Status change: [8.1] Cancelled by customer

Filter 1

Order > Order type

Order

Filter 2

Order > Referrer

bol.com

Procedure

Order > Send cancellation to bol.com

Customer cancellation

15. Automatically sending the return status

Set up an event procedure to automatically inform bol.com of the status of a return. bol.com requests the status of returns. The following return statuses can be sent to bol.com:

  • Return received

  • Item will be exchanged

  • Return does not meet conditions

  • Item must be repaired

  • Customer keeps item

  • Return accepted after consultation with customer

Setting up an event procedure

  1. Go to Setup » Orders » Events.

  2. Click on Add event procedure ().
    → The Create new event procedure window opens.

  3. Enter a distinct Name for the event procedure.

  4. Select the Event according to Table 7.

  5. Save () the settings.

  6. Carry out the further settings according to Table 7.

  7. Activate the option Active ().

  8. Save () the settings.
    Note: The data is not transferred in real time when the event procedure is triggered. Instead, the data is registered in a queue. As such, transferring the data can take up to several minutes if a large number of jobs need to be processed. On the plus side, this means that several retries will be performed if the target server is throttled or not responding.

Table 7. Event procedure for automatically sending return statuses to bol.com
Setting Option Selection

Event

New return

Filter 1

Order > Order type

Return

Filter 2

Order > Referrer

bol.com

Procedure

Order > Send return status to bol.com

Select a status.

16. Sending information on direct returns to bol.com

In addition, set up an event procedure to automatically inform bol.com about returns that customers sent back to you directly without registering the return with bol.com first. bol.com requests the status of returns. The following return statuses can be sent to bol.com:

  • Return received

  • Item will be exchanged

  • Return does not meet conditions

  • Item must be repaired

  • Customer keeps item

  • Return accepted after consultation with customer

Setting up an event procedure

  1. Go to Setup » Orders » Events.

  2. Click on Add event procedure ().
    → The Create new event procedure window opens.

  3. Enter a distinct Name for the event procedure.

  4. Select the Event according to Table 8.

  5. Save () the settings.

  6. Carry out the further settings according to Table 8.

  7. Activate the option Active ().

  8. Save () the settings.

Table 8. Event procedure to inform bol.com about returns
Setting Option Selection

Event

Status change: [9.5] Credit note created

Filter 1

Order > Order type

Return

Filter 2

Order > Referrer

bol.com

Procedure

Order > Create a return at bol.com

Select a status.

17. Viewing log entries

The Data » Log menu contains a history of processes that run via the bol.com interface. Note that integrations and identifiers are only shown in the drop-down lists as filters after the process has run at least once.

For bol.com, the following filters are recommended:

Filtering and checking log entries

  1. Go to Data » Log.

  2. In the column to the left, select appropriate filters from the drop-down lists.

  3. Optional: Select filters for dates and/or times to only show entries from a specific period.
    Tip: For further information about the filters, refer to the Data log page of the manual.

  4. Click on Search ().
    → The results are shown.

  5. Check all entries for the levels warning and error.
    Tip: Click on the entry to see details.

Use the reference types and reference values listed in Table 9 to filter the search results:

Table 9. Reference types and reference values for bol.com
Reference type Explanation Reference value

action

Filters by events.

Select a reference type to filter for specific events.

  • orderImport = Order import

  • CreateOffer = Creation of offers

  • CheckOfferStatus = Checking the successful creation of offers

  • DeleteOffer = Deletion of offers

  • UpdateOffer = Updating delivery time, delivery type (FBB, FBR), SKU and activity state of offers

  • UpdateOfferPrices = Updating prices of offers

  • UpdateOfferStock = Updating stock of offers

  • CancelOrder = Cancellation of the order

  • ShipOrder = Shipping of the order

  • HandleReturn = Confirmation of receipt of a return announced on bol.com

  • CreateReturn = Report receipt of a return not announced on bol.com

orderId

Filters by the order ID of the order in plentymarkets.

externalOrderId

Filters by the bol.com order number of the order.

externalOrderItemId

Filters by the ID of the bol.com order item.
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