How the build runs
What we need from you, in what order, and what only you can do.
Before anything starts
Two things have to be true, and only you can make them true.
You hold an Amrod account. Amrod supplies registered resellers and nobody else. If you do not have an account, that comes first, and it is between you and them.
API access is switched on for that account. Having an account is not the same as having API access. It is a separate request to Amrod, and they grant it. Our guide on getting API access approved sets out what to ask for and what the answers mean.
We can start the design while that request is with Amrod. We cannot connect the catalogue until it is granted.
What we ask you for
| Your logo | Any usable file. If all you have is a printed version we will tell you straight away rather than build around a bad copy |
|---|---|
| Your company details | Registered name, registration number, VAT number if you have one, address, phone, email |
| Amrod API credentials | Username, password and customer code, sent once the access request is granted |
| Your markup | A starting percentage. You can change it whenever you like afterwards |
| Trading terms | Lead times, delivery charges and payment terms, so the policy pages state your rules rather than invented ones |
| The domain | Tell us the name you want. If you already own one, we point it at the site instead |
The order of work
| 1 | The connection is tested first. Before any design work, we confirm your credentials pull the catalogue, and that prices and stock match on every variation. If something is wrong with the account, it surfaces here rather than at the end |
|---|---|
| 2 | The catalogue is loaded. Products, variations, categories, brands and prices, with your markup applied |
| 3 | The site is dressed. Your logo and colours, your company details, your policy pages |
| 4 | You look at it. On a private address, before anything is public. Pricing, categories and wording get corrected here |
| 5 | It goes live. Domain, certificate, mailboxes, and the search engines let in |
| 6 | The schedule starts. Nightly catalogue, stock three times a day, changes every fifteen minutes |
How long it takes
The build itself is short. Waiting is what makes it long, and the waiting is usually on Amrod granting API access or on your details arriving.
We give you a date once we have your logo, your company details and working credentials. Not before. A date given before those three exist is a guess, and you would be right not to trust it.
After it is live
The one thing that breaks it
Amrod's API credentials are usually the same login your staff use on Amrod's own trade site. If somebody resets that password, the sync stops, and it stops quietly. Prices and stock simply stay as they were.
Two things prevent it. Ask Amrod for a separate API user that nobody logs in with, and let us watch the sync so a failed run raises an alert instead of sitting there. Both are part of the build.