Inventory sync between ShipBob and Shopify is one of those settings that works invisibly until it breaks at the worst time. An oversell on BFCM costs you customer trust. A false stockout costs you revenue. This SOP keeps sync tight.
Inventory accuracy is foundational. Every other ops process assumes it's right. Sync breaking even briefly during peak periods causes problems that take weeks to clean up.
Anything slower and oversells happen in fast-moving products. Real-time is worth the API cost.
Bundle components need their own sync. ShipBob and Shopify both need to know which child SKUs make up the parent.
When inventory hits 14 days of cover, alert ops via Slack. Gives lead time to reorder before stockout.
If an order goes through for a product showing zero stock, alert immediately. Usually a sync lag or bundle math error.
Physical count at ShipBob vs Shopify display. Discrepancies under 1 percent are normal. Over 3 percent and there's a sync problem.
Every product, its variants, its ShipBob SKU, its Shopify SKU, its components if bundled. Source of truth outside both systems.
Create the product in ShipBob, sync to Shopify draft, test order. Don't go live without verification.
Record your screen while performing the shipbob inventory sync. ReccordSOP turns the recording into a SOP with timestamped screenshots. When your live setup changes, drift detection flags it.
Generate this SOP freeReal-time or every 15 minutes. Hourly is too slow for popular products. Daily creates catastrophic oversell risk.
Most brands forget to map bundle components. ShipBob ships the components, Shopify tracks the parent. Without explicit mapping, inventory shows as zero or infinity.
Under 1 percent variance between ShipBob physical count and Shopify display. Above 3 percent variance means investigate.
I built ReccordSOP after watching too many DTC ops teams lose months to undocumented workflows. These SOPs are battle-tested with Shopify operators running $1M to $50M brands.
Last reviewed June 1, 2026