Switching software providers can be a major hassle, but we are here to help! ConsignCloud is known for our exceptional customer support, and it begins with getting your data converted and ready to support your store.
Limitations
While we would love to pull everything over from any other software provider, the reality is that data formats are frequently incompatible, especially when dealing with sales data. Here's what you can expect to be transferrable into ConsignCloud:
Complete consignor and customer lists, including current account balance.
All active inventory, including cost, price, split, expiration date, account, and descriptive fields.
Here's what isn't pulled over:
Inactive or out-of-stock inventory
Sales data or account balance history
So for accounting and tax purposes, you'll need to report out of both ConsignCloud and your old system of record, at least until the end of the tax year. Going forward, however, you'll be able to add new accounts, inventory, and sales to ConsignCloud exclusively.
ConsignCloud only accepts spreadsheets in .xlsx format. Read more about how our imports system works here — it's often helpful to export a spreadsheet from the accounts and inventory tables in order to get an idea of how those imports should look.
Dip Your Toes In
Imports can be a tricky, error-prone process, so it's important to get it right. Below are a few tips for how to pull it off smoothly.
Make sure ConsignCloud is a good fit. The last thing you want to do is switch to a new system only to find out it lacks some crucial feature! Do read through the help center and play around with your account before taking the plunge. We're always happy to answer any questions you may have.
Delete your demo data. Once you're ready to import your data, it's best to get your testing data out of the way. Go to Settings » Data and follow the instructions there.
Do a dry run. Once you've prepared your import spreadsheets, pull them into ConsignCloud and poke around to see if everything looks right. Things to look out for are missing or additional items, incorrect quantity, supplier, split, or price.
Only import items currently in stock. Importing a million items from past sales doesn't do anything for you, and will slow down the performance of the software.
Import your data for real. If everything looks good, find a time outside store hours to pull a fresh copy of your data, run your data conversion process, and pull it into ConsignCloud. This will allow you to avoid incorrect balances and stock numbers resulting from ongoing sales or maintenance.
After double checking to make sure everything looks okay, you're good to start running your store out of ConsignCloud. Do not run any more sales using your old system. ConsignCloud has no way to merge divergent store data.
Help with Imports
If you're a self-starter, you can do the whole import on your own, but we know it can be daunting. If you need some help with the process, please reach out to support and we'll do the data conversion process for you for a flat $100 fee.
This process can take as long as you need. It's not unheard of to go back and forth multiple times to make sure everything is exactly right.
To start with, we'll do a dry run import to make sure everything comes over ok.
Once you're satisfied with the import, we'll next schedule a time to do it all over again, but for real. In order to ensure a clean transition, you should budget at least one hour outside business hours.
Prior to our appointment, please send us a fresh export of your data. Make sure to do this outside business hours in order to avoid missing updates to item stock or account balances that might result from continuing to use your old software. Stop using the old software after your final export.
During our appointment, we'll take care of any last-minute details or questions, and reset your new ConsignCloud account with the latest data. Going forward, you'll want to conduct business only in ConsignCloud. However, if something goes wrong and that's simply impossible, you can return to your old software and we will try again at a later date.
Shopify
The process for copying products listed in Shopify to ConsignCloud is quite simple. First, enable your Track Product Changes setting. Once that's on, go to Shopify and add the "ConsignCloud" tag to all products you want copied to ConsignCloud, using Shopify's bulk editor.
Note that since Shopify doesn't support consignment accounts, everything will be synchronized as retail items with no account associated. You'll need to edit synced items to add consignor and split information yourself. Once an item is linked to a product, the two cannot be un-linked.