Common Webstore Issues
This advice is for anyone asking why the Tower Web Connect
(TWC) link syncing to Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce (Wordpress) websites is
not working.
Before continuing, it is assumed that your link had been
working previously and all initial setup steps have been completed according to
the article HERE.
The basic steps to fix issues can be attempted by anyone.
Contact Tower if the steps below are not working and the problem persists.
First, check that the regular upload syncs from Retailer are still happening.
Do this by:
- Go to Tower Web Connect and sign in.
- Click on the link name in the middle (e.g. Tower Shopify), and then click on the Sync tab.
- There should be a recent date and time recorded with number of successes/errors.
If there is a recent sync, refer to the other sections below for specific issues.
If there is no recent sync, refer to the next section.
Tower Web Connect shows syncs no longer happening / no new
syncs
There may be an issue stopping Retailer syncing new data. Restart the server computer in your store and this should reset the link.
Check back in Tower Web Connect after about an hour, and whether there are new syncs now.
If there is a new sync but you still have issues, check the other sections below for your particular issue.
If there is still no new sync, contact Tower Support.
Web Sales not appearing in Retailer
If you notice that web sales haven't been imported into the Retailer software, you can restart the weblink service in two ways to see if they'll start syncing again:
- From the main screen of Retailer, click on the Tasks menu at the top and select Full Weblink Sync.
If you don't have the Weblink Full Sync option then you need to update your version of the Retailer software.
- On the main/server computer, open Retailer Backup. Click on Settings and Database Settings underneath it. Tick Run Random on Startup and click Install WebLink Service. Untick Run Random on Startup afterwards.
You will need to wait 5-10 minutes for it to try and sync your products along with any pending web sales that haven't come through.
Manually Export Web Sale to Retailer
- Open Tower Web Connect
- Login using the normal Tower Website Username and Password
- Click your Website Connection
- Click the Sales tab
- At the bottom of the Sales page, find Manual Sales Export.
- Enter the Order Number you wish to export and click Export
- Repeat for any other Web Orders
- The Sales should appear in Retailer within 10 mins
Errors/error messages in Tower Web Connect Sync log
The TWC Sync tab records a log of successes and errors. Resolving errors may clear other issues listed in other sections below.
If the Errors column has anything, you can view the details
by clicking Actions for that line and then View Details .
Errors will be shown in red, and the plus sign can be
clicked to view the error message and any associated product.
Errors that may appear:
Request failed … and a code number | There is a problem communicating with your webstore. Is your webstore version up to date? Have new changes been made there such as third party apps/plugins installed? Check with your web developer and give them the error message. |
[item/tag/barcode] Not found | It has problems matching the product and updating details. Double check that the initial setup for your webstore has been done completely as detailed HERE Next, check if new apps/plugins have been installed on your webstore. It may be blocking new product information. If you have confirmed that the third-party app/plugin is and it is not important, you should remove it from the webstore. |
Could not resolve variant main product | The main item (first item) of a variant group is not on the website. Make sure that item has been ticked for webstore in Retailer. This could be normal if it’s the first time a variant group is going to the website. It will sync another time and update these variants without error so just give it time.
|
The variant [value] already exists | Check the products in that group, and make sure the variants are unique.  There can’t be two items in a variant group with the exact same colour if you have a group of items with only colour variations. If a variant item was previously in the webstore, and you have made changes, you may need to delete the old item in the webstore. Depending on the webstore, you may also need to clear the trash afterwards. |
Option values provided for 1 unknown option(s) | The variant product needs to be delete off Shopify as the variant product in Retailer has new variant types associated with it and must be recreated again in Shopify with a new sync. |
| You need to add option values for [variant type] | The Shopify product needs to be deleted and resynced from Retailer as it was originally made as a single product but the Retailer stock item has since been converted into a variant group. |
options - is invalid, base - Cannot have more than 3 options | Shopify can, at most, only have 3x Variant Option Types assigned to a Variant Group, e.g. Colour, Size and Style |
| Collection - can't be blank, collection_id - must belong to [Business Name] | Depending on whether Tower Web Connect is ticked to use Retailer's categories as departments, either the Retailer Department or Category is being matched to Shopify Collections. These Web store items in Retailer cannot have the Department or Category left blank, and the Resources in TWC Setup must be ticked for Department or Category. |
Images are missing from items
First, make sure you still have images against the items in
Retailer (Stock screen -> Images tab).
Images are only sent through once, so if an image upload is
interrupted, it may need to be sent again. Uploading a lot of images through
can also take a long time, so make sure you have given it enough time (about 1
or 2 hours).
To re-export the images, follow the steps HERE
Items deleted out of webstore but reappearing
Items are ticked in Retailer to be sent across to your
webstore.
To stop items showing up on the webstore, follow the steps HERE.
Otherwise, the link will continue sending these items to the webstore.
If you have unticked the items in Retailer, it will take some time for your site to update. Products unticked for webstore may only be updated once a day.
Follow the steps in the second half of the advice sheet linked above to force a sync and remove unticked items.
Give it an hour or two.
Item details changed in webstore but reverting
Item details such as quantity, price or description can be
fed from Retailer. The TWC link has options to turn these on/off.
If an option is enabled (e.g. Update product description),
it will continue to use that information from Retailer.
If it is enabled to update description, and the product
description is left BLANK in Retailer but a product description is typed into
your webstore, it will update to become blank.
See HERE for more information on what product fields can be
synced:To prevent issues, always update the information in Retailer
first.
Sometimes, a change in Retailer may not have gone through
yet. To force an update sync of all products, go into Retailer, click on Tasks
-> Weblink Full Sync.
If you don't have the Weblink Full Sync option then you need to update your version of the Retailer software.
Give the sync about an hour to do its work.
Variant items not showing correctly in webstore
Make sure that your variant groups are not single items.
One
group with only one item variant doesn’t make sense – it should be grouped with
other items or not a variant at all.
If an item has just been converted into a variant, and was
previously on the webstore, you will need to delete that item out of the
webstore. That way, the link can update the variant properly.
Some webstores cannot simply convert a basic item into a variant
item automatically.
Variant items should also not have duplicates. For example, if there are two items in a group and they are both Colour - Red, and Size M, the link will not be able to update them to the website because it doesn't make sense.
You can also check the TWC log for errors that may indicate
specific products having problems. See the section above for details about the TWC
sync log and variant errors.
Catalogue sale/promotion has finished but the prices haven’t
updated on the webstore
The prices may not update on the webstore immediately when a Retailer catalogue
finishes, as it checks this roughly once a day.
Make sure that your catalogue has indeed stopped in Setup -> Catalogue. It should say it is inactive when you select it.
To force an update sync of all products, go into Retailer,
click on Tasks -> Weblink Full Sync.
If you don't have the Weblink Full Sync option then you need to update your version of the Retailer software.
Give the sync about an hour to do its work.
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