PWD WCFM Store Sync

Overview

PWD WCFM Store Sync is a centralized WordPress plugin installed exclusively on your WCFM Marketplace site. It connects to external WooCommerce vendor stores via the WooCommerce REST API, fetches their product catalogs, and imports them into your marketplace — each product automatically assigned to the correct vendor account.

Requirements

Marketplace Site (where this plugin is installed)

External Vendor Stores (no plugin installation needed)

Installation

Via WordPress Admin (Recommended)

First Setup

Connections

A Connection is a saved link between one vendor account and one external WooCommerce store. You can have multiple connections per vendor (multiple external stores) or multiple connections on the same external store pointing to different vendors.

Connection Fields

API Credentials

You need WooCommerce REST API credentials from the external (vendor's) store, not the marketplace. These are generated inside the vendor's WordPress admin.

Required Permissions

Set the API key permission to Read. The plugin only reads products from the external store — it never writes to it.

Plugin Settings

Accessible from WooCommerce → Sync Settings.

Sync Scheduling

Scheduled syncing uses WordPress Cron. Two things must be true for a connection to sync automatically:

1. Sync Settings → Enable Scheduled Sync must be turned on.
2. The connection's Sync Schedule must not be set to "Manual Only".

Architecture

The plugin follows a centralized hub-and-spoke model. The marketplace is the hub. External vendor stores are the spokes. All logic resides in one plugin on the marketplace — vendor stores need nothing installed.

Why WooCommerce API (not WCFM API) for Product Creation?

The WCFM REST API is designed for logged-in vendors managing their own products. For admin-driven bulk imports with vendor assignment, the standard WooCommerce REST API gives direct control over post_author — the field WCFM uses internally to identify vendor product ownership. This is the proven, supported method confirmed in WCFM's own support forums.

Data Flow

The engine handles pagination automatically — no matter how many products the external store has, all pages are fetched in sequence (50 products per page).

Vendor Assignment

This is the most critical part of the plugin. WCFM identifies which products belong to which vendor using the WordPress post_author field on the product's post record.

After creating a product, the plugin also:

• Verifies the post_author is set correctly via a follow-up wp_update_post() call.
• Checks for and sets the wcfm_vendor_taxonomy term if that taxonomy is registered.
• Fires the wcfm_after_product_author_update and wcfm_sync_product_vendor_assigned action hooks for third-party compatibility.

What Gets Synced

Connections List

Found at WooCommerce → Store Sync. This is the main management page.

• Lists all connections with vendor name, external URL, active status, synced product count, schedule, and last sync time.
• Sync Now — triggers an immediate sync for that connection. Results appear inline after completion.
• Edit — opens the connection form to modify settings.
• Logs — jumps to the filtered log view for that connection.
• Delete — removes the connection and all related log entries and product mappings (marketplace products are not deleted).

Sync Logs

Found at WooCommerce → Sync Logs. Shows all sync activity across all connections.

• Filter by Connection and Log Level (Info, Success, Warning, Error).
• Each entry shows: timestamp, level, connection name, message, and optional context data.
• Paginated at 50 entries per page.
• Use Clear Logs to remove all entries for a specific connection.
• Logs are automatically pruned based on the Log Retention setting after each sync.

Log Levels

Settings Page

Found at WooCommerce → Sync Settings. Includes a live Plugin Status panel showing:

• WooCommerce: active/inactive + version
• WCFM Marketplace: active/inactive
• WCFM REST API: active/inactive (with install prompt if missing)
• Plugin version

The settings form is divided into five sections: Sync Settings, Product Approval, Price Adjustment, Logging, and Email Notifications.

Product Approval

Found in WooCommerce → Sync Settings → Product Approval.

When Require Approval for Imports is enabled, all newly imported products are created with WordPress post status pending (Pending Review) rather than the per-connection Default Product Status. The marketplace admin must review and approve each product before it goes live on the storefront.

To approve a pending product, go to WooCommerce → Products, find the product with "Pending Review" status, and publish it — or use WCFM's built-in Mark Approve / Publish action from the WCFM products list.

Price Adjustment

Found in WooCommerce → Sync Settings → Price Adjustment.

Automatically marks up imported product prices so you never need to adjust prices manually after a sync — even when importing hundreds of products.

How It Works

The three percentage fields — Commission, VAT, and Admin Fee — are added together to form a single total markup percentage. This multiplier is applied to the source product's regular_price, sale_price, and price fields.

total_markup   = commission% + VAT% + admin_fee%
multiplier     = 1 + (total_markup / 100)
adjusted_price = source_price × multiplier

// Example: source = R100, commission = 10%, VAT = 15%, admin = 5%
total_markup   = 30%
multiplier     = 1.30
adjusted_price = R100 × 1.30 = R130.00

A Live Preview widget below the fields shows the resulting price for a R100 base product in real time as you type — no need to save and test.

Setting All Fields to 0

When all three fields are 0 (the default), no markup is applied and prices are imported exactly as they appear in the source store. Individual fields can be set to 0 to exclude that component.

Security

FAQ

Does the vendor need to install anything on their store?

No. Vendors only need a standard WordPress + WooCommerce installation with the REST API accessible (enabled by default). They generate an API key from their WooCommerce settings and share the credentials with you.

Will products appear in the vendor's WCFM dashboard immediately?

Yes. Products are assigned using the post_author field, which is the same mechanism WCFM uses internally. They will appear in the vendor's product list and store front immediately after sync completes.

Can I sync multiple external stores to one vendor?

Yes. Create multiple connections pointing to different external stores and assign them to the same vendor account. Each connection is independent.

What happens if a product already exists?

The plugin first checks the product mapping table by external product ID, then by SKU. If a match is found, the existing marketplace product is updated, not duplicated.

Are product images copied to my server?

When image sync is enabled (default), images are downloaded to your WordPress media library. On subsequent syncs, the plugin checks a stored source URL meta field and skips downloading already-imported images.

Does this sync orders or customers?

No. This plugin is products-only by design. No orders, customers, reviews, or coupons are synced.

What if the external store has hundreds of products?

The sync engine paginates automatically (50 products per request). For very large catalogs run via the "Sync Now" button, you may hit PHP execution time limits. Consider triggering syncs via WP-CLI or the scheduled cron for large imports.

Can I sync variable products?

The product type (including "variable") is mapped, but full variation creation (child posts with attributes) is on the roadmap. Currently, variable products are created with their product type set but without individual variation posts.

Troubleshooting

Sync returns "Failed to connect to external store"

• Verify the external store URL is correct and reachable from your server.
• Check that the external store has pretty permalinks enabled (Settings → Permalinks → Post name).
• Test the API directly: https://vendorstore.com/wp-json/wc/v3/products should return JSON.
• On local/staging environments, SSL errors may appear. Add the pwd_wcfm_sync_sslverify filter to disable SSL verification.

Sync returns HTTP 401 Unauthorized

• Double-check the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret are correct.
• Ensure the API key has at minimum Read permission.
• Some server configurations block Basic Auth headers. Check if the external store's .htaccess needs to pass auth headers through.

Products are created but not showing in vendor's dashboard

• Confirm the selected vendor user has the wcfm_vendor, seller, or vendor role.
• Check the post_author of the synced product in WordPress → Database. It should match the vendor's user ID.
• Check WCFM's "Manage Products" page from the vendor's frontend. It filters by post_author.

Images are not being imported

• Check that Sync Product Images is enabled in Plugin Settings.
• Ensure your server can make outbound HTTP requests to the external store.
• Check the sync log for specific image download errors.
• Verify your wp-content/uploads directory is writable.

Scheduled sync is not running

• Confirm Enable Scheduled Sync is on in Plugin Settings.
• Confirm the connection's Sync Schedule is not set to "Manual Only".
• WordPress Cron requires site traffic to trigger. Use a system cron job calling wp-cron.php for reliable scheduling.
• Check with a plugin like WP Crontrol to confirm the pwd_wcfm_sync_cron_event is scheduled.

Changelog

Credits & License

Plugin Information

• Plugin Name: PWD WCFM Store Sync
• Current Version: 1.0.4
• Author: Pro Web Design
• Author URI: https://prowebdesign.co.za/
• Plugin URI: https://prowebdesign.co.za/product/pwd-wcfm-store-sync/
• License: GPLv2 or later

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 or later. You are free to redistribute and modify it under the terms of the GPL. See gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html for the full license text.