Otto Connect

Install

Install the app from the Shopify App Store. It asks for products, inventory, locations, orders, fulfillments and customers: products and inventory to publish your assortment, orders and customers to create OTTO orders in your shop, fulfillments to report shipments back.

After installation the Overview shows a four-step checklist: Connect OTTO, Create a mapping, Run a dry run, Switch to live. Each step links to the page where you do it.

Connect OTTO

You need an active OTTO Market seller account. In OTTO Partner Connect open Settings → API access and create an API client; OTTO shows the client secret only once.

In the app open Settings, choose the environment (Sandbox for testing, Live for real orders), paste client ID and client secret, and save. The secret is stored encrypted and never shown again; leave the field empty on later saves to keep it. Then use Test connection: the app reads OTTO's brand and category lists to prove the credentials work.

Fill the ship-from location (city, postal code, three-letter country code such as DEU) in the same page; OTTO requires it in every shipment confirmation.

Mapping

OTTO needs an EAN, a known brand, an OTTO category with its mandatory attributes and product-safety data on every product. The Mapping page turns your Shopify data into that structure.

General: where the brand comes from (field:vendor, a constant, or a metafield), the default VAT rate, and the default OTTO category for products no rule matches.

Category rules: one rule per Shopify product type, for example product type Jacke → OTTO category Outdoorjacke. Each rule lists attributes as one line per attribute: OTTO attribute = source. A trailing * marks the attribute as required.

Manufacturer: name and address of the manufacturer for the EU General Product Safety Regulation. It is required for every product and is sent with every variant.

Advanced: edit as JSON exposes the full schema, including transforms and fields the form does not show. Saving there replaces the whole mapping.

Farbe = option:Farbe *
Größe = option:Größe *
Material = metafield:custom.material
Modell = template:{{title}} {{option.Farbe}}

Dry run

The dry run reads your products, applies the mapping and checks the result against OTTO's rules and the live category catalogue, without sending anything. It reports one row per problem with the SKU, the field, an explanation and the next step.

Filter with a Shopify search such as tag:otto to check a subset. Fix the data in Shopify, run again, and push once the result shows no problems.

Sync

Orders and returns are fetched automatically because OTTO has no webhooks: new orders every 2 minutes, returns every 10 minutes. Products, stock and prices are pushed when they change in Shopify (via Shopify's webhooks) or when you press a button on the Sync page.

Every run only sends what changed since the last successful run, so repeated runs are cheap and safe. The Log at the bottom lists each run with its result.

Safe mode pauses an inventory sync that would set an unusually large share of your OTTO stock to 0, typically after a faulty import in Shopify. The thresholds are in Settings; if the zeros are correct, tick "Allow setting many items to 0 in this run" and run again.

Orders

An OTTO order appears in Shopify as a paid order from the channel Otto Connect. The customer's delivery address is the one OTTO transmitted; the e-mail is OTTO's relay address for that customer, so replies stay inside OTTO's system.

Line items carry the OTTO position item id and the EAN as properties, prices are gross with the VAT rate per line, and the order is tagged OTTO and otto:<order number>. A note states the OTTO order number and payment method.

OTTO issues the customer invoice itself. Do not send your own invoice for OTTO orders.

Shipments

Fulfil the order in Shopify as usual and enter the tracking number and carrier. The app confirms the shipment to OTTO within seconds; OTTO then marks the positions as sent and triggers the customer notification.

The carrier is taken from the name you pick in Shopify; the carrier mapping in Settings lets you map your own names. If no name matches, the app recognises the carrier from the tracking number format.

Returns and cancellations

If OTTO cancels positions (for example the customer withdraws before shipment), the app cancels the same line items in Shopify; a partial cancellation is noted on the order and tagged otto:teilstorno. If you cancel an OTTO order in Shopify before shipping, the app cancels the positions at OTTO.

Returns that OTTO announces are imported as return events in your shop. OTTO refunds the customer itself; your task is to accept or reject the return once the parcel arrives.

Needs attention

Every failure that needs a decision from you lands here once, with the SKU, an explanation and a next step: Fix the data, Retry later, Reconnect OTTO or Contact support. After fixing the cause press Retry; entries close automatically when the next run of that SKU succeeds, or mark them as done.

The Overview shows the count and the health of each task (last run, last success) so you see at a glance when something has stalled.