Sales Channel Integrations: What to Look For

A sales channel integration connects a marketplace or store to another tool so orders and costs move across automatically. Two tools can both say they integrate with Amazon and still bring in very different amounts of data.

What to check

• Depth: does it bring in fees, ad spend, shipping and refunds, or only orders and totals?
• Accuracy: are fees taken from the real order, or estimated at a flat rate?
• Refresh: how quickly do new orders and changes appear?
• Coverage: does it include every marketplace and region you sell in?
• History: can it import past orders so trends are not lost?
• Effort: how long does connecting take, and do you need a developer?

Types of channel

• Marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Temu, B&Q and TikTok Shop
• Website platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento
• Aggregators such as Linnworks, which sit between channels and your operations
• Advertising platforms, so ad spend can be matched to sales
• Finance tools such as Xero

Questions to ask a vendor

• Which costs are pulled from the order and which are estimated?
• What happens when a marketplace changes its API?
• Can I see a real order reconciled end to end?

A practical test

Connect one channel, pick five recent orders, and compare the tool's numbers with the marketplace's own records. If fees and costs match, the integration is doing its job.

An example of a weak integration

A tool imports orders from a marketplace and shows revenue. It estimates fees at a flat 15% and shows ad spend in a separate report. Profit looks neat but is inaccurate, because real fees vary by category and ad cost is not tied to sales. The integration technically exists. It simply does not help you decide.

What is an aggregator?

An aggregator, such as Linnworks, connects to many channels and centralises orders and stock, so other tools can connect to it instead of to each channel separately.

Should I connect channels directly or through an aggregator?

Either can work. Direct connections often provide more detail from each channel. An aggregator can be quicker if you already use one.

How do I know an integration is accurate?

Reconcile a few real orders against the channel's own records. If fees and costs match, you can trust it.

See every channel WhatSales connects to at /integrations, and why the data behind them matters in /insights/profitability-analytics-for-ecommerce-sellers.