Onboarding to Zelph on Shopify
Welcome to Zelph! This guide walks you through connecting your Shopify store and getting set up — whether you’re onboarding as a Retailer, a Supplier, or both.
🧩 What You’ll Need
- A live Shopify store on the Grow plan or higher (required for access to customer data — see Shopify Plan Requirements for Using Zelph)
- Your Shopify admin access
- A few minutes to complete setup
Step 1: Install the Zelph app from the Shopify App Store
Open the Zelph app on the Shopify App Store and click Install. Shopify will ask you to confirm the permissions Zelph needs to read and update your products, inventory, orders, and customer information.
Step 2: Finish setting up your Zelph workspace
After installation, Shopify will redirect you to Zelph. You’ll be asked to:
- Choose your account type:
- Retailer — you want to source products from suppliers and sell them in your store.
- Supplier — you want to offer your products to retailers on the network.
- Both — you do both (e.g. you have your own catalogue but also resell partners’ products).
- Enter your business details (name, contact info, currency)
- Set a password
This creates your private Zelph workspace — your home for managing proposals, inventory, orders, and partner relationships.
Step 3: Your store is connected automatically
Because you installed the Zelph app via Shopify, your store is already linked. You’ll see it listed under Stores in your Zelph sidebar — no API keys, no copy-pasting tokens.
Step 4: Ingest your existing products and inventory
On the Stores page, open your connected store and click Ingest products, then Ingest inventory. This pulls everything currently in your Shopify into Zelph so you have a complete view to work from.
You’ll see a confirmation notification once each ingest completes.
Step 5: Start working
- Retailers — Head to Marketplace > Discover to browse suppliers on Zelph. When you find a brand you’d like to work with, click Start Proposal to negotiate commission terms and add their products to your store. See How Retailer Proposals Work in Zelph.
- Suppliers — Once your products are ingested, retailers can find you under Marketplace > Discover. They’ll send proposals with commission terms; you decide whether to accept, counter, or decline. See How Proposals Work for Suppliers in Zelph.
- Both — You’ll see both sides in Marketplace. Use Discover to find partners and to be found by them.
Common Questions
Q: Do I need to set up a custom app in Shopify?
A: No. The Zelph Shopify App handles the connection for you. Custom app credentials are no longer required.
Q: Will Zelph change my products in Shopify?
A: Zelph syncs in both directions. For products you choose to sell through Zelph (your own or those agreed via a proposal), updates flow both ways automatically. Products outside the Zelph flow are left alone.
Q: How does money flow through Zelph?
A: Zelph uses Stripe Connect to move funds. Retailers are charged for the supplier portion of each sale; suppliers and sellers are paid out automatically. See Payouts and Stripe Connect for the full breakdown.
Q: Can I change my account type later?
A: Yes. Open your Workspace Profile and switch from Retailer to Supplier (or to Both) at any time.
Need Help?
If anything goes wrong during setup, reach out via chat or email support@zelph.com — we’re happy to walk through it with you.