Setting up product rules

Setting up product rules

You can set up rules to ensure that the correct products are published to your Bob Shop account in the correct format, provided that you have a primary channel set up. Setting up rules means that you can choose which products you’d like to sell on Bob Shop  and what information you’d like to communicate with each product. 

By default, the initial categorisation rule in your account will be the Bob Shop Auto-Categorization Rule, recognisable as Automatically Assign a Category Rule. This rule utilises our automated product categorisation system. However, it's important to note that you have the flexibility to override this default rule and create additional rules for assigning categories as needed.

It's crucial to have a clear understanding of how our rule engine operates, as it processes rules in a chronological order. This means that the sequence in which you create your rules is the sequence in which they will be executed. Therefore, it's important to consider the order of your rules carefully, as later rules may override or modify the actions of earlier ones. This allows you to fine-tune and customise your rule set to achieve the desired outcomes for your product categorisation and management.


Create a new rule

  1. Navigate to your source channel within your Bob Sync dashboard, and click on the rules button. Keep in mind that the number of rules will vary, depending on how many you have set up. 
  2. Click on "Create new rule" to open the editing page.
  3. Edit the condition(s) assigned and choose which products you would like to apply the rule to. You can choose products based on Product title, Product type, Product vendor, Product tags, Variant title or All products.
  4. Once an option is selected, you will need to select the condition it needs to meet. NOTE: If you select ‘Matches Exactly’, you must ensure that the text input is an exact match, including spaces, special characters and letter case, otherwise the rule will not work.
  5. Select the rule action and create the rule:
    1. Include products or variants
    2. Exclude products or variants
    3. Assign a category
    4. Assign a shipping class
    5. Assign a condition
    6. Enable ‘Make an Offer’
    7. Change price/currency
    8. Change titles and descriptions
    9. Search and replace in titles and descriptions
    10. Assign a template

Rule to include products or variants

This rule ensures that the products from your source channel are published to your Bob Shop account. You can edit this rule to specify certain conditions of products to be included, such as Product title or Product type, or you can simply make all products visible.
NOTE: This rule is actually set to exclude automatically when you install a source channel, so you will need to change the exclude to include.
  1. Create a new rule or edit the existing rule. 
  2. Select the rule action: include products/variants. 
  3. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to exclude products or variants

This rule ensures that products from your source channel are NOT published to your Bob Shop account. You can edit this rule to specify that certain conditions of products will be excluded, such as Product title or Product type, or you can simply select "all products" to be hidden or removed from a channel.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: exclude products/variants. 
  3. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to assign a category

This rule is crucial to your Bob Shop account, as it maps your products into a chosen category.  If your products are in the wrong category, not only will your customers not find your products, but you run the risk of getting bad reviews on your account. By default, the initial categorisation rule in your account will be the Bob Shop Auto-Categorization Rule. However, you have the flexibility to override this default rule and create additional rules for assigning categories as needed.
  1. Create a new rule or edit the existing rule. 
  2. Select the rule action: assign a category.
  3. This will bring up the Bob Shop category mapping system.  Locate which category you would like your products to appear in by selecting the category within the map route.
  4. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.
  5. Create another rule, repeating the above steps for each separate category.

Rule to assign a condition

The condition rule is used if you’re selling secondhand or used goods, so that you can specify the condition of the goods. If your goods are new, there is no need to set up this rule.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: assign a Bob Shop condition.
  3. Select which condition is most relevant.
  4. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to enable Make an Offer

Adding this rule will allow customers on Bob Shop to make an offer on certain products.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: enable Bob Shop’s "Make an Offer".
  3. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to change the price or currency

This rule changes the price or the currency of the products published to your Bob Shop account. You can adjust the price by adding or removing VAT, applying discounts or even changing currencies.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: change price/currency.
  3. Build your formula according to how you want the price or currency changed. There are some additional functions below the price field to add to your formula. 
  4. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to change titles and descriptions

If you need to remove hyperlinks from your product descriptions on Bob Shop, use this rule.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: change titles/descriptions.
  3. The button to remove hyperlinks in your product descriptions is selected by default.
  4. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to search and replace in titles and descriptions

If there is information you don’t want customers on Bob Shop to see, you can change it using this rule. Certain phrases will be replaced with other information. You will need to make sure that the phrase or word you enter matches to your source, otherwise the information will not be replaced.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: search and replace in titles and descriptions.
  3. In the two fields, input the word or phrase to find and what to replace it with.
  4. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.

Rule to assign a template

Using this rule, you can add information to the product descriptions that will appear on Bob Shop using Templates. This rule allows you to choose which pre-written template you’d like to add to certain products on Bob Shop.
  1. Create a rule.
  2. Select the rule action: assign a template.
  3. When the new drop down opens, select either a pre-made template or click "Create a new product template". This will open up the template editor. Using the formatting tools in the editor, add the additional information you need.  If you would like the original product description to be included, add it from the “{{Placeholders}}” menu.
  4. Once you’ve created your template, save it to add the rule.
  5. Once you are satisfied, click Create or Update.
  6. To edit, delete or add templates, navigate to Product templates within your seller dashboard.

Basic dashboard functions

Among the various functions available to sellers, it's essential to grasp the fundamental distinction between "Import products from source" and "Sync products with Bob Shop," as well as how to effectively utilise these functions.

Import products from source to Bob Shop:
This function is used to fetch products from your source channel and pull them into the Bob Sync system. It initiates the process of importing product data and details from your chosen source.

Sync products with Bob Shop: On the other hand, Sync products with Bob Shop is a critical function for pushing your products from the Bob Sync system to your Bob Shop account. It ensures that your product listings are up-to-date and in sync with the Bob Shop marketplace. If you have created a new rule, you will simply need to re-sync your account in order to action those changes. 




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