If you are using Kickstarter’s Pledge Manager to manage the next stage of your project, you can use the Shopify integration to connect the pledge manager directly to your Shopify store.
Once set up, you will be able to sync finalized orders in Segments to your Shopify store so that you can manage fulfillment in one place, with your existing Shopify products and workflows.
Before you begin you will need:
An active Kickstarter Pledge Manager that is currently live
An existing Shopify store
Products already set up in Shopify with SKUs that correspond to your Kickstarter reward variants
Admin access to your Shopify store
Please note: The SKU matching step is a key part of setup. Kickstarter will match your reward variants to Shopify products using SKU names. If your Shopify products do not have SKUs set, the sync will not complete. If your Shopify products are already live and you cannot change their SKUs, you can update the SKU names on the Kickstarter side during the matching step instead. Either way, the SKU names need to match between both platforms before you can sync.
Step 1: Connect your Kickstarter project to Shopify
Kickstarter connects to your Shopify store via a Shopify app. You will need to download the app and connect it to your Shopify store.
Go to your project in Kickstarter and select 'Pledge manager' from the creator navigation bar, located on the left-hand side.
On the Pledge Manager overview page, find ‘Sync backings to Shopify (Optional)’ and click “Configure Shopify sync”.
You will be brought to the Shopify app store. Click “Install” on the Kickstarter app listing.
Next, view the data access requirements for the Kickstarter app and click “install.” You’ll then be brought back to Kickstarter to complete Step 2.
If the connection is successful, you will move on to the next step of the setup flow automatically.
Step 2: Match your Kickstarter SKUs to Shopify
Once connected, Kickstarter will display all of your reward variants alongside their SKU names. You will need to confirm these match the corresponding products in your Shopify store.
If a SKU is matched correctly, it will show a Shopify icon next to it.
If a SKU is unmatched (shown with a warning icon), click “Edit” to update it or go to Shopify and ensure the product has the correct SKU set under the product's inventory details.
Note: Edits made here to SKU names will only affect the SKU names in Kickstarter, they will not update SKU names in Shopify.
The “Finish setup” button will only become active once all SKUs are matched.
Once all SKUs show as matched, click “Finish setup” to finalize SKU mapping.This will not sync any orders.
Step 3: Sync orders to Shopify in Segments
To begin syncing orders, select 'Backer report' from the creator navigation bar, located on the left-hand side.
Create a Segment of backers using any combination of filters to create a group of orders you want to sync to Shopify.
Once a Segment has been created and you’re ready to sync, use the Segment dropdown menu to select “Schedule sync to Shopify”.
Once “Schedule sync to Shopify” has been initiated, backers will receive a notification that they have 48 hours remaining to make any changes to their shipping address
After the 48 hour notice period has passed, the orders will appear in Shopify.
Once the sync to Shopify has been scheduled, there will be two visual indicators:
The address will appear in the backer report with a lock pending icon.
The Shopify sync status will appear as “Pending”. The Shopify sync status can be added to the backer report view by selecting the gear icon and adding the Shopify sync status to the visible columns.
You can sync orders in as many waves as needed to fulfill your project.
We recommend syncing a small test Segment to begin.
How the Shopify data is formatted
The total a backer paid for each reward and add-on gets split proportionally across each item, so the item prices contained within a reward or add-on always add up to what was paid. Free items show as $0. Shipping and tax are sent as their real amounts, so the order shows as fully paid.
By default, Kickstarter sends orders to Shopify with the following properties:
sourceName = Kickstarter
shippingAmount = Amount backer paid
shipCode = Kickstarter Shipping
lineItems.taxLines = Amount backer paid
Tags = project-name
What happens after a sync occurs
If a tracking number is added to an order in Shopify that was synced from Kickstarter, the tracking number will be automatically pulled into Kickstarter and displayed to the backer and to the creator in the backer’s backer report modal.
You will see a confirmation on the Pledge Manager overview showing how many backings have been synced. From there you can:
Pause the sync to temporarily stop orders from syncing
Resume the sync to start again after a pause
Orders will appear in your Shopify store and can be managed and fulfilled from there as normal.
If your sync is paused you can also disable it entirely, requiring a new set up. This is the recommended method to set it to another store or remap the SKUs if needed.
Troubleshooting
Some SKUs are showing as unmatched
This means Kickstarter cannot find a matching product in Shopify. Check that the SKU shown in Kickstarter matches exactly what is set in the relevant Shopify product (under Products > the product > Inventory > SKU). SKU matching is case-sensitive.
The “Finish set up” button is greyed out
All SKUs must be matched before you can sync. Resolve any unmatched SKUs first.