SOLVED - ShipStation integration issue, will pay for your assistance

[base428]

My PrestaShop 1.7.8.2 connection tests fine in ShipStation and I can import orders at first, but I can't add any new orders after syncing again.  Current ShipStation backend support has a 3 week backlog and I'm not certain if it's simply a PrestaShop setting that is the issue.  I'm looking for someone who is familiar with ShipStation to assist and I will gladly compensate you for your time.  If someone currently has a PrestaShop/ShipStation integration that works, I would love to know what your PS settings are.  We are a small business located in Maryland, USA.

My order status numbers match up perfectly with ShipStation requirements.  The issue appears to be related to the ShipStation "refresh" button not working.  After contacting ShipStation support, they can manually refresh it fine and new orders show up, so it appears their front end refresh isn't working.  I've been trying to launch this new store for 10 days now, but ShipStation has a 3 week support backlog. They tell me I might need to adjust the time zone, so I found four possible time zones for the New York area (US/Eastern, America/New York, ETC-GMT-5, and EST5EDT) and tested them all.  No luck.  Why does PrestaShop have FOUR time zones for my area?  If you are currently using ShipStation and PrestaShop, which time zone setting are you using for both ends?  ShipStation support seems to lean toward this being the issue.

I spent the last 5 weeks prepping this new store and spending money only to be stopped at the finish line by a ShipStation integration.  I have used ShipStation for years, so I know how it works.  I'm out of options and frustrated.   We will pay anyone that can shed light on this situation as there are very few shipping services that have PrestaShop integrations.  Thanks.

SOLUTION:  It took 2 Prestashop developers to figure it out, but the issue was my webhost's (SiteGround) "dynamic cache".  This cache was only flushed every 12 hours unless done manually.  ShipStation would query my server for new orders, but my server would only respond with cached results despite new orders being created.  I had to add the following code to the htaccess file in my store's root directory to ignore the cache. 

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header set Cache-Control "private"
</IfModule>

All is well once again.  Another potential issue that some might have is not having Prestashop and ShipStation set to the same time zone.  If your Prestashop orders have a timestamp in the future, ShipStation will not sync them properly.

Edited April 20, 2022 by base428
List solution (see edit history)

[Avengers]

Hi @base428  can send me Pm and your contact so i can help you with issue

Thank You

[El Patron]

If you don't get help contact me via Pretaheroes.com, I have a couple engineers with shipstation experience, good choice by the way.

[madpugger]

Are you using the module?

 

We just setup the connection manually and it works great, although sometimes there is a good 5 minute delay between a sync. To sync manually, press the sync button on top right of ship station and wait for it to finish spinning, then click reload near the top left...

[base428]

Yes, I'm using the ShipStation module.  Our company has used ShipStation for years, so we're familiar with syncing.  After 3 weeks of back and forth with ShipStation support, we are narrowing it down to a time zone conflict.  5 minutes to sync seems quite strange.  Thanks for your feedback.

[madpugger]

Strange, the module does nothing for us at all. Possibly as we manually connected years ago before the module existed!

 

glad you’re getting there!

[base428]

Ironically, I was debating on deleting the ShipStation module to see if that helped.  The module indeed does nothing and is just an advertisement for ShipStation.  ShipStation's own instructions indicate the module isn't needed.  Yet, ShipStation just updated the module 2 weeks ago.  Weird.

Our current issue is that orders will not immediately sync.  It often takes hours for them to sync, hence the potential time zone conflict somewhere.  However, some orders will never sync.

[madpugger]

Ahh, yeah I wondered if the module would do something if not already connected, but it seems not. A giant waste of time then! It also annoys me as it comes up with an Alert in the modules page!

 

Our orders sync fine in general. But we have ours set to show in orders within ship station only after being packed in an order prep module which sets the status to "Packed". When this happens, sometimes it takes a while for ship station to recognise the status change from hold to not hold. In this case, we do a manual sync as mentioned above.

FWIW we also used ShippyPro before Shipstation and it was a complete and utter waste of time and money. Their support was awful and I literally was left with order that couldn't be shipped for MONTHS. I think it was 5 months before they got back with a solution (we obviously manually shipped them)! In contrast, Shipstation have been fantastic on the occasions we have needed support. (But their module is pants!)