Preparing Your Inventory in Global POS

While we're building your Shopify store, you need to prepare your inventory in Heartland Global POS. This is the critical path — the store cannot go live until your inventory is properly configured and synced.

Add Custom Fields in Global POS

These three custom fields must be added once to your system before updating individual items. Navigate to:

Settings → Custom Fields → Items

Update Each NIB Item

Every NIB item destined for Shopify must have all fields below completed. Fields marked with * are required by LEGO and apply to all NIB sets.

Going Live & Day-to-Day Operations

Mortar POS Sync — We Handle Setup

Once your inventory is fully updated and we confirm the Shopify store is ready, we activate Mortar — the integration that keeps your Heartland POS and Shopify store in sync in real time.

Here's what Mortar does automatically:

• Syncs inventory levels, pricing, and product data between Global POS and Shopify in real time.
• Any item with the tag "Add" in the Tags field gets pushed to Shopify. (Tags are comma-separated — e.g. Add, NIB, Star Wars)
• When an item sells in-store, Mortar removes it from Shopify automatically.
• Restocked items reactivate on their own — no action needed.

Mortar is billed separately at $1,200/year (invoiced directly to you by Mortar). We confirm everything is syncing correctly before handing off the store to you.

Activating Draft Items in Shopify Admin

When an item has the tag "Add" in its Tags field, Mortar pushes it to Shopify — but in Draft mode. It won't be visible to customers until you activate it. We recommend working through your draft items every few days, or whenever you've added a batch of new inventory. It takes less than 10 minutes once you've done it a couple of times.

1. Open your Shopify Admin
   • Go to: www.yoursite.com/admin
   

   Shopify Admin — Products page

2. Filter to Draft items
   • In the left menu, click Products.
   • Click the Search and Filter field above the product list, type "Status", select it from the dropdown, then choose Draft from the checklist. This shows only unpublished items.
   

   Step 1: Click the filter field and select Status

   

   Step 2: Check Draft from the status options

   

   Result: Only Draft products are now shown

3. Sort by Inventory (highest to lowest)
   • Click the Inventory column header once (sorts low-to-high), then click it again (sorts high-to-low). Items with stock available will float to the top — those are the ones you want.
4. Select items to publish
   • Check the boxes to the left of each item that has quantity showing.
   • Only select items whose photos have transferred correctly. If an item is missing a photo, skip it and go back to fix it in the POS first.
5. Open Bulk Edit
   • Once items are selected, a Bulk Edit button appears at the top of the list. Click it.
   • You'll see a spreadsheet view of your selected items.
   

   Select items, then click Bulk edit

6. Add the Sales Channels column (first time only)
   • Click the Columns button (upper right) to see the column list.
   • Scroll to the Publishing section and check Sales Channels. You can also check Product Type while you're there to verify those entries look correct.
   

   Click Columns, scroll to Publishing, check Sales channels

7. Activate all items
   • Click and drag down the Status column to select all fields. Click the first one and change it to Active — this updates the entire selection at once.
   

   Select all Status cells, then change the first one to Active — all selected items update at once

8. Set Sales Channels
   • Select all items under Sales Channels, then click the first one to set which channels to enable:
   • Online Store — your website.
   • Google & YouTube — lists your products in Google Shopping.
   • Shop — Shopify's own app-based marketplace.
   • Facebook/Instagram — if you have a connected Facebook store.
   

   Click a Sales channels cell to open the dropdown and check the channels to enable

9. Verify before saving
   • Check that all Category fields show either "Construction Set Toys" or "Building Toys" (some minifigs or buildable figures may show "Action Figures" — that's fine).
   • The Vendor column maps to your Brand field in the POS. It should show the brand name (e.g. LEGO®).
   • Confirm pricing looks correct for each item.
10. Save
    • Click the Save button (upper right). Your selected items are now live on your Shopify store.

Done. Repeat every few days as new inventory comes in. Once it's a habit, the whole process runs in under 10 minutes.

What Do I Do When Something Sells?

When an item sells on your website, you'll receive an email or text notification. We set up notifications to go to whoever you designate — one person or several. That person is responsible for going to the shelf immediately and pulling the item so it cannot be sold in-store before it ships.

Shipping

Shopify has shipping built in — you can see all orders that need to be shipped, purchase postage, and print labels without leaving the platform. Shopify offers discounted rates compared to walking into a UPS Store or Post Office.

That said, we recommend setting up ShipStation as your shipping platform.

Why ShipStation?

• Connects directly to Shopify — your orders pull in automatically.
• Access to more carriers and services than Shopify shipping alone.
• Some of the lowest shipping rates available.
• Can be used to ship anything — not just Shopify orders. Letters, returns, other packages.
• Simple, easy-to-use interface.
• Starts at $9.95/month for up to 50 shipments. Automatically upgrades to $19.95/month if you exceed 50 — which is a good problem to have.

ShipStation also supports automatic postage funding. When your balance runs low, it charges your credit card and reloads automatically. A $100 auto-reload typically covers 5–10 shipments depending on package size and destination. If you have a card that earns cash back or points on shipping purchases, that combination works well.

Packing and Shipping Each Order

• Use an external box large enough for the item(s) with sufficient packing material to prevent crushing in transit. LEGO boxes are sturdy but not shippable on their own.
• Print the packing slip and place it inside the box before sealing.
• Seal the box securely with shipping tape.
• Print and apply the shipping label to the outside of the box.
• Drop it at a UPS Store or Post Office. With a preprinted label, you typically do not have to wait in line — just hand it over or drop it in the bin.

Order Fulfillment and Tracking

Once the label is scanned by the carrier, tracking becomes active automatically. ShipStation or Shopify will mark the order as Fulfilled and send the customer a tracking notification.

Aim to ship the same day or next business day. Fast fulfillment builds your reputation with customers and improves your standing in Google Shopping results — both of which drive more sales over time.

Best Practices for Your Shopify Store

Your store is live — now what? These best practices keep your store active, findable, and efficient. We've put together a detailed guide covering email linking, inventory management, customer routing, Google Business Profile, and a monthly checklist.

Heartland Inventory Cleanup Tool

How to Use the Tool

Follow these steps to build a report you can export and clean:

1. Go to Reports / Analysis in your Heartland Global POS back office.
2. Set the date range and filter by category. Change the date range to at least the last 12 months. Then add a filter condition: Category is equal to the group you plan to export (e.g., NIB, NIB Retired, Certified, etc.).

   Set date range to 12+ months, then add Category filter condition

3. Switch to the Groups tab and select all the following items: Item #, Item » Description, Item » Department, Item » Category, Item » Tags, Item » Brand, Item » Default Cost.

   Groups tab — select all seven fields shown above

4. Go to the Metrics tab and make sure at least one metric is selected. Source Sales » Net Qty Sold is fine — you won't use it, but at least one metric is required to run the report.

   Metrics tab — select Source Sales » Net Qty Sold

5. Run the report. Click the Run Report button to generate your inventory list.
6. Save the report as something recognizable, like "Inventory to clean."
7. Export the list and upload it to our Inventory Cleaner using the steps below. You can change the category filter and repeat this process to export other product groups (Certified, etc.).

Go to app.carpelligo.com/inventory. Either click to select your .xlsx file or drag and drop it into the upload zone. Optionally enter your email address to receive a download link.

Click "Process Inventory File." The tool runs automatically -- usually taking 10-30 seconds depending on file size. You'll see a summary of all changes made.

Download the corrected file. Review any flagged items (non-LEGO products, missing year data). The download link is valid for 2 hours.

Import the corrected .xlsx file back into Heartland POS using the standard import function. Only fields present in the file will be overwritten -- your existing photos, prices, and other data remain untouched.

How to re-import: Go to Inventory / Items in Heartland, click the Import button at the upper left, and select the downloaded file to import. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the process.

What the Tool Does

Tips for Best Results

• Export by department if your inventory is large (1,000+ items). This keeps processing fast and files manageable.
• Review flagged items before re-importing. The tool flags non-LEGO items and items it couldn't match in Rebrickable -- these default to "NIB Retired" but may need manual correction.
• Re-run after adding inventory. Any time you add new items to Heartland, export and clean again to keep your data standardized.
• Check the summary. The processing report shows exactly how many titles were fixed, brands filled, and items classified.

SetFinder -- Set Search for Your Store

What It Does

Tagging Your Items for SetFinder

SetFinder matches items by LEGO set number. The set number can come from the SKU or the title (first word). For used/built sets without a LEGO set number, it falls back to the Bricklink ID field. Here's how to tag items correctly in Heartland POS.

SKU Suffix System

NEW SETS Department -- use the LEGO set number as the SKU:

USED SETS Department -- use Heartland internal #, or LEGO set # if present, else title:

Rules

• Set number goes FIRST in the Title or Short Description field in Heartland. This is how SetFinder finds it. Example: 75313 LEGO AT-AT UCS
• For used/built sets with no LEGO set number: Enter the set number in the Bricklink ID field. SetFinder uses it as a fallback.
• Tags flow from Heartland to Shopify automatically via Mortar. No double-entry.
• Built sets (Pre-Built, Build Only, Project, Incomplete): Mark as active in Shopify but unpublished from the Online Store channel. SetFinder reads them via API -- they appear in search but not on your website.
• Release-date tag: Use release-YYYY-MM-DD to hold pre-release items until their street date. They won't appear on SetFinder or your website until that date.
• Hide tag: Use hide to exclude any item from SetFinder search entirely.

Store Preferences

Each store controls how SetFinder handles built sets and out-of-stock items. Set your preferences at:

setfinder.net/portal →