Once a product is listed, ILLUMA keeps it accurate: inventory and price push out to the marketplace, orders pull back into your inbox, and the listing’s real status syncs back so your dashboard tells the truth. This page covers what moves, which direction, how often, and how to control it.
What syncs
| Data | Direction | When |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory quantity | ILLUMA → marketplace | On change |
| Price | ILLUMA → marketplace | On change |
| Product content (title, description, images, attributes) | ILLUMA → marketplace | On change / when you list |
| Orders | marketplace → ILLUMA | Continuously |
| Tracking / fulfillment | ILLUMA → marketplace | When you ship |
| Listing status | marketplace → ILLUMA | On a schedule |
Everything keys off the product’s SKU. A single change to a product — a price edit, a stock movement — propagates to every channel it’s listed on.
How often each channel syncs
Outbound changes (inventory, price, content) are event-driven — they go out as soon as the product changes, not on a timer. Inbound order polling differs by marketplace:
| Channel | Orders in | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Real-time | Amazon notifies ILLUMA as orders happen |
| eBay | Every ~2 minutes | No historical import on connect — use a backfill for older orders |
| Walmart | Every ~2 minutes | Orders must be acknowledged within ~4 hours — ILLUMA does this automatically |
| Google Shopping | — | Google drives traffic to your storefront; orders arrive through your own checkout, not Google |
ℹ️ Note: Listing status is re-checked on its own schedule (about hourly on Google) — that’s what keeps your Listed count and the per-product badges honest. See How listings work.
Control what syncs
Each channel’s Settings tab has a Sync to {channel} card with toggles:
- Sync inventory — push stock levels to the marketplace.
- Sync price — push price changes.
- Sync product content — push title, description, images, and attributes.
💡 Tip: Turn off Sync product content when you want ILLUMA to manage only stock and price on a marketplace where you maintain the listing copy elsewhere.
A couple of channel specifics:
- Google Shopping syncs the whole product automatically — there are no per-type toggles; it always keeps the listing current.
- Walmart is offers-only (price and availability against a shared catalog), so it has no product-content toggle.
⚠️ Warning: If Sync inventory is off, stock changes won’t reach the marketplace and you can oversell. Leave it on unless another system owns inventory for that channel.
Pausing a channel
To stop all syncing for a channel without disconnecting it, use Pause Sync in the channel header (it becomes Resume Sync). Paused channels keep their listings and settings but push nothing until you resume — useful during a bulk catalog cleanup.
SKUs are the foundation
⚠️ The #1 cause of sync problems is a SKU mismatch between your catalog product and the mapped listing. If quantities or prices look wrong on a marketplace, check the mapping first — the SKU in your catalog must match the SKU on the listing.
Status syncs back, too
Syncing isn’t only outbound. On a schedule, ILLUMA asks each marketplace what it’s actually serving and updates your listing statuses — so a product that the marketplace expired or disapproved shows as Removed or Rejected, not a stale Live. This is why your Listed count reflects reality rather than “what we tried to send.” See How listings work.