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How do I choose which supplier fulfills a store's orders, and add a backup supplier?

Q: How do I choose which supplier fulfills a store's orders, and add a backup supplier?

You choose the supplier account per store with Assign Supplier on the store card in Settings > Stores; only the store's owner sees that button. A backup supplier is separate: you add it per product variant, and it is used for an order only when an AliExpress primary cannot be bought for it (out of stock, or not offered for the destination country), and only for that order. There is no single account-wide switch; see "Good to know" for how the default works.

4 min readSettings > Stores (web dashboard) for the store's supplier; Products for the backup

You choose the supplier account per store with Assign Supplier on the store card in Settings > Stores; only the store's owner sees that button. A backup supplier is separate: you add it per product variant, and it is used for an order only when an AliExpress primary cannot be bought for it (out of stock, or not offered for the destination country), and only for that order. There is no single account-wide switch; see "Good to know" for how the default works.

Steps

Choose the supplier for a store

Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar.
Click Stores under Business.
On the store's card, click Assign Supplier.
The Assign Supplier dialog opens ("Choose which AliExpress account to use for orders from this store."). If you have no supplier account of your own, there is no dropdown: the dialog tells you to go to Settings > Suppliers to connect one, and Save is disabled.
Open the select. The first option reads Use default supplier: followed by your default account's name, or Use default supplier: DS-Mate Default if none of your accounts is marked default. Your connected accounts follow, each as its name, (Default) if it is your default, and its status, for example "Active".

Assign Supplier dialog with the dropdown open showing the Use default supplier option and the connected accounts, with the dialog title marked — Assign Supplier picks the account for this store only; the first option hands the choice back to your default.

Pick the account you want this store's orders placed through, or the default option. Use default supplier sends that store's orders to your default account if one is marked, otherwise to the DS-Mate supplier.
Click Save. It reads Saving… while working.
The toast "Supplier assignment updated" confirms it. The store card now shows Supplier: with the account's name, or Using default supplier if you chose the default option.

Add a backup supplier to a variant

Click Products in the sidebar.
Open the product.
In Variants, open the Linked tab.
On the variant's row, click the plus icon (tooltip Add backup supplier). It shows only while the variant has no backup yet.
The Add backup supplier panel opens on Supplier Info (the stepper reads Select Variant, Supplier Info, Link).
Max Supplier Price (marked optional) comes prefilled with the variant's current ceiling. Change it only if you want a new ceiling: it is one value for the whole variant, shared by the primary and the backup.
Paste the backup's product link or product ID in Secondary Supplier Link * ("Fallback supplier when primary is out of stock. Paste the full product URL or product ID from AliExpress"). The backup must come from the same supplier platform as the primary.
Click Fetch Product. The toast "Product fetched successfully!" confirms it.
Under Select Secondary Variant, click the backup's variant. Out-of-stock rows cannot be picked.
Under Shipping Options, click the backup's shipping option.
Click Add Secondary Link.
The toast "Secondary link added successfully!" confirms it, and the panel closes. The row no longer shows the plus icon.

Good to know

The backup is used only when an AliExpress primary cannot be bought for that order (out of stock, or not offered for the destination country), and only for that order. It is not kept for later orders.
Max Supplier Price is a per-unit ceiling for the whole variant, shared by the primary and the backup. If the supplier cost is over it, DS-Mate blocks the order until you raise the max price or change the link. The backup is not tried for price.
Your default account is the connected account carrying the badge "Default · AliExpress" on Settings > Suppliers. If none of your own accounts is the default, the Managed Default card AliExpress DS-Mate Store is.
You cannot pick one of your own accounts as an account-wide default; assign it per store. If an older default is still marked on Settings > Suppliers, Use as Default on the AliExpress DS-Mate Store card moves every store without its own assignment back to the DS-Mate supplier (toast "Switched back to DS-Mate default"), and the dashboard cannot set it back.
Assign Supplier is shown to the store's owner only. A guest never sees it.
On the Free plan, Assign Supplier still saves your choice, but every order is placed through the DS-Mate supplier. The account's card on Settings > Suppliers shows the badge "Not used on your plan" and the note "Orders are fulfilled through the DS-Mate supplier on your plan. Upgrade to use this account again."
The dialog text says "AliExpress account", but the list also includes any Alibaba and CJ accounts you have connected.
Add Secondary Link stays disabled until you pick an in-stock supplier variant and a shipping option. Out-of-stock variants are listed but cannot be picked.

On the Shopify app

The Shopify app has no Assign Supplier button; choose a store's supplier from the web dashboard. The per-variant backup flow does exist in the Shopify app, where it is titled Add Secondary Supplier.

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