Fishbowl Inventory + B2B Ordering: How to Add a Customer Portal Without Replacing Your Inventory System

If you run a distribution or wholesale business on Fishbowl Inventory, you already have a powerful system for managing products, warehouses, and order fulfillment. What you probably don't have is a way for your customers to place orders themselves - or for your sales reps to take orders in the field without calling the office.

That's the gap Orderwerks fills. It connects directly to Fishbowl Inventory and gives you a B2B ordering portal, a mobile sales app, and automated order-to-shipment workflows - all while keeping Fishbowl as your inventory system of record.

This guide covers exactly how the integration works, what syncs, and how distributors using Fishbowl can modernize their ordering process without a painful system migration.

The Problem: Fishbowl Handles Inventory Well, But Ordering Is Still Manual

Fishbowl Inventory does what it's designed to do - track products across warehouses, manage manufacturing workflows, and sync with QuickBooks. But most Fishbowl users still take orders the old way: phone calls, emailed spreadsheets, handwritten notes from sales reps, or manual entry into the system.

This creates a few predictable problems:

• Orders sit in email inboxes waiting to be keyed in, introducing delays and data entry errors

• Sales reps call the office to check inventory and pricing instead of having it at their fingertips

• Customers can't see what's in stock or place reorders without contacting your team

• Shipment tracking lives in Fishbowl but never makes it back to the customer

The fix isn't replacing Fishbowl - it's adding a front-end ordering layer that stays in sync with your existing inventory data.

How the Orderwerks + Fishbowl Integration Works

Orderwerks connects to Fishbowl Inventory via a direct server connection - no middleware, no Zapier, no CSV file exchanges. You provide the server host, port, and admin credentials. Once authorized, the integration handles five core data flows automatically.

1. Product Catalog Sync

Orderwerks pulls your full product catalog from Fishbowl, including SKU, product number, description, price, UPC, active/inactive status, QuickBooks class, and physical dimensions (width, depth, height, weight). Unit of measure mappings are handled automatically - Fishbowl's UOM codes (ea, lbs, gal, kg, oz, ft, L, mL, sqft, and more) convert to their Orderwerks equivalents.

The sync uses smart deduplication. If a product already exists in your Orderwerks catalog (matched by SKU or Fishbowl product number), it updates that record. If it's new, it creates it. A secondary lookup catches items where the Fishbowl product number was used as the SKU - no duplicates, no orphaned records.

You can filter the catalog pull by warehouse location if you only want products from specific Fishbowl location groups to appear in your ordering portal.

2. Real-Time Inventory Levels

Inventory is more than just "quantity on hand." Orderwerks pulls the true available quantity from Fishbowl - calculated as quantity on hand, minus allocated, minus unavailable, plus any dropship quantities. This is the number your customers and sales reps actually need to see when placing orders.

Inventory auto-refreshes every 30 minutes, so your portal and mobile app always reflect current stock levels. You can also assign specific Fishbowl location groups to catalogs if you run multi-warehouse operations and want each catalog to reflect inventory from a specific facility.

3. Customer Account Sync

Pull your Fishbowl customer records into Orderwerks with a single action. The sync brings over company name, email, billing and shipping addresses, tax rate, payment terms, default carrier, credit limit, and active status.

If a customer already exists in Orderwerks (matched by name), their record gets updated. If they're new, Orderwerks creates the account with bill-to and ship-to addresses, assigns the connection to your organization, and maps the Fishbowl salesman to the correct Orderwerks sales rep or rep group. Your sales territories stay intact.

4. Sales Order Push to Fishbowl

When an order is placed in Orderwerks - whether by a customer through the B2B portal, a sales rep on the mobile app, or your team through the web portal - it can be pushed directly into Fishbowl as a Sales Order. No re-keying.

The Sales Order includes the full picture: customer name, bill-to and ship-to addresses, carrier, tax rate, payment terms, PO number, order notes, shipping instructions, line items with product numbers, quantities, pricing, UOM, and a direct URL link back to the order in Orderwerks for reference.

Orders queue automatically and process every minute. The system prevents duplicate submissions, and you receive an email report with the status of each Sales Order creation - including any errors with specific details so you can resolve them immediately.

5. Automated Shipment Tracking

Once you fulfill a Sales Order in Fishbowl and create shipments, Orderwerks pulls that data back automatically - every hour. Tracking numbers, carrier (UPS, FedEx, and USPS are auto-detected), ship date, and ship-to details all sync back.

Here's the part your customers will notice: Orderwerks automatically sends shipment notification emails with tracking information for each shipment. Orders get marked as "Shipped" in Orderwerks without anyone touching them. Your customers get proactive updates instead of having to call and ask "where's my order?"

What This Means for Your Team

Your Customers Get Self-Service Ordering

With the B2B eCommerce portal connected to Fishbowl, your customers can log in, see their specific pricing, browse your catalog with real-time inventory, place orders, and view their order history - 24/7. No phone calls, no waiting for a rep to visit.

For customers who reorder the same products regularly, this alone saves significant time for both sides.

Your Sales Reps Get a Mobile App That Works Offline

The Orderwerks Sales App is built for field reps who work in areas with spotty connectivity - warehouses, trade shows, rural accounts. The app stores your full Fishbowl catalog locally on the device, so reps can browse products, check pricing, and create orders even without an internet connection. Orders sync to Fishbowl when connectivity returns.

This matters for Fishbowl users specifically because the catalog data your reps see (SKUs, pricing, inventory, UOM) comes directly from your Fishbowl system. There's no second source of truth to maintain.

Your Operations Team Stops Re-Keying Orders

Every order that flows from Orderwerks to Fishbowl is one less order someone has to manually enter. The queue processes every minute, so orders placed in Orderwerks show up in Fishbowl almost immediately. Line items, pricing, quantities, customer details, shipping information - it all transfers.

The return path matters too. When Fishbowl shipments sync back to Orderwerks, your operations team doesn't need to manually update order statuses or send tracking emails. It happens automatically.

Getting Started: What the Setup Looks Like

The integration setup is straightforward:

• In Orderwerks, navigate to Integrations and toggle on Fishbowl Inventory

• Enter your Fishbowl server host (DNS or static IP), port, admin username, and password

• Authorize the connection - you'll also need to approve the integration inside Fishbowl's Integrations section

• Pull your catalog items into an Orderwerks catalog (you can filter by warehouse)

• Pull your customer accounts

• Enable auto-refresh for inventory (every 30 minutes) and shipments (every hour)

Most teams are up and running within a few days. The heaviest lift is usually reviewing catalog data and customer pricing tiers after the initial sync - not the technical setup itself. For a detailed walkthrough, see the Fishbowl Inventory Getting Started guide.

Who This Integration Is Built For

This integration is a strong fit if you:

• Run Fishbowl Inventory as your core inventory and warehouse management system

• Take B2B orders via phone, email, or in-person visits and want to modernize that process

• Have field sales reps who need mobile ordering with offline capability

• Want your customers to place orders through a branded self-service portal

• Need orders to flow into Fishbowl automatically without duplicate data entry

• Want shipment tracking to sync back and notify customers automatically

It's particularly valuable for wholesale distributors and manufacturers running Fishbowl alongside QuickBooks, since Orderwerks also integrates with both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop - giving you a connected workflow from ordering through inventory through accounting.

Want to see how it works with your Fishbowl setup? Book a demo and we'll walk through the integration with your specific catalog and workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this replace Fishbowl Inventory? No. Fishbowl stays your inventory and warehouse management system. Orderwerks adds B2B ordering, a customer portal, and a mobile sales app on top of it.

How often does inventory sync? Every 30 minutes automatically. You can also trigger a manual sync at any time.

Can I filter products by warehouse? Yes. You can assign specific Fishbowl location groups to catalogs, so each catalog shows inventory from the correct warehouse or facility.

Does the mobile app work without internet? Yes. The Orderwerks Sales App stores your full catalog locally and works completely offline. Orders sync when connectivity returns.

What happens if a Sales Order fails to create in Fishbowl? You receive an email report with specific error details for each failed order so you can resolve the issue and retry.

How long does setup take? Most teams complete the technical integration in a single session. Reviewing and organizing your catalog and customer data after the initial sync typically takes a few days depending on catalog size.

Can my customers see real-time inventory on the portal? Yes. The portal reflects inventory levels from Fishbowl, refreshed every 30 minutes.

Does the integration support multiple warehouses? Yes. You can filter catalog pulls and inventory syncs by Fishbowl location group, and assign different warehouses to different catalogs.