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What happens when a schedule runs

At the start time, PopAutomate reads each product from Shopify again, changes every variant, and skips what is already as the schedule wants it. At the end time, it puts back what it changed, if the schedule is set to. You can end an offer early with End now.

Example​

You save a Discount schedule with Percentage off set to 20%, for a product with 6 variants, from Friday 9:00 AM to Sunday 11:45 PM. One variant is already on a deeper sale: its price is 45.00 and its compare-at price is 60.00.

  • Friday, 9:00 AM: the 5 other variants get a price 20% lower. The old price moves to the compare-at price, so shoppers see it crossed out next to the sale price.
  • The variant already on sale: a 20% discount is taken off its compare-at price of 60.00, which gives 48.00. That is higher than its price of 45.00, so the variant is skipped and keeps 45.00 and 60.00. Its row in the run's details says "The product already sells at or below the discounted price, so we left it as is."
  • Sunday, 11:45 PM: the price and compare-at price of every variant that changed go back to what they were before Friday.

How a run goes​

Start: every minute, PopAutomate looks for schedules that are turned on and whose start time has passed. A draft never runs.

Time zone: start and end times use the zone named at the top of 3. When ("Times use â€Ļ"). Settings shows the same zone under Country and time zone, and says it can't be changed there. See Start, end and repeat: how schedule timing works and Settings: language, time zone and regions.

Each product: PopAutomate reads the product from Shopify right before it changes it, so the change starts from the price it has now. Every variant of the product is looked at. If you chose Collections, the products are the ones in those collections when the run starts.

What it skips: a variant that already has the value the schedule wants is not written again. A discounted price is rounded to your currency's decimals. A discount never raises a price: a variant that would not get a lower price keeps its price. A variant whose discounted price would be 0 or less is not changed, and its row says so.

What each change touches:

  • Discount: the price and the compare-at price of each variant.
  • New price: the price only. The compare-at price stays as it is.
  • Hide from the Online Store and Show on the Online Store: the Online Store sales channel only. Other sales channels stay as they are.
  • Add to a collection and Remove from a collection: one manual collection.

When Shopify is slow: PopAutomate never sends the same price change twice without checking. If Shopify's answer is lost, it reads the variants again, keeps what landed, and sends the rest once more. If it still cannot tell, the schedule's edit page shows Some price changes could not be confirmed. See Some price changes could not be confirmed.

When something fails: PopAutomate works through your products in groups of 100. A group that hits an error is tried again, up to 3 tries in all. If every product in a group failed, the run stops at once without another try.

When the store has a problem: the run stops if Shopify refuses PopAutomate's access, if the store is unavailable (for example a frozen or locked store), or if a Hide or Show schedule finds no Online Store sales channel. The run is not tried again. Its row in History says Blocked and the reason, and the schedule counts under Need attention on Home.

What a stopped run changed before it stopped is put back like any other run. A Discount goes back at its end time. Another change goes back at the end time when Put everything back at the end is on. If that is off, it stays until you use Restore now in the run's details. A schedule that runs once does not run again by itself. To run it again, edit the schedule and pick a new start time.

A weekly schedule that keeps failing: if two runs in a row of a weekly schedule fail, with no product changed, PopAutomate turns the schedule off. It stays off until you turn it on again with Activate. The row says "Paused after failing twice in a row. Check the run history, then activate it again."

End: at the end time, PopAutomate puts back what the run changed. It always does this for a Discount, and for the other changes when Put everything back at the end is on. A weekly schedule is put back at each chosen day's Ends at time, and runs again on its next chosen day. See Put everything back at the end of a schedule.

Ending early: End now on a live offer puts back what is still in your store and ends the schedule for good. See End a live discount early with End now.

When a restore fails: a change that could not be put back shows Couldn't be put back in the run's details, and Restore now reads Retry restore. PopAutomate also tries again by itself after 15 minutes, after 1 hour and after 6 hours, then stops. See Some changes could not be put back: Retry restore.

Where you see the result: Schedules shows each schedule's status, such as Scheduled, Live, Done, Blocked or Ended. History lists every run with its kind (Apply or Restore) and its result, such as Success, Partly done or Failed. A run that did not start only because the store was busy or another run was going is not listed. View details shows each product and variant before and after, and why a row failed or was skipped. On Home, Active now counts schedules running or live, Ended counts schedules that finished, and Need attention counts schedules that are blocked or failed. See Follow your schedules: Home, history and restore and Run details: what each part of a run shows.

Emails: Settings has an Email alerts section ("Problems with a run, a disconnected store and summaries") only when PopAutomate has an email address for your store. Without one, the section is not shown and alerts have nowhere to go, so check Home and History.

What you can do​

Next: Put everything back at the end of a schedule

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