Native seller or connected Shopify shop

This lesson prepares you to: Choose between listing natively on Helm and connecting an existing Shopify store, and explain the trade off.

The two routes

You can build your catalogue on Helm directly, or you can connect a Shopify store you already run. Both end in the same place: a Helm storefront that takes orders.

Native

You create products on Helm, with variants and inventory, and manage everything in one place. Orders and shipments live in the same dashboard, so what to pack and what is in transit is one screen rather than two systems.

Choose this if Helm is where your catalogue lives, or you do not have an ecommerce platform yet. There is nothing to reconcile, because there is only one system.

Connected Shopify

Connect your store and your products, prices, images and inventory import into your Helm storefront. Shopify stays your source of truth. The sync runs both ways: edits and stock updates flow in both directions, and an order placed on Helm creates an order in your Shopify admin, so you fulfil from the workflow you already have.

Choose this if you already run a Shopify store. Maintaining two catalogues by hand is how prices drift apart and how you oversell the last unit of something.

The trade off, stated plainly

	Native	Connected Shopify
Where products are created	On Helm	In Shopify
Source of truth	Helm	Shopify
Where you fulfil	Helm dashboard	Your existing Shopify workflow
Systems to keep straight	One	Two, kept in sync automatically
Best for	New catalogues, Helm first sellers	Established Shopify stores

What does not change either way

This is the part sellers ask about most, so it is worth being explicit. Whichever route you take:

• The fees are identical. 6% and 2.9% plus 30 cents, both ways.
• Helm is the merchant of record and handles the sales tax, both ways.
• Payout tiers and timing are identical, both ways.
• Tracking and delivery confirmation work the same, both ways. Connecting Shopify does not put you in a different class of seller.

Deciding in one question

Do you already run a Shopify store? If yes, connect it. If no, go native. Almost nobody should be choosing on anything more subtle than that.