My supplier feed stopped updating and nobody noticed
A feed that stops changing doesn't throw an error. The link keeps returning yesterday's (or last month's) file, the sync keeps "succeeding", and you sell stock the supplier no longer has.
Why it happens
The supplier's export job stopped, but the old file is still at the link.
The supplier stopped emailing the file.
The link now needs a login and returns a web page.
Your own sync tool stopped running.
Checking by hand
Open the file and look for a date column or the file's modified date. Compare a few stock numbers with yesterday's. Do it on a schedule, because nothing else will tell you.
How Fieldwork Supplier Feed Sync catches it
Stale file: if the file's content hasn't changed for longer than the feed's limit (48 hours by default, adjustable), the run is held and you're told the supplier may have stopped updating it.
Stale email: for email feeds, if no new file arrives within that limit, you get an alert. Nothing is changed.
Link problems: a link that returns a web page (an expired link or a login page) is rejected with a message saying so.
Our own scheduler: missed scheduled runs are detected, and an outside monitor emails you if our scheduler stops.
Every run is logged in plain English: what changed, what was held, and why. Run logs are kept for 90 days.
In the app, each feed has a run log and the feed list shows each feed's last result. By email, alerts go to your alert address (your store's contact email unless you change it). Repeat emails about the same problem are limited to about one every 12 hours per feed.
Scheduled runs need a paid plan (daily on Starter, every 6 hours on Growth, hourly on Pro). On the Free plan you run feeds with Run now.
Fieldwork Supplier Feed Sync is coming soon to the Shopify App Store.