Take Blind and Shade Orders to the Eighth Inch, Priced From the Grid

The order arrives as a form, and a blank field is a held order. One Phoenix fabricator that sells only to the trade takes orders by email, online or fax, and not by phone. Its dealer manual warns: "Orders missing information will be placed on hold until we contact you regarding the pertinent information needed." Its roller shade order form asks for quantity, width, height, mount, fabric, color and openness, control and side, roll direction, top treatment and room, under a sidemark for the job. A missing control side is a phone call. Its measuring guide adds a warning: "A common mistake that customers make is transposing the numbers."

The dealer measures the opening. The factory takes the deduction. Bali's cellular and pleated shade measuring guide asks for the inside width in three places, to "Record narrowest measurement," rounded to the nearest 1/8 inch. It tells the measurer: "Do not take any deductions for clearance." The manufacturer takes 3/8 inch off the overall width of an inside mount, and "NO deductions on outside mount installations." The Phoenix fabricator's guide tells dealers to measure down and not round up. A dealer who deducts as well as the factory gets a shade narrowed twice.

The price is a cell in a grid, plus add-ons priced by width. The same fabricator's roller shade price guide puts each fabric in one of ten price groups, each with its own grid. Width runs across the top from 28 to 144 inches, height down the side from 36 to 156. The instruction reads: "Price shade as normal and add the cordless cost from the associated price grid. If applicable, add Valance or Cassette cost for final amount." The grids are printed as retail prices. What a given dealer pays is your own rule applied to that cell.

Some configurations should not reach the factory unchecked. The same guide caps the interior width of a clutch roller shade at 156 inches, 192 when motorized, with a maximum length of 156 inches. Its cordless system stops at 84 inches wide and 84 long. Shades more than three times longer than wide "may have problems tracking or rolling up straight," and "3X LENGTH TELESCOPING SHADES ARE NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY." Each fabric carries a roll width and a yes or no on railroading and seaming. A paper form accepts any number. Your rules do not.

Lead time and the change window run on one clock. The Phoenix fabricator's manual lists roller and Roman shades at 5 to 10 business days and shutters at 6 to 8 weeks, adding that "Lead times are subject to change without notice." Shutter orders, and blind or shade orders of $2,000 or more, require a 50% deposit in advance. Then the line a dealer feels: "Due to the customized nature of our products, HOME DECOR cannot be responsible for changes or cancellations after orders have been put into production." A dealer with shades and shutters on one job waits on two dates.

Stock and custom are regulatory categories, not just catalog labels. CPSC's September 2026 proposed rule describes stock window coverings as "completely or substantially fabricated prior to being distributed in commerce." A custom window covering "does not meet this definition." CPSC states that in 2022 it deemed hazardous inner cords and a missing manufacturer label on custom window coverings a substantial product hazard, codified in 16 CFR 1120.3(f). The proposal would add "accessible free hanging operating cords longer than 8 inches on custom window coverings," plus five more cord and warning conditions. If it is finalized, CPSC proposes it take effect 30 days after the final rule is published. Which controls you offer on which product is your compliance team's decision, and the catalog has to carry it.

Your order form becomes the configuration rules. Built during implementation, the fields on your order form become required choices on the storefront, product by product. Width and height limits per control, the length to width warning, fabric roll and seam rules, and the controls each product offers are built during implementation. They run as configuration rules on top of the configure, price, quote workflow in Uncap Quotes. A line that breaks a rule stops before submit, with the reason shown, instead of going on hold at the factory.

Measurements entered the way your guide asks. Labeled width and height fields in the increments your measuring guide sets, with your mount rules shown at the field, are built during implementation. The dealer enters the opening. The factory deduction is applied on your side of the order, so nobody deducts twice.

Grid pricing resolved where it can calculate. Grids by product and fabric price group, plus width-priced add-ons for cordless lift, cassette and valance, and motor pricing, are built during implementation from your price guide. Uncap's Business Central integration page puts it plainly, speaking of Microsoft's own Shopify connector: "If your prices are a list, the connector handles them. If your prices are the output of a calculation, they have to be resolved somewhere that can calculate." A grid cell plus an add-on is a calculation. On top of it, Uncap Quotes applies negotiated prices, tiers and volume breaks automatically, and pricing and terms pull from the systems you already trust. Whether the grids live in the ERP or in a pricing table beside it is confirmed during scoping.

An approved order before production, and a visible cutoff. An order can run as a quote the dealer approves. Quotes carry validity windows and a full revision history, so the factory builds the configuration the dealer signed off. Approved quotes turn straight into Shopify orders. Out-of-spec sizes that need a warranty waiver, rushes and incomplete lines are exceptions, and Uncap Quotes sends exceptions to the right approver. The routing rules and waiver capture are configured during implementation. Showing the dealer when a line enters production, and locking changes from then on, is built during implementation on order status synced from the ERP.

Lead times and deposits by line. Ship estimates by product line are built during implementation from your production calendar, so a shutter's date does not hide behind a shade's. Deposit rules by product or order value are configured during implementation, and Uncap Portal keeps NET terms, invoices and payments in the portal.

Accounts for dealers, designers and contract buyers. Uncap Portal gives each customer real multi-user accounts with roles and permissions, and each buyer sees their assortment and pricing. Budgets, approvals and limits per user let a design firm decide what a junior designer can submit.

The platform question, answered on architecture. The case for an ERP-native commerce platform is that configuration and grid pricing should stay anchored in the ERP's rules. Uncap's published products do not include a window covering configurator or grid pricing; on Shopify, both are built during implementation from your order forms and price guides. The useful question is where those rules live and how the storefront stays in sync with them. Integration runs through an owned Uncap Connect app embedded in Shopify, or a managed iPaaS integration. On the Connect route, Uncap Connect keeps pricing, inventory, customers and orders current on both sides in real time, with no separate middleware to maintain. It syncs customer-specific pricing, credit terms and tax rules, and the ERP stays the system of record.

Configured line entry. Mount, control and side, fabric, top treatment, room and sidemark as required choices per product, built during implementation from your order forms.

Size and option limits. Width and height limits by control, fabric roll and seam rules, and the controls allowed per product, checked before submit, built during implementation.

Grid pricing by fabric group. Width by height grids and width-priced add-ons built during implementation, with negotiated prices, tiers and volume breaks applied automatically through Uncap Quotes.

Measurement rules at entry. Labeled width and height fields in your increments, with the factory deduction applied on your side, built during implementation.

Approval and change cutoff. Quotes with validity windows and a full revision history, approved quotes turned into Shopify orders, and a production cutoff built during implementation on ERP order status.

Exceptions to a person. Out-of-spec sizes, rushes and incomplete lines sent to the right approver through Uncap Quotes, with routing rules configured during implementation.

Lead time and deposit by line. Ship estimates by product line built during implementation, and deposit rules by product or order value configured during implementation.

Dealer and designer accounts. Multi-user accounts with roles and permissions, account assortment and pricing, reorder lists and order history, and NET terms, invoices and payments through Uncap Portal.

ERP sync, Connect or managed iPaaS. Pricing, inventory, customers and orders kept current between Shopify and the ERP, through an owned Uncap Connect app embedded in Shopify, or a managed iPaaS integration.

The line between product and build, in writing. Account pricing, exception approvals, validity windows, revision history, quote to order conversion, multi-user accounts and portal payments ship in Uncap Quotes and Uncap Portal. Configuration rules, grid pricing, measurement entry, the change cutoff and lead times by line are built during implementation from your data. The scope says which is which.

Credentials you can check. Uncap is a Shopify Platinum Partner, on Shopify since 2013, with 380+ unified storefronts launched on Shopify.

Scoped before it is built. The Uncap Blueprint is a fixed-price, four-week Shopify migration plan, credited 1:1 toward implementation. It covers solution architecture, a data migration taxonomy, an ERP integration audit, UX and flow prototyping, total cost of ownership and a risk register, and ends with a fixed-cost implementation estimate. For a window covering manufacturer, that architecture work can cover configuration rules, price grids, lead times and the ERP connection. You walk with everything you need to brief any agency or your in-house team.

This page sits under home goods ecommerce, which covers finished goods sold in case packs and assortments, EDI from retail accounts, retailer catalogs and drop ship. If you also sell stock blinds and shades to retailers, that page covers selling finished goods to retailers. This page goes one level down, into orders built to a dealer's measurement. Both sit within furniture and home goods. If you also make furniture to order, see furniture and contract furnishing, which covers configured furniture and project quoting. For how configure, price, quote fits the whole order cycle, see the field notes on quote to cash on Shopify. For the ERP side, see the Microsoft Dynamics integrations or the full list of ERP integrations.

Bring two documents. The first is your dealer order form for your best-selling shade. The second is the price guide page that prices it, with its add-ons and size limits. Together they show what a valid order is and how its price is built.

Book a strategy session with Uncap, or start with a Blueprint if what you need first is the configuration rules, price grids and change cutoff written down and costed.