Velleman Dropshipping Module Electronic Components for PrestaShop — FTP Catalog 6,000 SKUs (Modules, Kits, Audio, Lighting)

PrestaShop dropshipping module VELLEMAN

Are you launching an electronic components store, a specialized Arduino / Raspberry / DIY makers website, an e-commerce site for stage lighting or pro audio? You work with Velleman Group (historic Belgian wholesaler founded in 1976, European leader in components, modules, educational kits, sound systems, stage lighting, measurement tools) and you spend your days re-typing 6,000 product sheets, manually uploading 25 photos per product, recreating each category across 10 hierarchical levels, hand-parsing detailed technical specs (Physical / Electrical / Technical / Installation), managing 10 volume-discount price tiers based on your purchase volume?

With the Velleman dropshipping module electronic components modules kits FTP, everything becomes automatic. You enter your Velleman FTP credentials (host, port, user, pass, path of your custom file), you click "Start import", and the module downloads your 64-column Windows-1252 CSV, converts it to UTF-8 cell by cell, downloads the 2nd image-mapping CSV from the Velleman CDN (hardcoded URL hidden client-side), and creates your ~6,000 PrestaShop products in a 10-level tree generated on the fly, each with its 10-section PREMIUM sheet (brand identity banner + EAN + status, short intro, key points, technical spec cards, dimensions, packaging, origin, eco-contribution, EU GPSR 2024 compliance, supplier CTA), up to 25 images per product, and European GPSR compliance powered by your dedicated form.

⚡ Before vs After the Velleman Module

👤 Who is this module for?

🎯 Full features of the Velleman Module

🌐 Individual FTP connection per reseller

Velleman specifics. Each partner reseller receives a customized CSV file on the Velleman FTP server, with their own pricing terms (volume-discount tiers specific to your account). The file has a unique name (e.g.: YourFile.csv). FTP credentials (host, port, user, pass) are never shared and remain strictly individual.

Solution adopted by the module: 5 FTP fields in Settings, never hardcoded, password masked in the database and in JSON returns. "Test FTP connection" button that validates authentication, passive mode and file accessibility live.

5 FTP fields:
- Host       : ftp.velleman.eu (or regional variant)
- Port       : 21 (default, editable)
- User       : your Velleman B2B login
- Password   : masked in the database, never displayed in clear
- Path       : /YourFile.csv

• Authentication + passive mode via ftp_connect + ftp_login + ftp_pasv (compatible with virtually all firewalls)
• File size check (ftp_size) before download to reject empty/corrupted files
• curl download via URL ftp://user:pass@host:port/path — robust and high-performance
• Secure password: stored encrypted, masked in JSON return (• repeated), never logged

📊 64-column Windows-1252 CSV — Robust parsing

The Velleman CSV has 64 columns without a header (first record = data, not headings), encoded in Windows-1252 (European legacy) with semicolon separator. The module handles these inherited specifics:

• Symbolic mapping in PHP constants: COL_SKU=0, COL_NAME=1, COL_INTRO=2, COL_RECYCLE_NAME=23, …, COL_CAT_FROM=37, COL_CAT_TO=46, COL_PACKAGING=53, COL_STOCK=58, COL_BULLETS=61, COL_TECH_DETAILS=62. No more magic numbers, readable and maintainable code.
• Windows-1252 → UTF-8 conversion cell by cell via mb_convert_encoding() with prior detection if already valid UTF-8
• European decimal parsing: comma → dot automatic on prices, weights, dimensions
• Leading dot fix: ".354" → "0.354" automatic (otherwise float cast misbehaves)
• Streaming via JSON files: 1 CSV row → 1 file uploads/state/full_import_rows/<idx>.json to allow precise resume after interruption

📸 Multi-images up to 25 per product via Velleman CDN

Innovation specific to the Velleman module: a 2nd image-mapping CSV is automatically downloaded from the public Velleman CDN (URL hardcoded in the code, never visible client-side) which associates each SKU to a list of product image URLs (up to 25 views). The module splits, validates each URL, and imports all images in order.

• 1st URL = cover automatically
• HEAD HTTP validation (curl NOBODY) before download: broken URLs rejected without crashing the import
• 24h cache: the mapping is reloaded automatically only if older than 24h, saves bandwidth
• Auto generation of all PS sizes (small, medium, large, home_default…)
• PS9 BO fix included: 1:1 copy of the original file <id>.jpg in addition to variants (otherwise broken image in BO product edit page)

🏆 Auto-generated PREMIUM description — 10 toggleable sections

The module automatically composes a visually rich product sheet, structured into 10 individually toggleable sections via switches in the Options tab. Each section has its own design, colors, icons, and SEO/conversion goal:

All sections can be enabled/disabled individually in the Options tab. You can enable everything for very rich sheets, or turn everything off except identity + CTA for a clean look.

✅ EU GPSR 2024 compliance — Dedicated form

The European Union's GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation), in force since December 13, 2024, requires all e-commerce sellers in the area to display the manufacturer's contact details (and the EU representative's if the manufacturer is outside the EU) on each product sheet. Failure to comply = fine.

Solution adopted by the module: a dedicated panel in the Settings tab with 5 fully optional fields you fill in once. The contact details automatically display on all Velleman product sheets.

• Manufacturer name (e.g.: "Velleman Group NV")
• Full postal address (street, postal code, city, country)
• Contact email (made clickable via mailto:)
• Phone (made clickable via tel:)
• EU representative (only if manufacturer outside the EU — leave empty for Velleman Belgium)

Smart conditional display: the GPSR section only displays in product sheets if at least one field is filled in. You can start without GPSR, the module will not crash. Light red visual format to highlight its regulatory nature.

💰 10 Velleman volume-discount price tiers

Velleman offers up to 10 volume-discount price tiers based on purchase quantities (typically: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 5000+). Each tier has its own pre-tax price negotiated in your Velleman B2B contract.

Solution adopted by the module: a selector in Settings to choose the tier matching your actual average purchase volume. The module uses this tier as the unique cost price to compute the final selling price according to your mode (margins / fixed / wholesale).

• Tier selector: 1 / 5 / 25 / 100 / 500 (default 5, the most common for SMEs)
• Margins mode: 6 configurable margin tiers per pre-tax price bracket
• Fixed mode: 1 markup in % applied uniformly (e.g. 50%)
• Wholesale mode: pre-tax purchase price unchanged (B2B sale to schools, makerspaces, etc.)

🌳 Category hierarchy on 10 levels

The Velleman CSV provides up to 10 "Category title 1..10" columns forming a deep linear hierarchy (root → child → grandchild → great-grandchild…). Each product belongs to a leaf at the end of a category chain.

Solution adopted by the module: on-the-fly creation of missing categories under your configured PrestaShop root. Lookup before creation (anti-duplicates) with optimized SQL query.

Example:
"Electronic Components & Accessories"
  → "Electronic components"
    → "Capacitors"
      → "Tantalum"
        → "Low height"
          → ...

• Multilingual creation under your PS root (all active languages get the same name + slug)
• Lookup before create: SELECT by name + parent → if found, the existing ID is reused
• Full product link: id_category_default = deepest leaf, category_product filled with the entire chain (facetedsearch filters work at all levels)
• Automatic slug via VlCompat::slug() (URL-safe, normalized accents)

⚡ Real-time import architecture + 24/7 CRON

⏰ 24/7 CRON — 4 automated actions

• 32-character hex secret key generated at install — your CRON URLs cannot be guessed
• 1-click regeneration of the key in case of leak
• Asynchronous auto-restart via curl loopback: background self-callback if the time-budget is reached (60s default), survival via @ignore_user_abort(true)
• Precise resume: resumes exactly at the row where it stopped
• Anti-concurrency lock via flock: no parallel executions
• Stop button on the BO side to cleanly stop a running CRON (flag file)
• Per-execution product limit configurable (10-100 to validate in test mode, 0 = unlimited in production)
• "Task launched in background" flash immediate on BO Test click — you instantly know the server is working

🏷️ The Velleman catalog in numbers

Velleman catalog product universe (excerpt by major families):

Velleman in-house brands: Velleman Kit (soldering kits), Velleman Modules, Vellight (lighting), HQ Power (pro audio), Vonyx, Skytec, Showtec, BoomTone DJ, PERFECT (security), Toolland (tools), Velleman EDU (education).

🛠️ Maintenance — Selective deletion

• ☐ Imported products: detection from 2 sources (meta table + id_supplier), compatible with PS9 multi-shop with SQL wipe fallback if Product::delete() returns false
• ☐ Empty categories: descending depth scan via nleft/nright, deletion only if zero linked products + zero sub-cats (preserves PS_HOME, PS_ROOT roots)
• ☐ Velleman brand: deletes the manufacturer only if no products are linked anymore (double confirmation required)
• ☐ Internal logs: truncate of history and import_errors tables

Single or double confirmation depending on scope, with a dedicated Tools → Selective deletion tab. The category tree is preserved if you have non-Velleman products still using it.

⭐ 12 reasons to choose the Velleman Module

1. 🌐 Individual FTP connection per reseller (5 fields) — each customer has their numbered file, their personal tiers
2. 📸 Multi-images up to 25 views/product via 2nd CDN CSV (hardcoded URL hidden from client) — innovation specific to Velleman
3. 🏆 10-section PREMIUM description individually toggleable (banner, intro, key points, technical cards, dimensions, packaging, origin, eco, GPSR, CTA)
4. ✅ EU GPSR 2024 compliance via dedicated form (5 optional fields) — automatic display on all sheets
5. 🌳 10 hierarchical category levels created on the fly — management of deep tree structures specific to components
6. 💰 10 Velleman volume-discount price tiers + cost price selector in Settings
7. 🔬 Smart parsing of detailed specs (col 63): 1 section = 1 visual card (Physical / Electrical / Technical / Installation)
8. 🌍 Windows-1252 encoding auto-converted to UTF-8 cell by cell (preserves "Métré", "Réservé", European technical characters)
9. 🔢 Comma decimals + dotted prefixes auto-corrected (e.g.: .354 → 0.354 — otherwise float cast crashes)
10. ⚡ Real-time product-by-product import: live bar, console log, Stop button, precise resume
11. ⏰ Secure 24/7 CRON with time-budget, asynchronous auto-restart, retry, lock, test mode, product limiter
12. 💎 No AdminController, no BO Tab, no override: does not pollute your menu, does not break your other modules

🎬 How it works in 5 steps

🔧 Technical compatibility

❓ Frequently asked questions

📦 Module developed by WebPoint · webpoint.fr · Regular updates · Clean & commented code