Why Saks Fifth Avenue Vendor Portal Resets Connections on Sequoia
Saks Fifth Avenue’s vendor portal is hosted on Salesforce Commerce Cloud with Cloudflare as the CDN layer. The portal uses TLS 1.3 with ECH for all authenticated sessions. When vendors access the portal from macOS Safari on networks with SSL inspection, the ISP gateway resets the ECH-enabled ClientHello, causing the TLS handshake to fail.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud’s TLS configuration supports TLS 1.2 fallback, but Cloudflare’s edge policy requires ECH for TLS 1.3 and only offers TLS 1.2 fallback when explicitly signaled by the client. ISP gateways that strip the TLS 1.2 signal cause Cloudflare to assume TLS 1.3-only support, which fails.
Browser Integrity Sync on High-End Retail Platforms
Saks’ vendor portal uses browser integrity sync to prevent unauthorized access to luxury retail transaction data. When the TLS handshake is interrupted, the integrity sync fails, and Salesforce’s security layer blocks the vendor’s access, requiring re-authentication with a complete TLS handshake.
Fixing Saks Fifth Avenue Vendor Portal Connection Resets
Using Chrome with TLS 1.2 Forced
Download Chrome → modify the shortcut target to include --tls-max-version=1.2. Launch Chrome and access the Saks vendor portal. TLS 1.2 does not require ECH, so the handshake completes through ISP gateways that block ECH.
Disabling SSL Inspection for Saks Domains
Configure your network proxy to bypass Saks domains. In macOS, navigate to System Settings → Network → Wi-Fi → Details → Proxy. Add *.saks.com, *.vendor.saks.com to the bypass list.
Using VPN with US Endpoints
Saks’ Salesforce Commerce Cloud infrastructure is optimized for US-based connections. Use a VPN with US endpoints to route your traffic through American ISP infrastructure that supports TLS 1.3 with ECH, bypassing ISP gateways in the vendor’s region.
Call to Action
Use the webs.ninja network lab to run a TLS handshake diagnostic for Saks’ vendor portal. The diagnostic identifies whether the reset is caused by your ISP’s gateway, a Cloudflare edge node failure, or Saks’ Salesforce Commerce Cloud infrastructure, directing the fix to the correct layer.