This page was printed on Feb 23, 2019. For the current version, visit https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/orders/fulfill-orders.
After your customer makes an order, you need to ship it. This process is referred to in Shopify as order fulfillment. There are a few things that you need to do to make sure that your orders are processed and fulfilled correctly.
Fulfill complete orders manually
You set up your order fulfillment preferences when you configure your Checkout settings.
Manually fulfilling orders lets you easily keep track of your inventory and control when an order is sent. Manually fulfilling orders might be the best order fulfillment method if one of the following situations applies to your business:
make products to order
have products available for pre-order
sometimes run out of stock
want to be able to easily offer your customers partial fulfillment without having to issue a refund.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling the order from, then click the name of the location on the fulfillment card, and select Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then select Create shipping label in the Unfulfilled section.
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then select Mark as fulfilled, and enter the tracking number from your shipping provider. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
If you want to send a notification email to the customer right away, then select Send shipment details to your customer now:
This option appears only if you have an email address for the customer.
Click Fulfill items to mark the order as Fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and click Buy shipping label.
The order screen updates to display the order's fulfillment status.
Tap an order that has a fulfillment status of Unfulfilled.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then tap … on the fulfillment card, and then tap Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then tap Create shipping label in the Unfulfilled section:
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then tap Mark as fulfilled in the Unfulfilled section. Enter a tracking number, or tap the barcode icon to scan a shipping label barcode with your iPhone. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
Optional: Uncheck Send notification to customer.
Tap Fulfill items to mark the order as fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and tap Buy shipping label.
Tap an order that has a fulfillment status of Unfulfilled.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then tap … on the fulfillment card, and then tap Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then tap CREATE SHIPPING LABEL in the Unfulfilled section.
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then tap MARK AS FULFILLED in the Unfulfilled section. Enter a tracking number, or tap the barcode icon to scan a shipping label barcode with your Android device. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
Optional: Uncheck Email shipment details to customer now.
Tap FULFILL ITEMS to mark the order as fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and tap Buy shipping label.
If a customer has placed and paid for an order of multiple products, and one or more of the products are out of stock or a pre-order, then you might want to fulfill only part of the order so that you can ship its contents separately.
If you're using Shopify Shipping, then follow these steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
Click the number of an unfulfilled order.
To buy a shipping label for your order, select Create shipping label in the Unfulfilled section.
On the Fulfillment page, change the number of products that you want to fulfill for each line item in the Items section.
Select the shipping method in the Shipping service section.
If you want to send a notification email to the customer right away, then select Send shipment details to your customer now.
This option appears only if you have an email address for the customer on file.
Click Buy shipping label. The order screen will update to display the order's Fulfilled and Unfulfilled items.
If you're not using Shopify Shipping, then follow these steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
Click the number of an unfulfilled order.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then click the name of the location on the fulfillment card, and select Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
Select Marked as fulfilled in the Unfulfilled section.
On the Fulfillment page, change the number of products that you want to fulfill for each line item in the Items section.
Enter the tracking number from your shipping provider in the Tracking information section.
The tracking URL will appear in the customer's Shipping confirmation and Shipping update emails.
If you want to send a notification email to the customer right away, then select Send shipment details to your customer now.
This option appears only if you have an email address for the customer on file.
Click Fulfill items. The order screen updates to display the order's Fulfilled and Unfulfilled items.
If you want to review the order's fulfillment details or add a tracking number, then click Add tracking in the Fulfilled section on the order's page.
Tap an order that has a fulfillment status of Unfulfilled or Partially fulfilled.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then tap … on the fulfillment card, and then tap Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then tap Create shipping label in the Unfulfilled section:
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then tap Mark as fulfilled in the Unfulfilled section. Enter a tracking number, or tap the barcode icon to scan a shipping label barcode with your iPhone. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
In the Items section, enter the quantity of each item that you want to include in the fulfillment. By default, all the order's unfulfilled items are included in the fulfillment.
Optional: Uncheck Send notification to customer.
Tap Fulfill items to mark the order as fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and tap Buy shipping label.
Tap an order that has a fulfillment status of Unfulfilled or Partially fulfilled.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then tap … on the fulfillment card, and then tap Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then tap CREATE SHIPPING LABEL in the Unfulfilled section.
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then tap MARK AS FULFILLED in the Unfulfilled section. Enter a tracking number, or tap the barcode icon to scan a shipping label barcode with your Android device. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
In the Items section, enter the quantity of each item that you want to include in the fulfillment. By default, all the order's unfulfilled items are included in the fulfillment.
Optional: Uncheck Email shipment details to customer now.
Tap Fulfill items to mark the order as fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and tap Buy shipping label.
Fulfilling orders for multiple locations
If a customer has placed and paid for an order of multiple products, and one or more of the products are stocked at different locations, then you can fulfill parts of the order separately based on the location of your inventory. You can set location priorities to specify the priority sequence for order fulfillment.
If the order can be fulfilled using the stock at a single location, then the unfulfilled section will show all of the items in the order listed together.
If the order can't be fulfilled using the stock at a single location, then the unfulfilled section will show the available items listed by location.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then click the name of the location on the fulfillment card, and select Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you’re using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then select Create shipping label in the unfulfilled card that you’re fulfilling your items from.
If you’re using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then select Mark as fulfilled, and enter the tracking number from your shipping provider. The tracking URL will appear in the customer’s shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
If you want to send a notification email to the customer right away, then select Send shipment details to your customer now.
This option appears only if you have an email address for the customer.
Click Fulfill items to mark the order as fulfilled. If you’re using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and click Buy shipping label.
The order screen updates to display the order’s fulfillment status.
Tap an order that has a fulfillment status of Unfulfilled.
If the order can be fulfilled using the stock at a single location, then items are displayed in a single unfulfilled section.
If the order can't be fulfilled using the stock from a single location, then the unfulfilled section will display the items by location.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then tap … on the fulfillment card, and then tap Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then tap Create shipping label in the Unfulfilled section. If the order is being fulfilled from multiple locations, then you must tap Create shipping label for each location.
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then tap Mark as fulfilled in the Unfulfilled section. If the order is being fulfilled from multiple locations, then you must tap Mark as fulfilled for each location.
Enter a tracking number, or tap the barcode icon to scan a shipping label barcode with your iPhone. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
Optional: Uncheck Send notification to customer.
Tap Fulfill items to mark the order as fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and tap Buy shipping label.
Tap an order that has a fulfillment status of Unfulfilled.
If the order can be fulfilled using the stock at a single location, then items are displayed in a single unfulfilled section.
If the order can't be fulfilled using the stock from a single location, then the unfulfilled section will display the items by location.
Optional: If you are using multiple locations, and if you want to change the location that you are fulfilling your order from, then tap … on the fulfillment card, and then tap Change location. Select the location that you want to use, and click Save.
If you're using Shopify Shipping (for stores based in the United States or Canada) to buy a shipping label for your order, then tap Create shipping label in the Unfulfilled section. If the order is being fulfilled from multiple locations, then you must tap Create shipping label for each location.
If you're using a carrier other than Shopify Shipping, then tap Mark as fulfilled in the Unfulfilled section. If the order is being fulfilled from multiple locations, then you must tap Mark as fulfilled for each location.
Enter a tracking number, or tap the barcode icon to scan a shipping label barcode with your Android device. The tracking URL will appear in the customer's shipping confirmation and shipping update emails.
Optional: Uncheck Send notification to customer.
Tap Fulfill items to mark the order as fulfilled. If you're using Shopify Shipping, then select a shipping service, and tap Buy shipping label.
Fulfill many orders at once manually
By selecting several orders at once, you can use the Actions button to fulfill them at the same time. This applies to stores that manually fulfill orders. If you aren't using Shopify Shipping, then you'll still need to add tracking numbers to the corresponding orders.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
Click the Unfulfilled tab to view only the orders that need to be fulfilled:
Select the orders you want to fulfill by clicking their checkboxes:
Click Actions.
Click Fulfill orders:
Optional: Select the Send a notification to the customer checkbox to send your customers a notification.
Click Fulfill.
Cancel a fulfillment
From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
From the Orders page, click the number of an order in the list that has a Fulfillment status of Fulfilled.
In the Fulfillments section, click More, and then click Cancel fulfillment:
After you cancel a fulfillment, you can buy a new shipping label or create a new fulfillment for that order.
Fulfill orders automatically
If any of the following situations apply to your business, then automatic fulfillment can help you ship your orders more effectively:
Third-party services fulfill orders in different ways:
Dropshipping apps - Some dropshipping apps automatically mark the items as fulfilled when they ship the order. Others require you to order for your customers' items within their app. Contact your dropshipping app developer to determine the best workflow when orders using their service. If you're using Oberlo, then you need to configure your Shopify order fulfillment settings for Oberlo.
Print-on-demand apps - Most print-on-demand apps automatically mark the items as fulfilled on your behalf when the order is shipped. Check the recommended settings and workflow with your app developer.
Custom fulfillment services - If you have partnered with your own fulfillment service and added them as a custom fulfillment service, then you will need to mark the order as fulfilled when you are ready for your fulfillment service to process the order.
