Using a fulfillment service with an app
Fulfillment services with apps sync with Shopify so you can make changes to and receive updates about your fulfillments from your Shopify admin.
Depending on the third-party fulfillment services that you have, you use a legacy workflow or new workflow when you fulfill an order. When you open an order to start fulfillment, a banner tells you if you have the new workflow.
Follow the steps for the type of workflow that your fulfillment service uses.
On this page
Legacy fulfillment workflow
With the legacy fulfillment workflow, you can request a fulfillment through the Shopify admin. You receive updates from your fulfillment service when the fulfillment is in progress and fulfilled.
Request a fulfillment (legacy workflow)
When you request a fulfillment, a message is sent to your fulfillment service to begin picking, packing, and shipping your order.
If you use automatic fulfillment, then fulfillment is automatically requested when the order is paid, and you don't have to complete these steps.
Cancel a fulfillment by a fulfillment service (legacy workflow)
After you request a fulfillment, you can't cancel it from your Shopify admin. To cancel a fulfillment that's in progress, you need to contact your fulfillment service directly.
If you haven't requested fulfillment, then you can cancel the order.
New fulfillment workflow
With the new fulfillment workflow, an order's fulfillment status updates as the fulfillment progresses. You can receive messages from your fulfillment service in the order timeline, leave notes for your fulfillment service, and cancel a fulfillment from the Shopify admin.
After you request a fulfillment, the fulfillment status of the order changes to In progress. You can open your orders to view a detailed fulfillment status.
In this section:
- Find detailed fulfillment information
- New workflow and partial fulfillments
- Request a fulfillment (new workflow)
- Cancel a fulfillment by a fulfillment service (new workflow)
Find detailed fulfillment information
After you open an order, you can find fulfillment information in two locations:
The Fulfillment in progress section provides a fulfillment status and detailed information about the progress of the fulfillment. For example, if an order's fulfillment status is In progress, then the detailed status lets you know whether the fulfillment is Requested or Accepted.
The order's Timeline section is updated when there are changes to the fulfillment. Use the order timeline to read messages that are sent by your fulfillment service.
New workflow and partial fulfillments
If items in an order are fulfilled by different services, or if they are fulfilled in separate packages, then some items might be delivered to customers and fulfilled before others have shipped.
When only some items in an order are fulfilled, this is called a partial fulfillment.
An order does not have a Fulfilled status until all items in the order are shipped.
Request a fulfillment (new workflow)
When you request a fulfillment, a message is sent to your fulfillment service to begin picking, packing, and shipping your order.
If you use automatic fulfillment, then fulfillment is automatically requested when the order is paid, and you don't have to complete these steps.
After you request a fulfillment, the fulfillment status changes to In progress and you need to wait for a response from your fulfillment service. The fulfillment service either accepts or declines the fulfillment.
If the fulfillment service accepts the request, then it's noted in the order timeline.
If the fulfillment service declines the request, then the order status returns to Unfulfilled. Your fulfillment service can include a note in the order timeline to explain why the fulfillment was declined.
Cancel a fulfillment by a fulfillment service (new workflow)
You might need to cancel a fulfillment request if your customer wants to cancel or make changes to the order, or if you decide to fulfill the order manually. The steps for canceling a fulfillment depend on the detailed fulfillment status of the order.
Cancel a requested fulfillment
From the order that you want to cancel, click Cancel fulfillment request. The cancellation is noted in the order timeline and the order status returns to Unfulfilled.
Cancel an accepted fulfillment
If you want to cancel a fulfillment after it's accepted by your fulfillment service, then you need to send a cancellation request to your fulfillment service and wait for a response. Your fulfillment service accepts or rejects your cancellation request.
A banner on the order appears when the cancellation request is accepted or rejected by your fulfillment service,
Cancellation request accepted: If your fulfillment service accepts the cancellation, then it's noted in the Timeline and the order status returns to Unfulfilled.
cancellation request rejected: If your fulfillment service rejects the cancellation, then it's noted in the order timeline and the fulfillment service continues the fulfillment process. Your fulfillment service can include a message in the order timeline to explain why the cancellation request was declined.
Steps:
From the order that you want to cancel, click the ... button, and then click Request cancellation.
Optional: Under Note, write a message to your fulfillment service. This message isn't sent to your customer.
Click Request cancellation.
The cancellation request is noted in the order timeline and the detailed fulfillment status changes to Cancellation requested.
Revert to unfulfilled (new workflow)
After you request cancellation for a fulfillment, you need to wait for a response from your fulfillment service. If the fulfillment service cancels the fulfillment but can't update the fulfillment status in Shopify, then you can change the order status to Unfulfilled. You need to contact your fulfillment service to make sure the fulfillment is canceled before you complete this step.
After reverting an order or line item to unfulfilled, check your inventory quantities to make sure they're accurate.
Steps:
- From the order that you want to cancel, click the ... button.
- Click Revert to unfulfilled.
The change is noted in the order timeline and the fulfillment status changes to Unfulfilled.
Fulfill item(s) (new workflow)
The following types of fulfillment services exist:
- Fulfillment services that allow multi-managed inventory
- Fulfillment services that don't allow multi-managed inventory
For more information, refer to Managing inventory from multiple locations or fulfillment apps.
Fulfillment service allows multi-managed inventory
Each fulfillment service has an associated location. Only a fulfillment service can fulfill items from its associated location if it allows multi-managed inventory.
To fulfill an order yourself, change the location of the items to a location that you manage, and fulfill the order from the new location.
Steps:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
- Open the order that you want to manage.
- From the order, click the ... button.
- Click Change location.
- Select the new fulfillment location.
- Optional: Under Reason for change, enter a message to be displayed on the order timeline.
- Click Save.
- Fulfill items.
Fulfillment service does not allow multi-managed inventory
You might need to mark an order fulfilled if your fulfillment service successfully shipped and delivered an order, but they can't update the order's fulfillment status in Shopify.
When you mark an order as fulfilled, the fulfillment is noted in the order timeline and the order status changes to Fulfilled.
If the fulfillment is in progress, then you need to cancel the fulfillment before you can mark it as fulfilled.
Steps:
- From the order, click Fulfill item(s).
- Optional: Enter a tracking number and select a shipping carrier.
- Optional: Check NOTIFY CUSTOMER OF SHIPMENT to send your customer a notification when the order is fulfilled.
- Click Fulfill item(s).