Shiptheory offers two modes for you to control how and when Shiptheory listens for new orders or shipment information from your Shopify store. Each mode is described in more detail below to help you choose which is right for you and your workflow.
Fulfillments
By default, Shiptheory will listen for and download new fulfilments (shipments) created in your Shopify account. That is, Shiptheory will download shipment details from Shopify when the Fulfill Items button is clicked on an order's details in Shopify.
Whilst this is a more "manual" mode requiring user intervention to confirm each shipment and trigger information to be sent to Shiptheory, if you require more granular control over your shipments in Shopify or require a confirmation step before committing to booking shipments, this could be the mode for you.
For example, if you have more than one fulfilment or stock location configured in Shopify and want to ensure your orders in Shopify are being fulfilled from a particular location before Shiptheory books shipping labels.
You can set the priority of your Shopify fulfilment locations: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/locations/setting-up-your-location-fulfillments
You can set Shiptheory to respond to fulfilments from as many of your fulfilment locations in Shopify as you like. For example, you might want to manually handle shipments for one of your locations.
Fulfilment Orders
In Fulfillment Orders mode, Shiptheory will listen for new orders in your Shopify store as they are created and marked as paid. This mode enables you to take full advantage of Shiptheory's shipping automation and rules engine allowing for a full hands-off experience.
This is particularly ideal if you only have a single shipping location configured in Shopify or only fulfil your order stock from a single fulfilment location.
You can select which of your Shopify fulfilment locations you would like Shiptheory to book shipments for in your Shopify Stores settings in Shiptheory.
It's important to note that if you fulfil products to your orders from more than one location, Shiptheory will only book shipments for orders based on the products allocated to the fulfilment by Shopify. You can set the priority of your Shopify fulfilment locations: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/locations/setting-up-your-location-fulfillments.
Fulfilment Orders (On Demand)
If you choose to use Fulfillment Orders, you can optionally select to disable Shiptheory from automatically downloading shipment information once the order is paid in Shopify. In this case you can send orders to Shiptheory from Shopify by selecting "Send order to Shiptheory" from the More actions menu in Shopify:
This option is available in both the single order details page and when selecting multiple orders in the order listings page.
Stock Level Discrepancy Handling
If you have selected Fulfillment Orders mode then you will see this additional option appear. This option helps Shiptheory to decide how to handle any changes in your Shopify order product details in the event that you don't use Shiptheory's shipping rules to book shipping labels for your Shopify orders. You can choose for Shiptheory to stop booking a label and return an error for your attention or to continue and book all available products.
For example, let's say an order for 2 pairs of shoes was sent to Shiptheory but later that day the customer contacted you to cancel one pair. The next day you went to book a shipping label for the shipment but Shiptheory noticed that the order now only contains one pair of shoes.
- If you selected Return an Error Message, Shiptheory would stop booking a label and do exactly that. To continue, simply select Retry from the shipment options menu and Shiptheory would refresh the order details and book a label as normal.
- If you selected Book All Remaining Items, Shiptheory would continue and book just the one remaining pair of shoes in the order with no warning given. Note that this is a simple example.
Should you have any further questions, please get in contact with the Shiptheory support team who will be happy to help!
