Prepare orders, dispatch goods and follow delivery

Follow the original order from preparation to delivery#

Open Shipping in the correct corporate workspace. Review an original placed Ecommerce order, prepare named packages, record the absolute units picked for each package, then confirm packing. An owner or administrator reviews all packages and performs one complete order dispatch. After dispatch, each package can have separate tracking, delivery observations and problems.

Preparation can be partial: a saved plan may leave some original units unallocated or unpicked. Dispatch is deliberately whole order in this release. Every outstanding physical unit must be allocated, picked and packed, and the original Ecommerce payment and stock checks must still pass. Packages do not create staggered or partial stock dispatches.

Treat stock dispatch, paid postage, original invoice payment and reported delivery as separate facts. A successful label purchase does not dispatch stock. A tracking number does not prove collection. A delivery recorded by a business is not independent carrier proof of delivery.

Install the original selling workflow first#

Shipping requires the corporate Ecommerce app and its existing Invoicing prerequisite, explicitly installed and configured with their current entitlements. Shipping does not install another app silently, create another stock ledger or bypass a package’s app allowance or separately priced licence.

Inventory-linked orders keep the original Inventory reservations. Legacy Ecommerce variant reservations remain their existing source. Picking and packing do not reserve extra goods, make warehouse transfers or release stock. The original source service commits its existing reservation at dispatch.

Sales Orders are not a Shipping source in this release. Digital goods keep their original Ecommerce delivery workflow and cannot be packed. Customer pickup stays in the original Ecommerce workflow. The account owner can switch between personal and corporate profiles, but Shipping belongs to the selected corporate workspace.

Official references: App prerequisites and installation ↗

Review the actual sender, writing scope and disclosure policy#

An owner or administrator enters the real dispatch sender and contact address, chooses the IANA timezone for reported occurrence input, selects the app writing scope and reviews privacy. The confirmed sender and timezone are frozen into each new preparation plan. A later setup change affects new plans; it does not silently rewrite a retained plan’s origin or reported-clock context.

In Shipping → Setup, choose Sending country under the sender address. Select Use suggested timezone for a launch-market reference, or enter the timezone where staff report shipping events. Review privacy and save. Changing the sending country alone leaves the existing timezone selected.

The declared business country is separate from the physical sender country. Do not infer a sender warehouse, recipient correction, tax jurisdiction, permitted goods, national workweek or carrier coverage from an account country, language or checkout currency.

Canonical measurements are whole grams and millimetres. The imperial preference is approximate display only; it does not change entry units or provider requests. Customer tracking is a separate, deliberate disclosure setting. Manual shipping remains available without a carrier account.

Share operational information with explicit current staff#

Owners and administrators manage setup, Shipping grants and carrier connections. They alone perform the canonical Ecommerce dispatch and approve paid label purchases, subject to the original source permissions. Named operators can prepare, pick, pack and record manual updates within the current app writing scope. Named viewers can read necessary shipping facts.

Shipping access includes the recipient and original physical goods needed to perform fulfilment. It does not disclose Ecommerce prices, invoice amounts, tax identifiers, private financial notes, order-access tokens, carrier credentials or raw provider responses. Grant access only to people who need those operational details.

Workspace viewers cannot become operators. A grant never revives access after staff membership ends or bypasses current workspace status, demo expiry, installation, configuration, licence, package write restrictions or selected-workspace checks. Removing staff also removes their explicit Shipping grant, so rejoining does not revive it. Attributed history keeps the original actor name; an ineligible retained grant can be removed deliberately.

A package with a previous label attempt requires owner or administrator review before contents, measurements, picks, packing or retirement change. The old postage outcome remains relevant even if the earlier request failed or its outcome is uncertain.

Compare the exact original goods and recipient#

Use Source orders to find the original order number, then open its review. Check the original recipient name, address and contact details, physical line identities, whole quantities and source readiness labels. A source can be suitable for preparation while payment or stock eligibility still prevents dispatch.

Shipping uses the original customer delivery address, not a similarly named current CRM contact or a selected shipping-rate configuration. Address corrections are not implemented in this release. If an original recipient is wrong, resolve the accepted order with the authorised source workflow; do not add a private note pretending that it changed the actual address.

Only one active Shipping preparation plan can claim an order. Already fulfilled, cancelled or expired orders cannot be adopted as a fresh dispatch. Pickup is excluded. Review current source facts again before a retained plan is changed or dispatched; changed facts do not silently replace a previously approved review.

Allocate exact units to identifiable packages#

Give each package a useful operational name and allocate original physical line quantities to it. The initial package can contain all physical units; split the quantities between packages deliberately. Save a partly allocated plan when preparation needs to continue later. Each active package must contain at least one allocated physical unit, and combined active allocations cannot exceed the original source quantity.

Enter measured integer grams and millimetres when known. A blank measurement means Unknown. Manual preparation and packing can retain unknown measurements; a carrier quote requires positive measured weight and every dimension. Displayed approximate pounds or inches never become authoritative request values.

Add, edit or retire packages before dispatch. Retiring a package keeps its identity, contents revisions and history while excluding its allocations from current preparation totals. The plan retains at most 20 package identities, including retired packages, and never reuses a sequence number. If the retained limit is reached, review voiding and replacing the plan; that does not erase charge history.

Editing contents or measurements creates a new contents revision, resets that package’s picks and packing, and invalidates its older quote or dispatch review. A previous successful label is not automatically reusable for the changed parcel and is not cancelled or refunded by the edit.

Record absolute picked totals without moving stock#

Open Record picked units on the exact package. Enter the total currently picked for each allocated source line: entering3 means the recorded total is3, rather than adding3 to the earlier value. A corrected lower total is allowed before dispatch when reviewed deliberately; quantities cannot exceed that package’s allocation.

Saving picked totals resets the affected package’s packed state and preserves the previous revision in history. Picking records preparation only. It does not create an Inventory movement, transfer a warehouse location, release the source reservation or imply that a carrier collected the goods.

Before completing an order, compare package allocation totals with the whole physical order. The package sequence and source line identities matter; names or SKUs alone are not substitute identities.

Confirm the exact picked parcel before sealing it#

Open Review packing and compare the displayed contents, picked totals and measurements with the physical parcel. Every allocated unit in that package must be picked. Confirm this exact package version only after that review.

Packing a package does not commit stock or purchase postage. All active packages must cover the whole physical order before dispatch. A later contents or picked-total edit invalidates packing, so the changed package must be reviewed and packed again.

A stale packing review cannot approve a newer package. Reload the exact review, compare the changed contents and confirm again. Unknown manual measurements remain visibly unknown; they do not qualify the parcel for an automatic quote.

Commit one complete original stock dispatch#

The owner or administrator opens Review whole-order dispatch. Compare the original order, all active packages, exact full allocations and picks, packed state, current source eligibility and any unresolved carrier outcomes. Enter a retained dispatch reason and explicitly authorise the reviewed complete dispatch.

The original Ecommerce fulfilment service remains authoritative for ledger payment, credit/cancellation constraints and existing stock reservations. Its permitted physical-only cash-on-delivery path remains a source rule, not a Shipping payment override. Shipping never accepts a client-supplied paid flag, amount or stock total.

The action commits every outstanding physical unit and all active packages together once. It records the server’s current dispatch time; retrospective handover backdating is not offered. It does not itself certify carrier collection, fulfil a customs requirement, prove delivery, pay a supplier or generate a refund.

An unresolved carrier purchase can block dispatch until its outcome is investigated. An exact interrupted-request retry returns the retained result after current authorisation without a second stock commitment. A changed source or package requires a new review; do not substitute a new review hash into an old confirmation.

Distinguish reported occurrence from server recording time#

For a packed or dispatched package, record a manual carrier name, tracking reference and optional HTTPS carrier tracking link. These fields are attributed operational records. They are not an automatic carrier integration or confirmation that the tracking reference is valid.

Choose server time now for a current observation, or enter a reported local date and time in the plan’s frozen IANA timezone. Resolve it before saving. A nonexistent daylight-saving clock time is rejected; if a clock time occurred twice, choose the exact displayed offset and UTC instant deliberately. The original reported local time, timezone, offset and UTC instant remain distinct from the later server recording timestamp.

A reported delivery cannot precede the canonical dispatch and cannot be more than five minutes in the future. Occurrence input does not backdate stock, accounting or the original dispatch. Retained offsets help explain the original report even if future timezone data changes.

Record an observation without claiming carrier proof#

Record business-reported delivery only after canonical dispatch. Each package can have its own reported delivery time. Once all active packages have a recorded delivery, the plan shows delivery recorded. The original source stock and financial facts remain unchanged.

The label and manual tracking workflows do not provide an authenticated proof-of-delivery integration. Verify actual delivery and promised customer service through your carrier and operating process. An internal delivered flag does not waive consumer rights or authorise denying a valid return.

Do not overwrite a mistaken delivery timestamp. Record a problem and attributed correction explaining the error, preserving the original observation and server audit. A correction can explicitly resolve a current problem flag, but cannot rewrite the first delivery fact.

Handle exceptions and corrections without rewriting history#

Record a problem when goods are delayed, damaged, missing or otherwise need investigation. Provide a useful internal reason and supporting note. The current problem flag remains separate from dispatched or delivered facts; it does not restore stock, cancel an order, reimburse a customer or prove liability.

An attributed correction appends an explanation and may explicitly mark the current problem resolved. It does not erase an earlier reason, change package contents after dispatch or replace an original delivery timestamp. Use the authorised original financial or inventory correction workflow when an actual refund or stock movement is needed. Returns is queued separately and becomes an option only after its own verified release.

Keep private carrier discussion and unrelated personal information in the internal note. A customer-facing message is optional and requires review of the exact message, package, event type and reported occurrence before it can appear through the customer’s existing order access.

Review a real domestic carrier connection before requesting postage#

The optional Shippo adapter uses a business-owned test or live token, a selected active carrier account and a server-observed connection check. Deliberately select the Shippo workflow in Shipping setup before new quotes or purchases; manual mode keeps those requests disabled while retained outcomes remain available for investigation. Enter credentials privately in the owner panel. Saving a connection invalidates its prior verification; verify the exact selected version again. Account availability and rates remain subject to the provider, contract, route and goods.

This first adapter requests domestic quotes and labels only: the frozen sender and original recipient countries must match. Customs declarations, cross-border clearance and a general list of approved goods are not implemented. Recording an external cross-border tracking observation manually does not certify that shipment or authorise its goods.

Before requesting a quote, compare the actual sender and recipient names, addresses, contacts and measured packed parcel. Explicitly approve sharing those displayed details with Shippo and the selected carrier. Requesting a quote does not buy postage. Address-validation, delivery estimates and displayed rates are not legal or fulfilment guarantees.

Test-mode results are visibly test and remain staff-only; they are not real postage or customer tracking. Demo permits the complete manual workflow while blocking every external carrier request, including verification, test quotes and reconciliation. No live labels are created as part of demo or release QA.

Official references: Shippo official API reference ↗

Approve exact native-currency rates and recover uncertain costs#

A quote retains the exact account version, original sender/recipient context, package contents and measured parcel, expiry and returned rates. Select one actual rate and review its carrier, service, original decimal amount and currency. Shipping does not convert label rates into the workspace checkout currency or invent a fallback price. Transit estimates are estimates.

The owner or administrator approves the exact selected rate and an explicit postage charge. Test-label confirmation is separate. A durable local attempt is recorded before the external purchase call. A timeout or interrupted response can leave the outcome unknown even when the provider charged the account.

Do not repeat a purchase to investigate uncertainty. Open the retained attempt and perform read-only reconciliation. A known provider transaction is queried by GET; an exact bounded retained-reference search may investigate an unknown submission. Missing, ambiguous or inconclusive results remain unknown. The local action never repeats the purchase POST during reconciliation or an exact retry.

Changing credentials, editing or voiding a plan, retiring a package, losing authoring access or creating a replacement plan does not remove an earlier cost. Unresolved attempts for the same original order continue to block another purchase. Owner recovery remains a limited recovery action, not permission to author new packages or bypass a missing licence.

A successful live label can be deliberately adopted only for the exact unchanged packed package. The label link stays private to authorised staff, is a provider-hosted download and is never a public order attachment. No carrier refund, postage cancellation or automatic delivery webhook is implemented by this action.

Keep recipient, internal and customer-visible information separate#

Shipping staff see operational recipient and item details because their current grant authorises that fulfilment purpose. Apply your documented retention, access and privacy practices to exports, printed pick records and provider disclosure. A country selection is not proof of a lawful disclosure or cross-border transfer assessment.

Internal reasons, supporting notes and private audit stay out of customer tracking. Only an explicitly approved customer message can be shown, together with safe package status and carrier tracking, through the order’s already-authorised access and current host. No public Shipping URL accepts a raw original order or workspace ID.

Turning customer tracking off, removing the app or its entitlement, expiring the workspace or otherwise losing current eligibility hides the optional Shipping projection. Existing Ecommerce order access and other original order policies remain independently governed. Carrier credentials, costs, provider payloads, staff identity and recipient addresses are not copied into public tracking.

Review the exact customer message again after changing its wording, package, event or reported time. A saved earlier acknowledgement is not permission to disclose different facts.

Review the actual route, goods and local customer obligations#

Use the actual selling jurisdiction, customer location, promised service, goods and carrier route to assess obligations. Supported account countries, currencies, languages or a verified carrier connection do not establish permitted goods, tax registration, customs clearance or blanket legal compliance.

Before launch, review accurate delivery promises, delay communication, cancellation/refund duties, privacy and any regulated or dangerous-goods restrictions with the relevant authority and carrier. Australia’s consumer guarantees, UK distance-selling information and the United States merchandise-order rule have distinct scopes and exceptions; do not turn one country’s timing rule into a universal dispatch deadline.

For Saudi routes, review the actual carrier’s prohibited and restricted goods requirements as well as the transaction’s local obligations. For other markets, use the competent local authority and provider requirements. This operational app does not certify government e-invoicing, tax, customs, export controls, transport licences or regulated goods.

Official references: Australia: ACCC delivery and non-supply guidance ↗ · UK: online and distance selling ↗ · US: FTC merchandise-order rule guidance ↗ · Saudi Post SPL: prohibited items ↗

Read attributed history and export only the intended scope#

Open a plan’s Recorded history to compare retained package revisions, stage decisions, reasons, exact occurrence facts and server recording times. History is paginated, so a visible result page is not an all-time aggregate. Original source and package identities are retained even when a package is retired or the plan is voided.

The work queue’s CSV uses the same original-order literal search and state filters, exports eager authorised records only and requires narrowing the result to 500 plans or fewer. It is an operational summary, without recipient addresses, private notes, invoice amounts or provider payloads. Spreadsheet-leading formula characters are neutralised.

In Shipping, open the shipment and select Print preparation record. In the preview, choose Document design, then select Print or save PDF. Classic is the default and 15 alternatives are available. Each design preserves the same frozen sender, recipient, package and recorded shipping facts. Carrier-issued labels are available separately through their original carrier link.

The private per-plan print record includes the reviewed sender/recipient, package contents, measurements and recorded dispatch/delivery context needed for preparation. It is not a tax invoice, customs document, postage purchase or proof of delivery. Keep it with your authorised operational records and share only for its intended purpose.

Keep drafts, compare changed sources and resolve claims deliberately#

If a tab is stale, your entered editable draft remains visible. Compare the current saved source in a separate tab before explicitly using the reviewed current version for a separate save. A later save applies your entered fields and may invalidate picks, packing or carrier review. A frozen packing, dispatch or purchase approval must instead load a fresh exact review.

An exact uncertain retry keeps the same workspace- and payload-bound request ID. Changing the entered body, source version, selected rate or confirmation scope creates a different local operation. Reusing an ID with different facts is rejected. A workspace switch never authorises a stale tab to write into another business.

Before dispatch, an owner or administrator may void a mistaken plan and acknowledge retained postage costs. This releases only the Shipping preparation claim. The original Ecommerce order and stock reservation stay intact. A replacement plan captures the current reviewed origin and timezone, but does not erase an earlier label or unknown charge.

When authoring is disabled or the Shipping licence is absent, open Shipping recovery to release a retained preparation claim or reconcile an earlier carrier attempt. This requires a current owner or administrator and cannot create packages, buy new labels or bypass the original source’s cancellation/payment/stock rules. After dispatch, use attributed problems and the authorised original source financial or stock correction workflow instead of voiding history. Returns remains a separately queued release.

Official references: Open limited Shipping recovery ↗

Know the complete first-release boundaries#

The first release supports Ecommerce physical delivery orders, whole-unit contents, at most 50 physical source lines and 20 retained package identities per plan. Lists and history use bounded 25-row pages. The queue CSV is capped at 500 matching plans. Fields and native authority checks remain bounded server-side; an import or browser request cannot bypass source totals.

There is one active plan per order, one whole-order stock dispatch, original recipient addressing, manually attributed delivery observations and optional domestic Shippo labels. Sales Orders sourcing, staggered physical stock dispatch, customs declarations, automatic proof of delivery, automated carrier webhooks and carrier refunds are outside this release.

Every workflow continues to recheck current source, staff, licence, paid write allowance, demo expiry and selected workspace. The guide explains the implemented operating boundaries; it is not a promise that a selected country, carrier account or package qualifies for every commercial or legal use.