Order Routing assigns a Ship From Location to a shipment based on which locations have the order items in stock, and are located closest to the recipient. When an order contains multiple items that need to be shipped from multiple locations, Order Routing will split the order into multiple shipments and assign the best Ship From location to each shipment.
Additionally, you can specify whether you wish Order Routing to prioritize shipping from the closest Ship From Location to the recipient or to prioritize the fewest number of Ship From Locations, even when it means an order will not be shipped from the closest location to the recipient. Learn more about this feature in the Introduction to Order Routing help article.
If Order Routing cannot determine the correct course of action, it will not apply to the order. This can happen if the recipient address cannot be verified or if the products in the order are not assigned a location. The shipment will use the default Ship From Location instead.
This article will guide you through how to configure and enable the Order Routing feature. If you already have Order Routing enabled and want to update the Ship From Locations for your products go to Order Routing: Update Ship From Locations.
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A US or Canada-based ShipStation account.
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All of the products you wish to have Order Routing applied to must be added to the ShipStation Product catalog and each of these products must be assigned a Ship From Location.
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Subscription Plan Requirement
This feature is not available on all subscription plans. To access this feature, you may need to upgrade your plan. To learn which features are included with your plan, visit Learn About ShipStation Subscription Plans.
To upgrade your plan, go to
Settings > Account > Payment & Subscription.
To enable and configure Order Routing follow the steps below:
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Select Automation, then Order Routing.
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Toggle the Order Routing switch to on.
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Select whether to prioritize shipping from the closest location or shipping from the fewest number of Ship From Locations.
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Products Closest to Customer: Select this option if you wish to prioritize shipping from the Ship From Location(s) closest, geographically, to the recipient address. Order Routing will split the order into as many shipments as needed.
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Fewest Ship From Location(s): Select this option if you wish to prioritize shipping from the location that can fulfill the most order items and is closest to the customer. This will avoid splitting the order unless necessary, even if the Ship From is further away.
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(optional) Slide the toggle to enable Route to External Fulfillment Provider First if you would like ShipStation to route all orders to a connected 3PL fulfillment provider before your own ship from locations.
Order Routing is now configured and enabled. Order Routing will apply to newly imported orders.
Learn more about how automation applies to orders in ShipStation.
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Order Routing will not apply to orders manually created in ShipStation.
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Marketplace updates will not apply to orders that have been split into multiple shipments by Order Routing.
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Order Routing will not apply to Shopify orders containing items with a zero quantity. This is so that quantity updates sent from Shopify can be applied to the order in ShipStation.
The Error
When uploading the product CSV file during the setup process, you encounter the error:
! ERROR - Row XX [Location Name] Active Ship From does not exist
What it Means
The Ship From Location listed in the error message was not found and needs to be added to the Ship From Locations in ShipStation.
What to Do
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Cancel out of the Order Routing setup.
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Go to
Settings > Shipping > Ship From Locationsin ShipStation. -
Click the Add New Location button and add the missing Ship From Location.
The Ship From Location name is indicated in the error message. For example, in the mage here, St. Louis needs to be added as a Ship From Location.
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Follow the steps to configure Order Routing and upload the file again.