Introduction to Auto-Routing

Auto-Routing Currently in Beta

Shipping orders from multiple locations? If yes, we invite you to join our Auto-Routing Beta Program. Auto-Routing splits orders based on product location and assigns the closest shipping locations automatically!

Complete this form to request access to the Auto-Routing Beta Program and one of our team members will reach out to you.

Auto-Routing is a feature that determines how to best fulfill orders based on which warehouses stock the order items and which warehouses are closest to the recipient’s address. For orders with multiple items that need to be shipped from multiple locations, Auto-Routing will split the order and route each shipment from the proper warehouse.

Additionally, Auto-Routing allows you to:

  • Prioritize shipping from the closest Ship From Location(s) to the customer, creating as many individual shipments as needed.

  • Prioritize the fewest number of Ship From Locations that can fulfill the most order items and are closest to the customer. This will avoid splitting the order unless necessary, even if the Ship From is further away.

If Auto-Routing cannot determine the correct course of action, either because the recipient address could not be verified or the products in the order are not assigned a location, Auto-Routing will not apply to the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

This article discusses the benefits of Auto-Routing and provides some use-case examples to show how the auto-routing logic applies to different scenarios. To learn how to assign Ship From Locations to your products and enable Auto-Routing, review our Configure Auto-Routing help article.

Available to US and Canada-based Accounts on the High Volume Plan

Currently, the Auto-Routing feature is available to accounts based in the US and Canada that are on the High Volume subscription plan.

Benefits of Auto-Routing

Auto-Routing Examples

Let's explore a few use cases and examine the logic used to auto-route orders in each scenario.

The use cases found below are represented in the following flow chart:

A flow chart representing how auto-routing determines to which ship from locations an order should be routed. The chart visually represents each of the use cases outlined in this article.

All Items Shipped From a Single Ship From Location

In this scenario, there are multiple Ship From Locations that stock only some of the items, but there is only one Ship From Location that stocks all of the items in an order.

The logic that Auto-Routing uses works like this:

  • Does the order have a valid Ship To address?

    • NO → No action taken on the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

    • YES → Are all items in the order assigned to a Ship From Location?

      • NO → No action taken on the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

      • YES → Are any items in the order available from more than one Ship From Location?

        • NO → Route the order from the only Ship From Location that can fulfill the order.

Prioritize the Closest Ship From Location

In this scenario, Auto-Routing is configured to ship from the closest Ship From Location(s), geographically, to the customer - no matter how many shipments need to be created - so that the customer receives the order as quickly as possible.

The logic that Auto-Routing uses works like this:

  • Does the order have a valid Ship To address?

    • NO → No action taken on the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

    • YES → Are all items in the order assigned to a Ship From Location?

      • NO → No action taken on the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

      • YES → Are any items in the order available from more than one Ship From Location?

        • YES → Route each item in the order from the closest Ship From Location that can ship the item.

Prioritize the Fewest Number of Ship From Locations

In this scenario, Auto-Routing is configured to ship orders from the fewest number of Ship From Locations to save on the total shipping cost, even when the items are not shipped from the closest warehouse to the customer.

The logic that Auto-Routing uses works like this:

  • Does the order have a valid Ship To address?

    • NO → No action taken on the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

    • YES → Are all items in the order assigned to a Ship From Location?

      • NO → No action taken on the order and the shipment will use the default Ship From Location.

      • YES → Are any items in the order available from more than one Ship From Location?

        • YES → Route the order from the closest Ship From Location(s) that can fulfill the most items on the order.

Things to Know

  • If an order can be fulfilled from multiple Ship From Locations that are located the same distance from the customer, Auto-Routing will assign the Ship From alphabetically based on the Ship From Location names.

    For example: Both the North St. Louis and the South St. Louis Ship From Locations have all of the items for an order and are located the same distance from the customer. The order will be assigned the North St. Louis Ship From Location.

  • Auto-Routing will not apply to orders manually created in ShipStation.

  • Marketplace updates will not apply to orders that have been split into multiple shipments by Auto-Routing.

  • Auto-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.