Send Orders to Fulfillment

If you ship your orders through a fulfillment service, you can still use ShipStation to manage your shipping needs. 

ShipStation integrates directly with multiple fulfillment providers, so you can send orders directly to those providers using ShipStation (we even provide an automated way to do it!).

For fulfillment providers or drop shippers ShipStation doesn't integrate with, review our Dropshipping with ShipStation article to learn about your options.

Review the sections below for details on using our fulfillment service partners with ShipStation.

Auctane Fulfillment Network

Let ShipStation's network of trusted 3PL partners take care of your storage, pick, pack and shipping. Connect with our fulfillment partners.

Connect a Fulfillment Provider

Before sending orders to fulfillment, you must first add a fulfillment Provider and ensure the SKUs associated with your products match the SKUs listed in your fulfillment provider account.

Fulfillment Provider Accounts

If you don't yet have a fulfillment Provider account, review our Fulfillment Provider integration articles to learn more!

Delete Fulfillment Provider

If you no longer use a fulfillment provider that you have connected to your account, you can remove the provider on the Settings page.

  1. Click the three dots next to the vendor and select Deactivate Vendor from the drop-down menu.

    Fulfillment Providers page that shows the Vendors listed. An arrow points to a vendor action menu where Deactivate Vendor is marked in the drop-down.

The fulfillment vendor will be removed from your provider list.

On the Fulfillments grid, orders delegated to that provider will still show that provider's name in the Provider column. However, the provider will not be available as a filter or option in the Configure Shipment Widget.

The Provider filter is marked with an arrow pointing to the provider dropdown. The provider column is marked that shows the selected vendor.

Send Orders to Fulfillment Provider

Before you can send orders for fulfillment, you must connect your fulfillment Provider account to ShipStation. If you have not yet connected your fulfillment provider, review the instructions in the article for the provider you use:

Once connected, the account will be available as a Ship From Location for your orders. You can then send orders manually to the fulfillment provider or create an automation rule that will send them automatically when they import.

Fulfillments count toward our subscription shipment limit!

Shipments that are Marked as Shipped are considered fulfillments as well as orders that are sent to a fulfillment service like FBA via ShipStation. See How Shipments are calculated for more information about what counts toward your plan's shipment limit.

Send Fulfillment Manually

Currently, you can only send individual orders to fulfillment when using ShipStation new layout. We are working on the ability to send in bulk. Check back soon!

To send an order to your fulfillment provider from ShipStation, either select the order in the Orders grid or open the Order Details screen. Then do the following:

ShipStation then sends the order to the fulfillment provider and creates a fulfillment record in the Pending status, which you can view in the Shipments > Fulfillments page.

On the Fulfillments page, the Provider column will display the name of the fulfillment provider you sent the order to.

V3_SHP_Fulfillment_Provider_MRK.png

Use Automation Rules to Set the Service

Avoid the manual process by setting up Automation Rules to automatically set the service when the order imports. 

Send Fulfillment Using Automation

To automatically send orders to a fulfillment provider as soon as they import from your stores, you'll need to create an Automation Rule. An automation rule will apply to orders based on the criteria you set in the rule, so before taking this step, ensure you've determined the criteria the rule should be based on. 

Going forward, orders that match the criteria set in the rule will automatically be sent to the fulfillment provider with the selected service. Repeat the above steps to create additional automation rules for different fulfillment scenarios. 

To apply this new rule to orders that have already imported and are Awaiting Shipment, click the Reprocess Automation Rules button under the list of automation rules. 

When Fulfilling Items in an Order Separately

The above rule will apply to the entire order, sending all items in the order to fulfillment. If some items in an order go to fulfillment, but others do not, or the items need to be fulfilled by separate fulfillment centers, do not use automation rules as the creation of multiple shipments for an order cannot yet be automated.

Instead, create multiple shipments in the order and use the manual Send to Fulfillment option.

Add Fulfillment SKU

The SKU ShipStation sends to your fulfillment provider must match the SKU the provider has listed for that product. If the SKU that imports from your store matches the fulfillment provider's SKU for that item, you have no further steps to take!

If the fulfillment provider SKU is different than the SKU from your store, however, you must enter a Fulfillment SKU in ShipStation before you can successfully send orders for fulfillment.

For products with a Fulfillment SKU, ShipStation will send this SKU to the fulfillment provider instead of the SKU imported on the order. 

Update Fulfillment SKU for Multiple Products

To update the Fulfillment SKU for multiple products at once, use the Product CSV import process. Enter the Fulfillment SKU into the FillSku field in your CSV.

The SKU used by your fulfillment partner for a specific item.

If the fulfillment SKU is different than your product SKU, enter the fulfillment SKU into the product's Fulfillment SKU field in the Product Detail's Shipping tab. ShipStation will then send the fulfillment SKU when you submit the order for fulfillment.

The SKU used by your fulfillment partner for a specific item.

If the fulfillment SKU is different than your product SKU, enter the fulfillment SKU into the product's Fulfillment SKU field in the Product Detail's Shipping tab. ShipStation will then send the fulfillment SKU when you submit the order for fulfillment.

Cancel a Fulfillment Request

If you submitted a fulfillment request in error or need to cancel the request because the provider should not fulfill the order, you can do so by cancelling the fulfillment request. Remember that the process only cancels the request and does not cancel the order.

If you need to cancel the order, follow the process in Cancel and Restore Orders.

You can cancel a request for pending fulfillments in three places: the Shipments Tab, the Orders Tab, and the Order Details.

Cancel only affects fulfillments in ShipStation

Sending a cancel request will move the shipment to the Cancelled status in ShipStation and attempt to cancel the fulfillment with the provider, but it may not stop the provider from processing the order.

You should contact the fulfillment provider to confirm that you have cancelled the fulfillment.

Cancel Pending Fulfillment Request from Shipments Tab

Cancel Pending Fulfillment Request from the Orders Tab

Cancel Pending Fulfillment Request from Order Details

View Fulfillment Records

To view the fulfillment status, go to the Shipments tab, then select the Fulfillments from the sidebar.

Closeup of Toolbar. Shipments tab highlighted.

We receive incremental updates from our integrated fulfillment providers about the shipment status. However, you can also select one or many orders and click Update Status(es) for the most up to date status.

The Fulfillment Sidebar displaying shipments awaiting fulfillment.

Once the fulfillment updates as Shipped, ShipStation transmits the shipping information back to the original sales platform.

The SKU used by your fulfillment partner for a specific item.

If the fulfillment SKU is different than your product SKU, enter the fulfillment SKU into the product's Fulfillment SKU field in the Product Detail's Shipping tab. ShipStation will then send the fulfillment SKU when you submit the order for fulfillment.

The SKU used by your fulfillment partner for a specific item.

If the fulfillment SKU is different than your product SKU, enter the fulfillment SKU into the product's Fulfillment SKU field in the Product Detail's Shipping tab. ShipStation will then send the fulfillment SKU when you submit the order for fulfillment.