Connect a third-party fulfilment service in Shopify
The warehouse across town packs and ships by email: Shopify sends the order details when you mark an order fulfilled, and the warehouse does the rest. This tutorial connects NorthStar Logistics as a custom fulfilment service and assigns 12 of the store's 20 products to it.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 4 minutes read
The worked example
| Service | NorthStar Logistics |
| Service email | [email protected] |
| Products assigned | 12 |
| Products kept self-fulfilled | 8 |
| Total products | 20 |
Download the products list: fulfilment-service-products.csv (656 bytes).
A products list for the service: 12 products assigned to NorthStar Logistics and 8 kept self-fulfilled, 20 in total. It is a planning record, not a file Shopify imports.
1Open Shipping and delivery
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery. The Custom order fulfilment section is where third-party services are added.
2Click Add fulfillment service
In the Custom order fulfillment section, click Add fulfillment service. A form opens for the service name and email.
3Enter the name and email
In the Name field, enter NorthStar Logistics. In the Email field, enter the warehouse's email address, [email protected]. The service must be able to process orders by email for this to work.
4Click Save
Click Save. Activating the service creates a fulfilment location for it, where you can stock products. If the service needs more than an email to process orders, it needs an app integration instead.
5Assign products to the service
Go to Products and open a product. In the Inventory section, select NorthStar Logistics from the Inventory will be stocked at drop-down menu, and click Save. Repeat for the 12 products the warehouse will ship. The other 8 stay stocked at your own location.
6Fulfil orders as usual
When an order comes in for a service product, mark it as fulfilled in your admin. Shopify emails the service the order and customer details, including which items to ship. A full order or part of an order can be marked as fulfilled this way.
7Add tracking by hand
Unlike an app-based service, a custom service does not update the order status in your admin by itself. Track progress with the service directly, and when the service ships, add the tracking number to the order yourself so customers can follow their parcels.
The arithmetic
The product split is the figure to check.
| Fulfilled by | Products |
|---|---|
| NorthStar Logistics | 12 |
| Self, Toronto warehouse | 8 |
| Total | 20 |
12 + 8 = 20, so every product is accounted for. The service location does not count toward your plan's location limit, and the same product can be stocked at both the service location and your own locations at once.
Held at the counter
A custom service works by email only. The order status does not update itself after the email goes out. If you assume Shopify knows what the warehouse did, the order will sit as if nothing shipped. Track progress with the service directly.
To cancel, contact the service first. To cancel or change a fulfilment, contact your fulfilment service directly. Only after they confirm can you update the order status in your admin by hand.
Deleting the service needs a new home for its stock. Before you can delete a custom fulfilment service, inventory assigned to it must move to a new location. Pick the inheriting location on the product pages first.
Sources
- Fulfilling orders using custom fulfillment services — Shopify's help pages: the add-a-service steps, the assign-products steps, the email-only warning, and the delete rules.