How orders arrive and get fulfilled
Every channel's orders arrive in one queue with the item, its location and its shipping profile attached. You pick, pack, buy a label and ship; tracking flows back to the marketplace automatically so the buyer sees it where they bought.
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Why one queue matters
Selling on six marketplaces means six seller dashboards, six notification emails and six sets of handling-time clocks. The failure mode is not dramatic; it is a Poshmark order that sat for two days because nobody opened that app on Saturday.
A single queue turns fulfilment into a station rather than a rotation. You work one list, oldest first, and handling-time metrics on every channel stay healthy because none of them is being checked less often than the others.
What arrives with an order
- The item, linked to its inventory record — so you know exactly which physical object sold.
- Its location, including which shop or bin it should be in.
- The buyer's shipping address as the marketplace provided it.
- The shipping profile you assigned, which determines packaging and service.
- The channel, the order number and the amount, so reconciliation later is possible.
The fulfilment flow
- 1
Pick
The order names the item and its location. For a shop with a back room or multiple sites, this is the step that a shared inventory record makes possible at all.
- 2
Verify
Scan the tag against the order. Thirty seconds here prevents the shipped-the-wrong-item problem, which costs a return, a refund and often a defect.
- 3
Pack
The shipping profile tells you the packaging and service. Consistency here is what makes shipping costs predictable.
- 4
Buy the label
Generate the label from the order rather than retyping an address into a carrier site.
- 5
Ship and confirm
Tracking flows back to the marketplace, which is what stops the buyer messaging to ask where their parcel is.
The orders that go wrong
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Item cannot be found | Cancel promptly rather than delaying. A fast cancellation costs less than a late shipment on most platforms. |
| Item sold on two channels at once | Fulfil the first, cancel the second, and check delist history to see whether a channel is failing. |
| Buyer wants to change the address | Change it before the label is bought; afterwards it is a carrier problem, not a marketplace one. |
| Return requested | Process the return so the item comes back into stock and any consignor entry is reversed. |
Frequently asked questions
Does tracking go back to the marketplace automatically?
Yes, on channels that accept tracking through their API. That matters for more than convenience — several marketplaces use on-time shipping with valid tracking as a ranking input.
Can I ship from multiple locations?
Yes. The order carries the item's location, so a multi-site business knows where to pick from without guessing.
What about local pickup orders?
Items listed for local pickup are marked accordingly and do not need a label. The order still closes the loop so the item is marked sold and delisted everywhere else.
How do returns affect consignor payouts?
Processing a return reverses the consignor ledger entry, so a sale that came back is not paid out. Doing this properly is why returns should be processed in the system rather than handled informally.
Step-by-step product docs
This guide explains how it works. These show you exactly where to click.
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