In this article, we show you how to connect an external fulfillment provider in Shopify and what these orders look like in Shopify and Pickware.
How does external fulfillment work with Shopify?
Configuration
To fulfill orders using an external fulfillment provider, you first need to create a fulfillment service. In your Shopify Admin, go to Settings → Shipping and delivery → Custom order fulfillment → Add fulfillment service. Enter the name and email address of the provider and click Save.
Now open the product that should be fulfilled externally, select Fulfilled by a third party (Externes Fulfillment) under This is a physical product in the Inventory section, and save the product. If you previously fulfilled the product yourself and there are still open orders, these must be completed first before you can switch to external fulfillment.
Processing orders with external fulfillment
When an order comes in for the product, you'll see the Request fulfillment option within the order. The light gray label shows you which fulfillment provider is assigned to the product. | |
Click Request fulfillment and then, in the next window, click Send fulfillment request. | |
The selected fulfillment provider then receives the request by email, and the order's fulfillment status in Shopify changes to Fulfilled. |
You can find more details about external fulfillment in Shopify here in the Shopify Help Center.
How are orders that are fulfilled externally displayed in Pickware?
Products that are fulfilled externally are not fulfilled from the Shopify location connected to your Pickware Admin.
Once external fulfillment is activated, the stock in Pickware no longer changes when you request fulfillment from the provider. All previous stock movements remain visible. Existing stock levels remain unchanged and can be manually removed from stock. Stock management in Pickware can be completely disabled for the product, in which case the stock is no longer included in the valued inventory. You'll find this option under General → Shipping → Track quantity (Lagerbestand verwalten) in the product properties.
Orders and order line items with external fulfillment continue to appear in your Pickware Admin, with the relevant products marked as Externally fulfilled in the order details. They don't reserve any stock, don't appear during picking, and are not fulfilled in Shopify when shipped in Pickware.
In the order details, in the Line items section, you can display the corresponding Externally fulfilled column.
As soon as fulfillment for an order has been requested in Shopify, it is automatically marked as Shipped in Pickware as well.
How do I handle orders that contain both regular and externally fulfilled products?
In Shopify, your order is split into two sections in this case: one for the products you ship yourself, and another for the externally fulfilled products. For the latter, you can request fulfillment via the corresponding button as described above. The regular products can also be picked as usual via the WMS App or Pickware Admin.
In Pickware Admin, you see all order line items in a single view. The Externally fulfilled column shows you which order line items are fulfilled by you and which are fulfilled externally. In this case as well, the externally fulfilled products don't reserve any stock, don't appear during picking, and are not fulfilled in Shopify when shipped in Pickware.
As soon as part of the order has been processed and fulfilled — for example, once all regular products have been picked with Pickware, or fulfillment has been requested for the externally fulfilled products — the order automatically receives the shipping status Partially shipped in Pickware. This status indicates that the order is not yet fully completed. Once the remaining part has also been fulfilled, the status changes to Shipped.
Automatically marking products as shipped
In Pickware Admin, you can automatically mark products as shipped when an order comes in or is updated. This feature is useful for digital products and services, for example, but also for external fulfillment products. In the latter case, unlike the Shopify method described above, you have to send the email to the fulfillment provider yourself. That's why we recommend using the Shopify method.
You'll find this setting in Pickware Admin in the product details under General → Shipping.