Shopify orders not showing in Click & Drop? What to check

When a Shopify order doesn't turn up in Click & Drop, the cause is usually in Shopify rather than in Click & Drop. The order isn't paid yet, it's on hold, or it's going out a way that has nothing to post. These are the checks in the order I'd make them. AK: Royal Mail Click and Drop shows the reason next to every order, so with it you read the answer instead of working through the list.

1. Is the order paid?

An order goes across once Shopify marks it paid or the payment is authorised. Bank transfers, cash on delivery and payments still pending wait until Shopify says they're paid. In the app such an order reads "Waiting for payment", with Shopify's own payment status beside it. If you'd rather choose orders yourself, Settings can send only orders you tag ("ship-royal-mail" unless you pick another tag) or only the ones you send by hand.

2. Is it on hold, scheduled or already fulfilled?

Shopify can put an order on hold (a fraud check, a hold you or another app placed) or schedule it for later, which is how pre-orders and subscriptions work. Neither is ready to ship, so neither goes until Shopify releases it, and then it goes by itself. An order already fulfilled in Shopify isn't sent again, and when you merge parts of an order in Shopify, the part merged away isn't sent either.

3. How is it being delivered?

Local delivery and store pickup orders are left out by default, and Settings can include them. Digital products and in-store sales have nothing to post, so they're left out too. When a customer picks a pickup point at checkout, Shopify writes the point's own address as the shipping address and passes on none of the point's details, so the order isn't sent. As a plain parcel it would reach the branch with no customer named on it.

4. Does it ship from a location you send?

If Settings names the locations you post from, an order shipping from another location stays out, and the app says which location it ships from. An order carrying one of your skip tags is left out the same way. Both can still be sent by hand from the Orders page.

5. Did Royal Mail refuse it?

Some orders can't go as they are. The address has no first line, no town or (in the UK) no postcode, a field is longer than Royal Mail allows, the country is missing, or an item going abroad has no customs description. The app checks these before sending and names the field. When Royal Mail refuses an order, the app shows Royal Mail's own words and the field it named. Either way it tags the order "click-drop-error" in your Shopify order list until it's sent, so you see it where you already work. Fix the order in Shopify and press Send again.

6. Is it older than 60 days?

Shopify lets the app read the last 60 days of orders. An order older than that is shown with a note saying so, and the quickest fix is to create it in Click & Drop by hand.

7. Is the connection still working?

If the Click & Drop API key is deleted or replaced in Click & Drop, nothing can go across. The app raises an alert saying Royal Mail rejected the key, and orders wait in the app. Paste the current key (Click & Drop: Settings, Integrations, Click & Drop API) in the app's Settings and the waiting orders go out once it's saved. If Click & Drop itself is down, the app tries again on a schedule for about a day and raises an alert if it still can't send.

How the app keeps orders from going missing

Every order the app picks up is on its Orders page with a state: waiting (with the reason), in Click & Drop, fulfilled, skipped by a rule you named, or refused with Royal Mail's reason. Every hour it looks for orders from the last two days that have no state yet, which catches an order whose notice from Shopify arrived late or not at all. Every morning before packing, a full check sends any paid, unshipped order from the last 14 days that isn't in Click & Drop (Settings takes anything from 1 to 60 days).

Setting up from the start? How to connect Shopify to Royal Mail Click & Drop has every step, and the app is on the Shopify App Store.

This app isn't made by Royal Mail. An order you can't place? Write to me at support@aislekit.app with the order number.