Shop packing and shipping: pack, ship and mark orders shipped in your store

An order isn't done when the last print comes off the bed. It's done when it has left the building and the store knows. In the Shop, packing and shipping happen on the order's Pack & ship tab: where the pieces are, the packing checklist, who it goes to and by when, and the carrier and tracking number. Shipping an order there can also mark it shipped in Etsy, Shopify or WooCommerce, so you don't do it twice.

This article covers what makes an order ready to pack, the Pack & ship tab, packing slips, marking an order shipped, how the store is updated, what happens when the store moves first, and orders where nothing is printed.

Table of contents

• When an order is ready to pack
• The Pack & ship tab
• Packing slips and order labels
• Marking an order shipped
• How the store is told
• When the store moves first
• Orders where nothing is printed
• Troubleshooting store updates
• Related articles

When an order is ready to pack

Completing a print doesn't ship an order. An order is ready to pack when every piece it needs has been printed, counted and (if you use finishing steps) finished, and its order workflow has reached Ready to pack. It then shows:

• under Pack & ship on the Shop overview
• under Pack on the Work page's To do view
• on a tray or shelf page as Pack #1042, once all its pieces are there

Packing and shipping run on an order workflow. Choose one under Settings > Shop > Production > Order workflow, for example the Packing & shipping starter: In production, then Ready to pack (pick the items, pack the box), Packed and Shipped. An order released without one says "Packing and shipping run on an order workflow, and this order has none." and offers Start the order workflow.

The Pack & ship tab

Open the order and choose Pack & ship. It's laid out in the order a packer works:

1. Pick from: where each piece is (which tray or shelf), and how many of each line are ready, such as "2 of 2 pieces". If some are still being made, it says how many and links to them.
2. The packing checklist from the order workflow, such as "Pick the items" and "Pack the box". Ticking the last step moves the order to Packed.
3. Ship to: the delivery address and recipient, if the store shared them. If address transfer is off for the store, it says so.
4. Fulfil by or Deliver by: the store's own deadline, if it sent one. Less than 48 hours to go shows a warning; past it shows Overdue.
5. Shipment: method, status and tracking.

For orders filled from stock, the same tab has Stock dispatch and Physical returns. See Shop inventory.

Packing slips and order labels

Packing slip on the order page opens a customer-facing A4 document: your store's name, the order number and date, the shipping and billing addresses, each item with its SKU and quantity, and an optional thank-you note. There are no prices on it, and nothing internal such as team notes or admin links. You can add printing facts about the order if you want to. Packing slips use the label generator, so they need the Generate filament labels permission as well.

To print order slips (not packing slips) for many orders at once, select them in the Orders list and choose Print labels.

Marking an order shipped

Once the order is packed:

1. Choose Mark shipped on the Pack & ship tab (or move the order to Shipped from its workflow).
2. Enter the Tracking number (optional) and pick the Carrier. The list has the major carriers (UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail, PostNord, Canada Post, Australia Post and more). For anything else, choose Other carrier and type its name. Your last carrier is remembered.
3. Choose Confirm shipped.

The order is now shipped in SimplyPrint. You can add or change the tracking number later with Add tracking number or Change tracking number.

How the store is told

If the order came from a store, shipping it in SimplyPrint can mark it shipped (or fulfilled) there too, with the tracking number and carrier, so the store shows it shipped and the buyer gets the store's shipping email. Every open line of the order is marked in one go, including items that weren't printed, because they went in the same parcel.

It needs three things:

1. The store allows it. Each store grants this on its own side. See Etsy, Shopify and WooCommerce.
2. The setting is on. When you ship an order here is Mark it fulfilled in the store by default. Leave the store as it is turns it off for a store.
3. Telling the customer. Tell the customer when you ship decides whether the store sends its own shipping email: Let the store email the customer (default) or Do not email the customer. Some stores, like Etsy, always email the buyer, and the setting shows as locked on.

The update is sent in the background, within a few minutes. The order shows how it went, naming your store: "Marking it fulfilled in Fernwood Print Co.…", then "Marked fulfilled in Fernwood Print Co.". If the store doesn't answer, SimplyPrint keeps trying for about ten hours before asking someone to look. A failure never undoes the shipment in SimplyPrint.

Adding or changing the tracking number later sends the new number to the store too, except on Etsy (see below).

When the store moves first

Sometimes an order is shipped from the store itself, for example with a label bought in Shopify or Etsy. The store's When the store marks an order fulfilled setting decides what SimplyPrint does:

• Ask me (default): the order shows "Fulfilled in Shopify" for review, with Move to Shipped and Keep current order. If it has left, move it to Shipped. If you're still making it, keep it.
• Mark it shipped: an order that is packed, or waiting for its label, moves to Shipped by itself, with the store's tracking number. Orders not packed yet are always left for you.

Either way, nothing is sent back to the store.

Orders where nothing is printed

An order of only bought-in items (or digital downloads, or things from stock) never goes to the print queue. On its Production tab it says "No printing required". Go straight to Pack & ship: the first Mark packed starts the order's workflow, and you can ship it and mark it shipped in the store like any other order.

Troubleshooting store updates

When the store refuses, the order says why, and offers Retry when retrying can help:

• "SimplyPrint is not allowed to mark orders fulfilled in this store yet." Allow it on the store's side, then Retry. On Shopify, allow it in the SimplyPrint app in Shopify. On WooCommerce, choose Allow marking orders fulfilled under WooCommerce > SimplyPrint. On Etsy, choose Allow marking orders shipped on the store's page in SimplyPrint (Etsy doesn't allow this for shops in some countries; see Etsy and the Shop).
• "The store needs a tracking number for this shipment." Add one, then Retry. Etsy requires tracking for some shipments, such as orders to India, or a US shop's orders to the US over $10.
• "The order is on hold in Shopify." Release the hold in Shopify, then Retry.
• "The store connection needs reconnecting." Reconnect the store, then Retry.
• "Already fulfilled in Shopify", "The order is cancelled, refunded or failed in the store", "The store erased this order": nothing to send. These don't offer Retry.
• "Etsy cannot change a shipment's tracking": on Etsy, a new tracking number after shipping would create a second shipment and email the buyer again, so it's kept in SimplyPrint only.

Shipping integrations (buying labels and tracking deliveries from SimplyPrint) aren't available yet; Settings > Shop > Shipping shows them as coming soon.

Related articles

• The Shop: run your 3D printing orders from store to shipped
• Shop orders: store orders, manual orders, review and release
• Shop production work: the Work page, clearing plates, trays and finishing steps
• Etsy and the Shop
• Shopify and the Shop
• WooCommerce and the Shop

Updated on: 05/11/2026