Order Management
Part of Third-party fulfilment technology
Checking order and stock visibility before choosing a 3PL
Check order stages, open quantities, stock definitions and channel updates before relying on a 3PL’s visibility claims.
Before choosing a 3PL, check whether staff can see the work accepted for each order and explain the quantity available to sell for each item. Establish what every status and stock figure means, when it updates and which gaps remain. A “real-time” description does not answer those questions for a particular connection.
Separate order stages and quantities
For one sample order, retain the merchant’s source ID, the provider’s ID, line quantities and any hold or parcel references. Ask for the last confirmed event and its time. Imported, being processed, labelled and handed to a carrier are different positions, even if a portal combines them.
Check a split or partial order. Staff should be able to identify completed quantities, outstanding quantities and the parcel that contains each completed part.
ShipBob’s developer guide says the response returns information about the order and associated shipments, including shipment IDs, line items and the assigned fulfilment centre. Compare the returned shipment IDs and line items with the quantities still outstanding.
Key Stock and Order Metrics to Verify
- Order Status Stages
- Imported, Being Processed, Labelled, Handed to Carrier
- Shipment ID Tracking
- Returned via API; used to reconcile completed vs outstanding quantities
- Bundle Stock Handling
- Tracked at component level, not as bundle SKU
- Inventory ID Changes
- May change after product merge; requires reconciliation in integrations
Make stock figures explainable
Ask for the stock view at the item and location detail the merchant needs. Establish the meaning of physical stock, held or disputed stock, stock committed to orders and stock available to sell. Obtain the provider’s calculation and update rules before trying to reconcile columns yourself.
eStore Logistics’ inventory documentation, for example, lists separate on-hold, suspense, in-process, sales-demand, available-to-sell and on-hand fields, with product and warehouse information and lot and batch detail.
| Case to inspect | Order or inbound evidence | Stock question |
|---|---|---|
| Partial receipt | Expected and accepted quantities | What is physically present and saleable? |
| Units held | Item, quantity and reason | Has the sellable figure changed? |
| Order accepted | Provider order and line quantities | When is stock committed? |
| Short pick | Unfinished quantity and owner | When is the balance corrected? |
| Return inspected | Return reference and disposition | When, if ever, is it saleable? |
Use quantities whose expected meaning the merchant can establish, and inspect the provider record after each change.
Stock Visibility Definitions Across Providers
- Physical Stock
- Actual inventory on hand in warehouse
- Held or Disputed Stock
- Inventory under dispute or temporarily unavailable for sale
- Stock Committed to Orders
- Inventory reserved for confirmed orders, not available to sell
- Available to Sell
- Physical stock minus held, disputed and committed stock
- In-Process Stock
- Inventory being received, inspected or prepared for sale
- Suspense Stock
- Inventory awaiting resolution of discrepancies or audit
Trace the figure to the selling channel
A provider portal can show a correct balance while a storefront still has an older or differently defined figure. Ask which system calculates sellable stock, how its item maps to the channel variant, how bundles are handled and whether the channel acknowledges updates.
ShipBob’s inventory guide reports quantities by inventory_id and says bundle stock is tracked at component level rather than as a bundle SKU quantity. It also says an inventory ID may change after a product merge.
A ShipBob integration that stores those IDs therefore needs a way to reconcile its mappings. Ask the provider how bundle components map to the sellable quantity sent to the channel.
Record the source event, provider view and channel view with observation times. When they disagree, establish whether the cause is an update rule, hold, rejected message or unknown state. The arrangement is suitable when staff can identify what remains owed, explain the stock figure used for selling and assign a discrepancy to an owner.
