Packages & Shipping

A package records what physically went into a box for a sales order. Shipping a package is what moves the goods off your shelf, so packing and invoicing stay independent: you can invoice before you ship, ship before you invoice, or do part of each.

To access packages, navigate to the Sales module on the sidebar and click on Packages.

Turn the module on

Packages are off until you switch them on.

Go to Settings → Features and enable Packages & shipping.

Warning

This switch is one-way. Once packages are in use the module cannot be turned back off, because orders and stock would no longer agree. Turn it on when you are ready to use it.

Once it is on, sales orders gain packed, shipped and delivered counters, and a Packages entry appears in the Sales menu.

Pack an order

Navigate to Sales → Packages and click New package. You can also pack directly from a confirmed sales order.
Choose the sales order. Its lines appear with a remaining to pack quantity, so you always know what is left.
Enter how many of each line go into this box. You cannot pack more than remains.
For an item tracked by batch or serial number, say which units are in the box. See choosing the units that ship below.
Click Save.

The order's packed counter moves immediately. Pack the rest into further packages whenever you are ready. An order can have as many packages as it needs.

Note

Packing does not move stock. The goods are still yours until the package ships.

Choosing the units that ship

If an item is tracked by batch or serial number, the package is where you say which ones are going out: which rolls were cut, which machines were boxed. The sales order only reserves a quantity, because weeks earlier nobody knows which physical units will be picked.

On a tracked line, click the picker beside the quantity:

Serial numbers: pick exactly as many as the line packs. You can scan them instead of choosing from the list.
Batches: pick one or more batches whose quantities add up to the line. The remaining quantity in each batch is shown as you go, and a batch you have already used is not offered twice.

Lines for untracked items ask for nothing extra.

You cannot save a package that leaves a tracked line unpicked, because shipping has to decrement something specific. When the package ships, those exact batches and serial numbers are the ones that leave, and voiding the shipment puts those same ones back.

Note

The invoice does not ask again. Once a package has shipped, an invoice raised from that order shows the units it sent, and a credit note can only give back what the invoice sold.

Ship a package

Open the package and click Ship, then record the carrier, tracking number and any other shipping details.

Shipping is the point where stock leaves:

Physical stock is deducted at the package's location.
Any batches or serial numbers on the package are decremented.
The sales order's shipped counter moves.

If the customer notice is enabled in settings, the customer is emailed with the tracking details.

Ship several packages together

On the Packages list, select the packages going out together and choose Ship selected. They all take the same carrier and tracking number, and they ship as one action: either all of them go or none do.

Mark delivered

When the goods arrive, open the package and click Mark delivered.

Delivery records a date. It does not move stock, because the goods already left when the package shipped. Use Undo delivery if you marked it too early.

Undo a shipment

If a package never actually went out, open it and choose Void shipment (restock). The packed quantities go back on the shelf, the carrier and tracking details are cleared, and the package returns to not shipped.

A delivered package has to have its delivery undone first, so that voiding cannot quietly discard the delivery record.

Invoice what you shipped

From a package, choose Invoice this shipment in the actions menu. A new invoice opens carrying only the lines in that box, at the quantities you packed.

The invoice still belongs to the sales order, not to the package. The package only narrows what is billed, so nothing else on the order is invoiced by accident and the rest stays available to invoice later.

Tip

Invoicing from the sales order instead bills everything outstanding on it. Use the order when you bill once at the end, and the package when you bill each shipment as it goes out.

Print a packing slip

Open a package and choose Print packing slip from the actions menu. The slip lists what is in the box and its shipping details.

Control what appears on it under Settings → Documents → Invoices → Content. You can hide your company details, show batch details, and show or hide totals.

How an order closes

A sales order tracks two independent things:

Fulfilment: not packed, partially packed, packed, partially shipped, shipped, partially delivered, delivered.
Invoicing: not invoiced, partially invoiced, invoiced.

Neither waits for the other. An order closes when both sides are complete, according to the policy you choose in settings, for example when everything is invoiced and delivered.

Note

Closing is worked out from the two counters rather than stored as a flag, so voiding an invoice or a shipment reopens the order automatically.

Committed stock

When an order is confirmed, its quantities are committed, meaning reserved so they cannot be promised twice. As the order is shipped or invoiced, that commitment is released.

The release is calculated from the order's own counters, so it happens exactly once no matter what order the events arrive in, and no matter how many packages or invoices are involved.