Fulfill physical goods purchases

❗ Important: The documentation in this topic refers to a feature or product that is currently in Early Availability status. Features in Early Availability status are only available in production to a limited number of customers based on fit with specific use cases. For more information about Early Availability status, see Product lifecycle phases. If you would like to use the product capabilities described here during the Early Availability phase, contact your AppDirect technical representative.

After a customer purchases physical goods on a marketplace, the items need to be fulfilled. Unless the marketplace is configured for no-touch fulfillment (see information provided in this topic), the Fulfill Items button appears on the Purchase Details page, and a Marketplace Manager (MM), Customer Service Representative (CSR), or Sales Support Representative (CSR) needs to fulfill the purchase. If a product requires manual fulfillment, the Fulfill Items button always appears on the Purchase Details page.

Purchase fulfillment involves ensuring that there is sufficient quantity of the product to ship to the customer, and that shipment details are updated in the user interface.

If a purchase includes a combination of physical and web products, the Fulfill Items button appears on the Purchase Details page, and the status for the entire purchase on the Purchases listing page is In Progress, even if some (but not all) of the items in the purchase have been provisioned or fulfilled. The status for the entire purchase on the Purchases listing page only changes to Completed after all items within the purchase have a Closed or Canceled status.

To fulfill a purchase

📝 Note: If the AppDirect logo appears in the upper-left corner of the page, when Manage > Marketplace appears in this topic, click the grid icon > Switch to | Store, instead.

1. Go to Manage > Marketplace. A notification alerts you if there are pending customer purchases for your review.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Click the link in the notification. The Purchase listing page opens.
   • Go to Dashboard > Billing | Purchases. The Purchase listing page opens. If you select this path, the Purchases page lists all purchases made on the marketplace for all products, including physical goods, which require fulfillment, and other product types such as web applications, which do not require fulfillment. The most recent purchases are displayed first. The first column includes the company name, the purchaser's name, and the purchase ID. The second column displays the purchase date (date created).
3. Click the row of the purchase you want to fulfill. The purchase details page opens. Because the purchase is not yet fulfilled, the status next to the product name is Unfulfilled and the Fulfill Products button appears below the product name. The Products section of the page displays the list of products that you need to fulfill. If you previously fulfilled some of the products in the purchase but not all of them, the Products section includes two panes—Unfulfilled and Fulfilled.
4. Click Fulfill Products. The page can include the following panes:
   • Manual—You stock and ship products
   • Automated—A shipping partner stocks and ships products on your behalf
   • Both manual and automated—The purchase includes at least one product that requires manual fulfillment, and one or more products that require automated fulfillment. If the page includes both manual and automated panes, refer to both of the following procedures to complete the fulfillment process.

To fulfill products in the manual pane

1. For each product in the Manual pane, identify the shipped quantity in the quantity field. If you have insufficient inventory, you can enter a lower number. If you have no inventory, you can cancel the purchase.
2. (Optional) After you ship the products, you can enter the following information about the shipment. Any information that you enter here is included in the email sent to users after you fulfill the product.
   • Tracking ID—The unique ID or code assigned to the parcel.
   • Shipping carrier—The name of the shipping provider that shipped the parcel.
   • Shipping status—From the drop-down list, select Shipped, In Transit, or Delivered.
   • Tracking URL—The link provided by the shipping service that redirects the customer to the shipper's page that contains details about the shipment status.
   • Service type—The type of shipping service that was selected (for example, Priority, Express, or First Class).
   • Shipping status—Select one of the options in the drop-down list (Shipped, In Transit or Delivered).
3. (Optional) To send emails to customers regarding updates related to their shipment, select Notify customer.
4. Click Fulfill Products. The Purchase Details page opens, with a notification that the products are fulfilled. In the Products section of the page, Products appear in the Unfulfilled pane, or in the Fulfilled pane, or both. If items appear in the Fulfilled pane, it means that you previously fulfilled a portion of the purchase. The following tables describe the status for each product. Each table includes a column that describes the status that Company Administrators and Billing Administrators see (in some cases the users who fulfill purchases see more detail than company and billing administrators).
   The following abbreviations are used to describe user roles in the tables:
   • Fulfillment manager—Users with the Marketplace Manager, Customer Service Representative, or Sales Support Representative role
   • User admin—Users with the Company Administrator or Billing Administrator role

Status labels for fulfilled products

Status (fulfillment manager view)	Status (user admin view)	Description
Closed	Closed	The fulfillment manager shipped some or all of a product's units (the number of shipped units is displayed). For manual purchases, the fulfillment manager can edit purchase details.
Closed—Canceled	Canceled	The fulfillment manager removed the product from the purchase. This might occur if there is an insufficient quantity of a product or for other reasons.

Status labels for unfulfilled products

Status (fulfillment manager view)	Status (user admin view)	Description
Open	Open	The item was purchased and is ready to be fulfilled. It can take a few seconds for the Open status to appear while the system is setting the items up for fulfillment.
Open	Open	The product is not fulfilled. This can include the following: The fulfillment manager has not fulfilled any items in the purchase. The fulfillment is incomplete. For example, the fulfillment manager shipped fewer items than the customer ordered, or did not fulfill the product. The status remains Open until fulfillment is complete. The number of unfulfilled items is displayed. The Fulfill Products button continues to appear on the page until the fulfillment manager resolves all unfulfilled items.

5. For any products that appear in the Unfulfilled pane, do either of the following:
   • Fulfill the product
     1. Click the row in which the unfulfilled product appears, then fulfill the product (refer to the previous steps).
   • Remove the product from the purchase

     1. Click the trash icon. A dialogue opens.

     2. Enter the reason for the cancellation.

     3. Click Confirm. The Purchase page for this purchase opens. A notification advises you that the product was successfully canceled. The product appears in the Fulfilled pane with the status Canceled.

        ⛔ Caution: If you remove a product from a purchase, you must also process a manual refund to the customer (refunds are not automatically generated when you cancel a product).

     4. (Optional) To view the reason for cancellation, click the row of the canceled product. The cancellation reason appears.

6. (Optional) For any manually fulfilled product in the Fulfilled pane, you can manage details of the fulfillment, even if the status is Closed. This enables you to update shipment details such as the status of the shipment, and to notify the customer of the updates.
   1. Click the product row to view details of the fulfillment. This includes any details that you entered such as delivery status and tracking URL.
   2. Click Edit. The Purchases to Fulfill page for this product opens.
   3. Edit details as required. For example, you can update the shipping status or correct the tracking URL.
   4. You can modify the Notify Customer option, if required. If Notify Customer is selected, the customer receives a notification regarding every change that you make.
   5. Click Save. The Purchase Details page opens. It includes a notification that the shipment details were updated.

To fulfill products in the Automated pane

1. For each product in the Automated pane, enter the quantity to fulfill.
2. (Optional) Enter notes or comments for the dropshipper.
3. (Optional) Select Notify customer if you want the customer to receive notifications regarding the shipment.
4. Click Fulfill Products. The Purchase Details page opens, with a notification that the products are fulfilled. In the Products section of the page, Products appear in the Unfulfilled pane, or in the Fulfilled pane, or both. If products appear in the Fulfilled pane, it means that you previously fulfilled a portion of the purchase. The following table describes the status for each product, and possible actions that you can take.
   The following abbreviations are used to describe user roles in the tables:
   • Fulfillment manager—Users with the Marketplace Manager, Customer Service Representative, or Sales Support Representative role
   • User admin—Users with the Company Administrator or Billing Administrator role
   • Fulfillment service—The shipping partner (for example, a dropshipper) that maintains the product inventory and ships marketplace products to customers.

Status labels for fulfilled products

Status (fulfillment manager view)	Status (user admin view)	Description
Closed—Processing	Closed	The item was fulfilled and is pending action from the fulfillment service. The number of fulfilled units is displayed.
Closed	Closed	The fulfillment service fulfilled the product.
Closed—Canceled	Canceled	The fulfillment manager canceled the product (removed it from the purchase)

Status labels for unfulfilled products
The Fulfill Products button continues to appear on the page until you resolve all unfulfilled items.

Status (fulfillment manager view)	Status (user admin view)	Description
Open	Open	The items are ready to be fulfilled.A fulfillment manager needs to click the Fulfill Items button on the purchase details page to start fulfillment. Company Administrators and Billing Administrators see a notification on the Purchase Details page that shipping information is not yet available.
Open—Rejected	Open	The fulfillment service has denied the fulfillment request. This can occur if there is insufficient inventory, if the product was recalled, or for other reasons. The fulfillment manager can cancel the fulfillment request and issue a refund. If they resolve the issue through direct communication with the shipping service, they can click Fulfill Items again.

5. For any products that appear in the Unfulfilled pane, do either of the following:
   • Fulfill the product
     1. Click the row in which the unfulfilled product appears, then fulfill the product (refer to the previous steps).
   • Remove the product from the purchase

     1. Click the trash icon. A dialogue opens.

     2. Enter the reason for the cancellation.

     3. Click Confirm. The Purchase page for this purchase opens. A notification advises you that the product was successfully canceled. The product appears in the Fulfilled pane with the status Canceled.

        ⛔ Caution: If you remove a product from a purchase, you must also process a manual refund to the customer (refunds are not automatically generated when you cancel a product).

     4. (Optional) To view the reason for cancellation, click the row of the canceled product. The cancellation reason appears.