Order Processing Checklist

Sync the morning batch from Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, eBay, Walmart Marketplace, and Etsy into the central OMS (Linnworks, ShipStation, Veeqo, or SkuVault). Cross-check the order count against yesterday's run rate so a missed channel sync gets caught before allocation.

Confirm Stripe, Shopify Payments, PayPal, or Braintree captured authorization and that AVS and CVV results came back clean. Pre-auth holds and declined retries clog the morning queue if not cleared first — never ship on a pending capture.

Run the queue through Shopify Fraud Protect, Signifyd, or NoFraud. High-velocity buyer accounts, mismatched billing and shipping, and known freight-forwarder addresses warrant a manual hold before the order moves to allocation.

Call the cardholder, request a secondary form of ID, or cancel and refund. Document the disposition in the order timeline so chargeback reps have an audit trail when the dispute lands 60 days from now.

Amazon Buyer-Seller Messaging, Shopify order notes, and eBay buyer messages may carry gift wrapping, hold-for-pickup, or ship-to-school instructions. Tag the order for the picker before the pick list prints — handwritten add-ons at the pack station are how mistakes happen.

Centralized inventory in Cin7, SkuVault, or Linnworks should match Amazon FBM available, Shopify available, and the warehouse physical count. Mismatches drive overselling and Amazon cancellation rate breaches — the threshold is 2.5% before warnings hit.

Reserve units against the order and push the new available count to every connected listing within minutes. Stale syncs are the leading cause of overselling — set a low-stock buffer per channel so the last unit doesn't go to two customers.

Generate the supplier PO or kick off an FBA-to-FBM transfer. Factor full lead time including Chinese New Year shutdown, ocean transit, and port congestion — air freight is the Q4 backup, not the plan.

Supplements, cosmetics under MoCRA, and consumables require lot tracking and FIFO picking. Amazon FBA enforces minimum remaining shelf life of 90 to 180 days depending on category — short-dated units get rejected at the FC.

Batch pick by warehouse zone in ShipStation or ShipHero to keep the pick path efficient. Singles route to the singles station; multis route to the pack-out line so cartons aren't built twice.

Scan UPC or FNSKU on every unit picked. Eyeball picks are the leading cause of mis-ships and the resulting Amazon A-to-z claims that hit the order defect rate.

Look for dented retail boxes, loose components, expired dates, and printing defects. A creeping returns rate on a SKU usually traces back to a quiet QC drift here — flag patterns to merchandising weekly.

Right-size the carton, add bubble or air-pillow protection, and include the brand insert with care instructions. Oversize and DIM-weight overages erode margin fast — re-measure your standard cartons quarterly against UPS and FedEx rate cards.

Pull rates from ShipStation, Pirate Ship, or Shippo across UPS, FedEx, USPS, and regional carriers (LSO, OnTrac). Confirm hazmat and oversize surcharges and the Amazon Prime SLA where applicable.

UPS, FedEx, USPS, and regional carriers all publish daily pickup cutoffs. Missing the cutoff slides the ship-by date and risks an Amazon late-shipment-rate breach — the threshold is 4% before account-health warnings.

Get the end-of-day driver manifest signed. Without it, lost-package claims have no proof of tender and the carrier will deny on documentation alone.

Push tracking back to the OMS so it lands on Amazon within the ship-by window — Valid Tracking Rate must stay above 95%. Klaviyo or Postscript fires the customer-facing shipment confirmation; tracking pages can run through AfterShip or Route.

Weather delays, address corrections, and 'delivered, not received' exceptions all surface here. Proactive outreach to the customer beats an unhappy chargeback or an A-to-z claim by a week.

Pull Amazon Seller Central account health (ODR, late-shipment rate, VTR, cancellation rate), Shopify fulfillment SLA, and the 3PL invoice. Trends over the trailing 7 and 30 days matter more than any one day's spike.

For ASINs, use Amazon's Request a Review button or enroll in Vine — never incentivize a review or use Buyer-Seller Messaging to ask for one. On Shopify, fire Yotpo, Okendo, or Junip 5 to 10 days after delivery confirmation.

Run returns through Loop Returns, Happy Returns, or AfterShip Returns. Tag the reason code (sizing, defect, not-as-described) so merchandising can spot per-SKU return-rate creep before it eats Q4 margin.

UPS allows 60 days for a claim, USPS 60 days for Priority, and FedEx 21 to 60 days depending on service. Attach the signed driver manifest, photos of damage, and the original carrier label — incomplete filings get denied flat.