Delivery Tracking Checklist

Pull the order from Shopify, Amazon, eBay, or your OMS (Cin7, Skubana, ShipStation). Verify shipping address, line items, and any gift / subscription notes flowed through correctly. Address-validation failures and missing apartment numbers are the most common day-one fulfillment delays.

Check Shopify / Stripe / Kount fraud score. Hold orders flagged for AVS mismatch, mismatched billing/shipping countries, or high-risk score for manual review before allocation. Chargebacks on shipped orders cost the merchandise plus the dispute fee.

Call the cardholder's bank for AVS confirmation, request ID for high-AOV orders, or cancel and refund. Document the decision in the order notes for chargeback defense.

Reserve units against on-hand inventory in the OMS and decrement available counts across all sales channels (Shopify, Amazon FBM, eBay, Walmart). Overselling between channels is the most common cause of cancel-after-purchase emails and Amazon ODR hits.

Confirmation triggers automatically from Shopify / Klaviyo. Spot-check that the order summary, expected ship window, and support contact rendered correctly — broken transactional emails drive a wave of CX tickets within hours.

Batch labels in ShipStation, Shippo, or Pirate Ship using the rate-shopped carrier (USPS Ground Advantage, UPS Ground, FedEx Home, or regional). Confirm DIM weight on oversized items so labels don't get reweighed and adjusted by the carrier.

Scan SKU/UPC at the bin to prevent the wrong-variant-shipped error that drives most preventable returns. For lot/expiration-tracked products (supplements, cosmetics under MoCRA, food), capture lot at pick.

Check for cosmetic damage, missing components in multi-pack bundles, and correct variant (color, size). For fragile or hazmat SKUs, confirm prep matches carrier requirements.

Match box size to product to avoid DIM-weight surcharges. Include the packing slip, any branded inserts (referral cards, review-request cards that comply with Amazon ToS for FBM orders), and protective material sized to the item's fragility.

Get the driver's signed end-of-day manifest with carton count. Without the signed manifest, lost-package claims with the carrier are nearly impossible to win.

Tracking must sync to Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Shopify within each marketplace's window — Amazon's Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) requires it within the promised ship date or account health drops. Confirm carrier code matches the tracking number format.

Triggered via Klaviyo or AfterShip with a branded tracking page. Branded tracking pages reduce WISMO ("where is my order") tickets by 30-50% versus carrier-default tracking links.

Pull the AfterShip / EasyPost / ShipStation exception report daily. Flag shipments stuck > 48 hours with no scan, delivery exceptions (address issue, refused, damaged), and weather/regional carrier delays.

UPS and FedEx accept claims after 7 days no movement; USPS after 15 (Ground Advantage) or 21 (Priority). File with the signed manifest, packing slip, and product cost. For Shopify Shipping Insurance / Route / shipsurance, file through the platform instead.

Trigger Yotpo / Judge.me / Okendo review request 3-5 days post-delivery. For Amazon FBM orders, use Seller Central's "Request a Review" button only — off-platform incentivized review asks violate Amazon's Communication Guidelines and risk account suspension.

Tag tickets by reason (lost, damaged, wrong item, late, refused). Aim for first-response under 4 business hours during normal volume; Amazon's response-time SLA on FBM messages is 24 hours including weekends.

Pull replacement inventory and ship same-day with expedited service. Recover the cost via the carrier claim or shipping-insurance claim opened earlier — don't double-pay for the unit.

Issue RMA with prepaid label, store credit incentive (typically +10-20% for credit vs. refund), and return reason capture. Reason codes feed the per-SKU returns analysis at month-end.

Refund within the policy window stated at checkout (typically 30 days). Late refunds drive chargebacks and CFPB / state AG complaints. For subscription orders, also pause or cancel the next billing cycle.

Mark orders fulfilled and reconcile actual ship cost vs. quoted. Carrier weight/DIM adjustments often appear 5-7 days post-ship and quietly erode margin if not tracked.

Pull on-time delivery rate, late shipment rate, ODR (Amazon), VTR, refund rate, and per-carrier exception rate. Flag any metric that crossed an account-health threshold in Seller Central or eBay.

Log recurring problems (specific zone delays, FC mis-receives, carrier damage spikes) for the quarterly business review. This is leverage for rate negotiation and 3PL accountability.

Update pack instructions, carrier rate-shopping rules, or fraud thresholds based on the week's data. Close the loop so the same exception type doesn't repeat next cycle.