Integrating with ShipBob

Overview

ShipBob is a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that stores, picks, packs, and ships orders on behalf of Shopify merchants. This article explains how Order Editing works alongside ShipBob so your edited orders sync correctly before fulfilment.

ShipBob connects to your Shopify store and imports orders for fulfilment. Without Order Editing configured, ShipBob may import an order before the customer has finished editing it. This means your warehouse could pick, pack, and ship the wrong version of the order.

Order Editing prevents this by using delayed payment capture. ShipBob only sees orders once payment has been captured, and Order Editing holds capture until the editing window closes. The result: every order that reaches ShipBob is the customer's final version.

How Order Editing works with ShipBob

ShipBob imports orders from Shopify once payment has been captured. Order Editing uses delayed payment capture to hold orders during the editing window. Once the window closes, payment captures automatically and ShipBob imports the finalized order with all customer edits included.

Here's what happens step by step:

1. Customer places an order. Payment is authorized but not captured. ShipBob doesn't see the order yet.
2. The editing window opens. The customer can change items, quantities, their shipping address, and more.
3. The editing window closes. Payment captures automatically. The finalized order is now visible to ShipBob.
4. ShipBob imports the order. Your fulfilment team processes the final version with all changes included.

💡 Tip: This approach means your fulfilment team never has to deal with order changes after import. Every order that reaches ShipBob is the customer's final version.

Prerequisites

• An active Order Editing subscription
• ShipBob connected to your Shopify store
• Shopify payment capture set to manual (see What is delayed payment capture?)

Setup steps

1. Enable delayed payment capture. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments > Payment capture and select Manually.
2. Delay when ShipBob imports the order. Use one of these two options. Either install the Order Editing Shopify Flow, a pre-built Flow that manages the editing window and triggers payment capture when it expires (see Shopify Flow and Order Editing for setup instructions). Alternatively, you can set a native import delay in ShipBob: go to Settings > Integrations > Shopify and set the Order Import Delay to match or exceed your editing window (maximum 24 hours), so ShipBob waits before pulling in the order.
3. Enable ShipBob in Order Editing. In Order Editing, go to Settings > Integrations and enable ShipBob.
4. Verify the connection. Place a test order and confirm that ShipBob only imports it after the editing window closes and payment captures.

⚠️ Warning: Don't go live until you've verified the integration with a test order. If ShipBob imports orders before the editing window closes, customers may edit an order that's already being processed in the warehouse.

Troubleshooting

ShipBob is importing orders before the editing window closes

This usually means payment capture is set to automatic. Check your Shopify payment settings and confirm capture is set to Manually. Also verify that the Order Editing Shopify Flow is active and running correctly.

Customer edits aren't showing in ShipBob

If ShipBob imported the order before the editing window closed, the edits won't be reflected. Check the order timeline in Shopify to confirm when payment was captured relative to when edits were made.

ShipBob isn't importing orders at all

Confirm that ShipBob is configured to import orders based on payment status. If ShipBob uses a different trigger, contact Order Editing support with your ShipBob configuration details so we can recommend the right setup.

FAQ

Do I need to change anything in ShipBob?

In most cases, no. If ShipBob already imports orders based on payment capture, the delayed capture approach works automatically. ShipBob will simply wait until payment is captured before importing the order.

What happens if a customer doesn't edit their order?

The editing window still runs its full duration. Once it expires, payment captures automatically and the order flows to ShipBob as normal. The only difference is a short delay between checkout and when ShipBob sees the order.

Will this slow down my fulfilment?

The delay is equal to your editing deadline, typically 15 to 60 minutes. Most merchants find this trade-off worthwhile because it eliminates the cost of processing order changes, reprinting pick lists, or dealing with incorrect shipments after fulfilment has started.