Fulfilment Update Statuses - What do they mean?

Greetings gang. Many moons ago, under a suspiciously familiar name, on a blog not too dissimilar to this one, we posted a an article to shine a bit of extra light on what our fulfilment statuses, ya know, actually mean. When this new website went live, somehow it was left off the agenda. Apologies for that. Soooooo, here is that article again. 

Fully Dispatched

The fulfilment is complete with all able orders dispatched from our warehouse. This does not include any orders that require additional support/attention (i.e. address checks, PO box alternative address requests, stock inventory issues etc.) 

Fulfilment Underway

The fulfilment is currently set up on one of our pick stations and being picked/packed by our wonderful fulfilment ops team. Depending on the size of a project, this stage can take anywhere from a few hours to a full month or longer. Orders will start to be dispatched during this period once they have been picked and packed. 

A notification email will be sent once your order has been dispatched and scanned into the couriers system. 

Final Administrative Checks 

This is the final stage before fulfilment can start. Stock is available and data is ready in the system. We need to make sure all items have the correct weights and dimensions in the system, as well as declared values, commodity code and country of origin information. Further to this, payment from the publisher needs to have been received in advance before we can begin fulfilment. We also need to make sure that the necessary packaging and void fill is available for the project, to ensure no delays during fulfilment and smooth transition onto the next project. 

Project Data Analysis

This step is where we analyse the finalised backer data, assessing the size and complexity of the project (no. of items, average no. of picks per order, no. of orders), as well as checking that the incoming inventory sustains the requirements of the fulfilment. We will also be checking on the order combinations and seeing which combinations has the highest volumes (for efficient picking) and working out packaging solutions for the publisher to approve. 

Awaiting Project Arrival from Port

The goods have arrived or are soon to be arriving into the relevant hubs port, and will need to go through customs clearance before being released from the port to be delivered to us. This step usually takes one week to clear the goods through port, but there can be exceptional circumstances where the goods are held at customs for x-ray checks and can be held up for 2-3 weeks. Further to this, vessels docking into port can sometimes “cut and run” if they are required to dock at another port at a certain date, meaning they will leave the port with the goods and come back at a later date – leading to delays for fulfilment projects, which are out of our hands. 

Project on the Water/in the Air

We have been notified by the publisher/freight forwarder that their goods have left the manufacturer (usually China) and are on their way to our hub/s. At this stage we are waiting for the goods to arrive into port, but will be checking in with the publisher for customs clearance documentation to ensure that the goods arrive into their intended country without delay at the border. 

Future Projects

This is where we have been notified about the project by the publisher but not yet had confirmation of the goods sailing/flying. We will be following up with the publisher for an understanding of their shipping timeline, but at this time have no confirmation on when it is expected with us. 

Held for Additional Checks 

This status is for exceptional circumstances on projects, whereby a problem has arisen that can’t be immediately resolved, so the fulfilment needs to be put on hold until such time we can deal with the situation. We will be actively working with the publisher to try and resolve the issues that the fulfilment is facing and provide updates as the situation develops.