How to Use the Auto-Fulfill Product Setting

The Auto-Fulfill product setting automatically marks certain line items as fulfilled when an order is created or imported in ShipHero — bypassing the normal fulfillment workflow. It is ideal for non-physical goods or items handled outside your warehouse.

This article covers:

• Common Use Cases and How it Works
• Things to Consider
• How to Enable Auto-Fulfill for a Product
• Best Practices

Common Use Cases and How it Works

Auto-Fulfill is typically used for items that don't require physical packaging or shipment from your warehouse, such as:

• Virtual/Digital Products: Digital downloads, software licenses, extended warranties, or gift cards.
• Services: Non-physical services included as part of an order.
• Externally Fulfilled Items: Products handled by a third-party vendor outside your core fulfillment system (distinct from the standard Dropship setting).

How It Works

When Auto-Fulfill is enabled on a product, ShipHero automatically sets that line item's status to fulfilled on any order it appears on — whether imported or manually added. The following fields are set to 0: quantity pending fulfillment, shipped, allocated, and backorder.

Things to Consider

• Order Status: Orders containing only auto-fulfill products are automatically marked as fulfilled.
• Ready to Ship: Auto-fulfill line items are not counted toward the quantity needed to determine if an order is Ready to Ship.
• Mixed Orders: If an order contains both auto-fulfill and regular products, it is only considered Ready to Ship once the regular items are fully allocated.
• Automation Rules: If all products on an order have auto-fulfill enabled, the order is set to fulfilled and Automation Rules will not run.

• Store Notifications: Auto-fulfilled items are marked as fulfilled in ShipHero but are not automatically notified to your store platform (Shopify, Amazon, etc.). Only items with tracking numbers trigger fulfillment notifications. The table below shows what to expect in each scenario.

  If an order has both auto-fulfill and regular items:	If an order has only auto-fulfill items:
  Auto-fulfill items are marked as fulfilled in ShipHero Only regular items are shipped and notified to the store The store sees a partial fulfillment until all physical items ship	The order is marked as fulfilled in ShipHero No shipment notification is sent to the store (no tracking number exists) The order remains in its original state on the store platform unless manually updated

How to Enable Auto-Fulfill for a Product

You can enable Auto-Fulfill using any of the following methods:

• Product Details Page: Open the product's details page, click the edit icon, and check the Auto-Fulfill checkbox.
• Bulk Edit CSV: Use the Auto Fulfill column in the product CSV — enter 1 (Yes/True) or 0 (No/False). See Using the Bulk Edit CSV for more information.
• API: Set the auto_fulfill parameter to true when creating or updating a product.

Best Practices

• Use for truly non-physical items: Gift cards, warranties, digital downloads, and services.
• Account for store platform sync: You may need additional automation to keep fulfillment status in sync with your store.
• Document for your team: Make it clear which products are auto-fulfill and won't generate shipment notifications.
• Test mixed orders: Verify that your store handles partial fulfillments correctly when mixing auto-fulfill and regular products.

Auto-Fulfill vs. Is Virtual

There is also a separate Is Virtual flag on products. While related, the two settings serve different purposes:

• Is Virtual: Indicates the product is non-physical (informational only).
• Auto-Fulfill: Actually changes fulfillment behavior (functional).

You can use both together for digital products, but Auto-Fulfill is what controls the fulfillment automation.