The Allow Partial setting lets you pick, pack, and ship an order even when some items are backordered (not physically in stock). By default, orders are only available for picking once all inventory is fully allocated and in pickable locations. Enabling Allow Partial lets you fulfill available items immediately and ship the rest once inventory arrives.
Allow Partial does not allow orders to be processed when the allocated items are in non-pickable locations. All allocated items must be in pickable bins.
Example, Allow Partial ON, orders with 3 items:
Order #1: 1 item backordered, 2 items allocated and in pickable bins. The order will be Ready to Ship: Yes and Ready to Pick: Yes, allowing it to show in the picking flows and be processed.
Order #2: 1 item backordered, 1 item allocated and in a pickable bin, 1 item allocated and in a non-pickable bin. The order will be Ready to Ship: Yes and Ready to Pick: No, which prevents it from being added to the order processing queues. To process the order, all allocated items must be in pickable bins.
Table of Contents
- Set Allow Partial on One Order
- Set Allow Partial on All Orders
- Set Allow Partial with Automation Rules
- Allow Partial for 3PL Accounts
- Allow Partial and Merged Orders
- How Allow Partial Affects Mobile Picking
Set Allow Partial on One Order
Enable Allow Partial on a specific order to pick, pack, and ship available items even if the order is not fully allocated.
- Go to Orders > Manage Orders page.
- Select the order number you want to open the Order's details page.
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Toggle Allow Partial on on the right side of the screen under Details.
Set Allow Partial on All Orders
Enable Default Allow Partial to apply this setting automatically to every new order.
- Go to My Account > Settings.
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Enable Default Allow Partial on the right side of the General Settings page.
Once enabled, all new orders will have Allow Partial on by default. If Default Allow Partial is turned off, new orders have Allow Partial off by default instead.
Set Allow Partial with Automation Rules
An automation rule is a set of conditions and actions that ShipHero runs on an order without manual input. The Set Allow Partial action controls Allow Partial for you:
- What it does: Turns Allow Partial On or Off for an order automatically when the rule's conditions are met.
- Common use case: An item has been on backorder for a long time and you want to ship the available inventory now instead of waiting.
- Exception: Does not apply to orders where the SKUs are kits.
For setup steps, see How to Manage Fulfillment Routing and Allocation with Automation Rules.
Allow Partial for 3PL Accounts
For a 3PL (a business that fulfills orders on behalf of other merchants), Default Allow Partial works like this:
- Each client's own Default Allow Partial setting controls that client's orders, not the 3PL's own account setting.
- This applies whether the 3PL creates the order manually or the order comes in through the client's store integration (Shopify, Amazon, and others).
- Each client under a 3PL can have its own independent Default Allow Partial configuration.
Allow Partial and Merged Orders
Allow Partial cannot be turned on for an order that has been merged with other orders. For background on merging, see How to Merge Orders in ShipHero.
Important
If you try to enable Allow Partial on a merged order, ShipHero blocks the change and shows this message: "You cannot allow partial shipments on an order that is merged with others. If you need to allow partial shipping for this order, please unmerge it first."
Orders with Allow Partial already turned on are also excluded from merge candidates, so they will not appear as a match when you try to merge another order with them.
How Allow Partial Affects Mobile Picking
Allow Partial is only turned on or off from the order details page or the General Settings page in the web dashboard. Warehouse staff cannot toggle it from the mobile picking app.
Once an order is set up for partial fulfillment, the order shows in the order processing queues displaying only the allocated items.