Backordered & Partial Shipments

Backordered & Partial Shipments

Not every order ships all at once. This guide covers how Packiyo handles backordered items and partial shipments, so your warehouse and operations teams can accurately manage customer expectations and fulfillment.

  • Backordered — an item on an order with insufficient on-hand inventory at the time of allocation/packing. The item stays on the order as backordered until inventory is replenished and a follow-up shipment is created.
  • Partial Shipment — when one or more (but not all) order lines are shipped in a single shipment. Packiyo records each shipment against the order and keeps track of the remaining lines/quantities for later fulfillment.

Order Lifecycle and Behavior

  • Allocation — Orders are allocated against available inventory. If allocation fails for some lines, those lines are flagged as backordered.
  • Picking/Packing — Pick lists show both ready and backordered items; backordered items are excluded from the pick if not allocated.
  • Shipment creation — You can create a shipment for the allocated lines only (a partial shipment) and leave backordered lines for a later shipment.

Statuses:

  • Order: Partially Shipped — This isn't technically a separate status; it's a state an order can be in. It isn't displayed any differently than a regular pending order.
  • Order: Backordered — No lines shipped; all or some lines are awaiting stock.
  • Order: Shipped / Completed — All lines shipped and fulfilled.

Where to Look

  • Order detail page — Backordered lines display a badge or label, "Backordered," with the remaining quantity.
  • Shipment history — Each shipment shows which lines were included and the shipped quantities.
  • Pick/Pack  — Backordered items are visually dimmed or listed separately, so pickers know not to pick them.

How to Create Partial Shipments

Automatic Flow

There's no default, out-of-the-box logic that automatically creates partial shipments. If you'd like this behavior, you can set up an automation for it — Packiyo doesn't apply partial shipment logic automatically by default.

Manual Partial Shipment
  1. Open the order in Packiyo.
  2. Apply the Partial toggle on the order.
  3. From there, the order processes through the packing page the same way as any other order.

Notes
📌 There's no option to select specific lines or quantities to ship. When the partial toggle is on, it's inherently requesting fulfillment for all currently allocated units — anything unallocated remains backordered.

Notifications & Downstream Effects

  • Customer notifications — Shipment notification emails aren't partial-specific. They're general shipment notifications that fire on every shipment, partial or otherwise, based on your integration's configuration. Configure email templates and triggers in your account settings.
  • Tracking — Each shipment has its own tracking number(s). Subsequent shipments for backordered items will have separate tracking details.
  • Invoicing/Billing — Billing for shipping is per shipment; partial shipments trigger separate shipping charges, according to your billing configuration.
  • Integrations (e.g., e-commerce platforms) — Packiyo sends shipment/fulfillment updates for each shipment. If an order remains partially fulfilled, the external system receives partial-fulfillment notifications (format depends on the integration).

Examples

Example 1 — Single-line partial quantity
  1. Order: 1 line, quantity 10. On-hand: 6.
  2. Action: Ship 6 now, leave 4 backordered.
  3. Result: One shipment for 6 units; order remains partially shipped with 4 units backordered.
Example 2 — Multi-line partial fulfillment
  1. Order: Line A qty 2 (in stock), Line B qty 1 (out of stock).
  2. Action: Ship Line A; Line B remains backordered.
  3. Result: Shipment contains Line A only; order state = partially shipped; Line B still listed as Backordered.


Common Settings That Affect Behavior

  1. Customer partial-shipment notifications — There's no setting specific to partial shipments here. Notification emails fire on every shipment, regardless of whether it's partial, based on your integration's configuration.
  2. Allow split-quantities — Allows operators to split line quantities into multiple shipments.
Notes
📌 Note: Packiyo does not auto-ship allocated items by default.

Check these in your account's Shipping / Orders settings, or ask the Packiyo support team to confirm your tenant-level defaults.


Troubleshooting & FAQ

  1. Why is an item still marked backordered after stock arrival? Make sure the incoming inventory was received into the same warehouse/location as the order allocation. Allocation happens automatically once matching stock is received — for more detail on how Packiyo prioritizes and allocates inventory, see our Inventory Allocation: Scores, Priority & Holds article.
  2. Can I merge backordered items into an existing shipment? No — once a shipment is created and confirmed, shipments are immutable for audit purposes. Create a new shipment for the backordered items and treat it as a follow-up shipment.
  3. How do returns affect backordered lines? Returned stock follows standard returns processing. If returned items are accepted into inventory, they can be allocated to backordered orders according to your allocation rules.
  4. Where can I see all open backorders? Use the Orders list and filter by Backordered status, or use the Backorders view/report in Packiyo.