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Ship and track orders

When goods leave your warehouse, you can book a courier from Growmax ARC, follow the shipment until it is delivered, and record what you paid the courier. This article covers connecting a courier, booking, tracking, and the delivery settings that shape what buyers are offered.

Before you start​

  • Couriers, bookings and the Shipments list need the delivery partners feature on your plan. If Shipments is missing from the Sales menu, ask your administrator.
  • You need permission to list shipments to see the page, and permission to ship orders to see courier costs and record courier payments.
  • A person who sees only their own customers sees only the shipments of their own customers' orders and returns.

Connect a courier​

You do this once per courier.

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations. In the Delivery Partners section, choose Add next to the courier you use.
  2. Enter a Name (staff and buyers see it), choose the Environment (Sandbox to try it out, Live for real bookings), and fill in the courier's credential fields.
  3. Choose Add Partner.
  4. Choose Test Connection. ARC checks your credentials with the courier and shows the courier's own message if they are refused.
  5. Where the courier needs it, choose Register Webhook, or copy the webhook address into the courier's own dashboard. This is how the courier sends tracking updates back.
  6. Switch on Enable for Bookings.

A courier can only be enabled after its connection has passed the test. If you later change its credentials or environment, it is switched off until you test it again.

Choose how delivery is charged​

Go to Settings > Delivery. The page has these sections:

  • Delivery Fee. Choose Flat Fee or Live Price from a Delivery Partner. Both let you set a Free Delivery From amount.
  • Booking Defaults. Set a fallback parcel, a default pickup warehouse, and whether to Mark Orders Delivered Automatically.
  • Shipping Sticker. Choose the default label size.
  • Units, Boxes, Packing. Set the boxes ARC uses to pack an order and price it.
  • Customer Emails and the customer display settings, which control what buyers are told and offered.

Packing uses each product variant's weight and size. Settings > Delivery has a missing shipping data page that lists the variants that cannot be packed yet.

Book a shipment​

  1. Open a sales order whose goods have already shipped.
  2. In the order's Shipments card, or its header, choose Book Shipment.
  3. Pick the courier and service you want, then choose Book.

Booking asks a courier to collect goods that are already shipped. It does not change your stock. If no courier is enabled, the dialog says so and links to the place to set one up.

To collect goods from a customer, open the return and choose Book Return Pickup. See Manage customer returns.

Follow your shipments​

Go to Sales > Shipments.

  • The tabs filter the list: All, Booking, Awaiting Pickup, In Transit, Out for Delivery, Delivered, Problems and Cancelled.
  • The cards above the list count shipments in each state, including Pickup Missed. Select a card to filter by it.
  • Filter by Direction (outbound deliveries or return pickups) and by date. Search by shipment.
  • Select several shipments and choose Print Stickers to print labels in one go, up to 100 at a time.

Open a shipment to see its progress: Booked, Collected, In Transit, Out for Delivery, Delivered. Opening it asks the courier for the latest update. Choose Refresh to ask again. If the courier cannot be reached, you still see the last updates ARC saved.

From the shipment you can also:

  • Print Sticker and Print Packing List.
  • Open the Label or the Proof of Delivery from the ⋯ menu.
  • Copy the tracking number, or choose Open On the courier's site.
  • Choose Book Pickup Again when a collection was missed.
  • Choose Cancel Shipment, if the courier has not yet collected the parcel and you have permission. Cancelling does not put stock back. A return does that.

Record what you paid the courier​

If you have permission to ship orders, the shipment page has a Shipping Cost card. Choose Mark Courier Paid, enter the date, the method and a reference, and choose Mark Paid. Use Edit Payment or Clear Payment to fix a mistake. This records the payment only. No money moves.

To record several at once, choose Pay Couriers on the Shipments page, tick the shipments, enter one date, method and reference, and choose Mark Paid. The Owed to Couriers card shows what is still unpaid.

Tips​

  • Use Sandbox while you set up a courier, and switch to Live when the test works.
  • A shipment in Problems needs your attention. Open it to read what the courier reported.
  • Show the courier's own message to your team when a booking fails. It says why.