Fulfillment Pipelines

A fulfillment pipeline is a sequence of steps that every order goes through from the moment it is confirmed to the moment it is handed over or delivered. Pipelines let you define exactly what happens at each stage — who does it, how long it should take, what proof is required, and when payment must be collected.

Default Pipeline

Every organization gets a default pipeline created automatically on the first order. The default pipeline has four stages:

You can edit the default pipeline or create additional pipelines for different product types (e.g. a production pipeline for made-to-order items or a quick-dispatch pipeline for digital goods).

Stage Types

Stage Settings

• SLA (minutes): target time for completing this stage. Staff see a timer and can be alerted when SLA is breached. Leave blank for no time target.
• Requires photo: staff must upload a photo (e.g. packed box, weight scale reading) before they can mark the stage done.
• Requires scan: a barcode or QR scan is required to advance the stage. Used for scan-to-pack or scan-to-handover workflows.
• Assigned team: the team responsible for this stage. When a fulfillment reaches this stage, it appears in that team's task queue. See Fulfillment Teams.
• Terminal: marks the stage as the final step. The fulfillment ends when a terminal stage is completed.
• Marks delivered: when the terminal stage completes and no active courier shipment is running, the order status advances to Delivered. Set this to Off for hub-to-store internal handover stages where delivery confirmation comes later from the destination location.

Wait for Payment Stage

A wait_for_payment stage pauses the pipeline until payment is confirmed. Use it when you want to collect payment at a specific point in the workflow rather than at checkout.

• Soft gate: staff see a warning but can override and advance manually. Use when payment is preferred but not strictly required before proceeding.
• Hard gate: the pipeline is blocked until payment is confirmed. Staff cannot advance. Use for prepayment-required workflows.
• Payment reminder (minutes): send a payment reminder to the customer after this many minutes of waiting. Leave blank for no automatic reminder.
• Auto-cancel (minutes): automatically cancel the order if payment is not received within this time. Leave blank to never auto-cancel at this stage.

Pipeline Versioning

Every published pipeline creates a new version. Fulfillments in progress are always locked to the pipeline version they started on — editing the pipeline does not change stages already in flight. Only new orders use the latest published version.

To apply a pipeline change to future orders, save and publish the pipeline. Active fulfillments continue on their original version until they complete.

Tag-Based Pipeline Assignment

You can route specific product categories to different pipelines automatically using product tags. Create a Pipeline Assignment that maps a product tag to a pipeline. When an order contains a product with that tag, the matching pipeline is used for that fulfillment.

Resolution order when an order arrives:

1. Location override: if the fulfillment location has a pipeline set, that pipeline is always used.
2. Tag assignment: the first matching tag assignment by priority is used.
3. Org default pipeline: the pipeline set in OMS Settings is used as the fallback.
4. Auto-create: if no pipeline exists, the standard 4-stage default is created automatically.

Tag matching is by exact string — the product must have the exact tag that the assignment maps. When multiple assignments match, the one with the lower priority number wins.

Common Blockers

• Fulfillment stuck at a stage: check whether the stage requires a photo or scan that has not been submitted.
• Wait for payment not unblocking: for hard-gate stages, Socialone waits for a payment webhook or manual payment confirmation. Check the order's payment status in the Payment tab.
• Wrong pipeline assigned to an order: check the product's tags and the tag-based pipeline assignments. Also check whether the fulfillment location has a pipeline override that is taking precedence.
• Editing a pipeline has no effect on current orders: expected behavior — fulfillments in progress run on their original pipeline version. The change applies to new orders only.

Related Docs

• Fulfillment Teams
• Locations
• Order Routing
• Order Lifecycle