See Also

  1. Cancelling Orders
  2. Recording Missing Shipments
  3. Processing Returns
  4. Marking an Order as Shipped
  5. Recreating an Order
  6. Notifying Drop Shippers
  7. Customizing Drop Shipper Notifications
  8. Recording Tracking Numbers from Drop Shippers
  9. Adjusting Costs
  10. Receiving Payments
  11. Insuring Shipments
  12. Deleting Online Pictures
  13. Splitting and Combining Shipments
  14. Creating Orders
  15. Processing Orders
  16. Leaving Feedback
  17. Printing Packing Lists
  18. Printing Postage and Carrier Labels

Combining Orders

When buyers purchase items on eCommerce sites, they usually have the option to include multiple purchases in the same order and pay for them at the same time.  When they do this, SixBit will automatically retrieve all of the sales and place them in the same order.  

 

Whenever possible, orders should be combined on the eCommerce site so buyers, the site, and you all know that the items are in the same order.  This is not always possible.   When orders cannot be combined on the site, we still allow you to do a local combine so you can ship the items in the same shipment.  

 

 If the orders are still in Awaiting Payment and they meet the additional criteria for the site, they may be combined on the site.  If the orders are in the In Process status, then they have already been paid for and the site no longer allows orders to be combined, so they must be combined locally.

Combining Orders on the eCommerce Site

Different sites have different rules about allowing sellers to combine orders.  For example, on eBay, the seller can combine orders whenever the buyer has not paid for any of the items and all items have the same shipping method and address specified.  If all  criteria are not met, the items cannot be combined into an eBay order.

 

Therefore, any orders that are in the Awaiting Payment status and have the same shipping methods and addresses can be combined in SixBit and on eBay.  SixBit will send the information to eBay and combine the orders on eBay.  If all criteria are not met, you can still combine the orders, but you will have to wait until the items are paid for and are in the In Process status.

 

The following table summarizes the combine options that are  available on the different sites:

 

Site Combine on Site? Local Combine?
Etsy No No
Shopify No No
eBay Yes, if order is in Awaiting Payment, all items have same shipping method and address. Yes, once order is In Process

 

Combining Orders Locally

Orders can only be combined locally if they are in the In Process status. If orders do not meet the site criteria for combining, the order can be combined locally.   By combining orders locally, you are able to place all items in the same shipment and save on shipping costs.  Unfortunately, because the site no longer allows combining the orders, when you look on the eCommerce site, the orders will appear as separate orders.

 

 

 

 

To combine orders:

  1. Open the Ship Orders mode.   How?How? From the Mode selector in the lower left, choose Ship Orders.
  2. From the grid, select the orders that will be combined.  SixBit will select orders that all have the same buyer. SixBit  For instance, all orders that are in the Awaiting Payment status can be selected to be combined.   SixBit will determine which ones are to the same buyer and are combinable.  
  3. Click the Continue button in the Prepare group on the ribbon bar.  SixBit will combine the orders differently depending upon their status, shipping methods, and shipping address.  The following table describes how orders will be combined.

 

If the status is... ...and... ...then...
Awaiting Payment the items  1.) have not been paid for, 2.) use the same shipping method and 3.) are to the same address the orders will be combined in SixBit and on the eCommerce site (when supported by the eCommerce site)
  the items do not meet all three requirements above. they will not be combined.  A popup window will provide the possible reasons.  You will need to wait until the items are in the In Process status before combining.
In Process the items all have the same shipping methods and buyer addresses they will be combined.
  the items have different shipping methods or buyer addresses a new order will be created, but you must instruct SixBit as to how you want to handle the shipments.  A popup window will appear showing you the differences between the two orders.  You can choose a single shipping method and/or buyer address and then combine the shipments, or simply leave them as separate shipments within the same order.

 

 

Some examples may help illustrate the process.

Example 1:

A buyer has committed to buy two items on eBay, but hasn't paid for either yet.  Since they specified the same ship to address for both, and chose the same shipping method for both, they are combinable on eBay.  They will be in the Awaiting Payment status in SixBit, so you can go ahead and combine the orders.  SixBit will send the info to eBay so your buyer will see they are combined and can pay for both of them at the same time.

 

Example 2:

A buyer has committed to buy two items on eBay, and has paid for both.  Since they have already been paid for, they cannot be combined on eBay, but they can still be combined locally in SixBit.  They will be in the In Process status in SixBit, so you can go ahead and combine the orders.  

 

Example 3:

A buyer has committed to buy two items on eBay, and has paid for both.  When purchasing, they provided two different ship to addresses.  Since they have already been paid for, they cannot be combined on eBay, but they can still be combined locally in SixBit.  They will be in the In Process status in SixBit, so you can go ahead and combine the orders.  When combining, you will be notified that they are to different addresses, so you would choose to combine them into the same order, but leave them as separate shipments in the order.  Now you can process each shipment separately.

 

Example 4:

A buyer has committed to buy two items on eBay, and has paid for both.  When purchasing, they selected two different shipping methods, USPS First Class and USPS Small Flat Rate Box.  Since they have already been paid for, they cannot be combined on eBay, but they can still be combined locally in SixBit.  They will be in the In Process status in SixBit, so you can go ahead and combine the orders.  When combining, you will be notified that they used two different shipping methods.  Since the buyer probably won't mind if you ship the USPS First Class item with the USPS Small Flat Rate item, you can choose to combine the shipments and use the USPS Small Flat Rate method.  Now you can ship both items in the same box.  Note, that the buyer has already paid for two separate shipping methods and you are combining them to save money.  If you want to pass the savings back to the buyer, you cannot update the eBay order, but you could refund them an amount on PayPal, and then add that amount into the "Adjustment" field on the order so they match.