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How to Place a Drop Ship Order for a Customer

Updated

Learn how to manually create drop ship orders in Pulse Commerce. When you need to place a drop ship order on behalf of a customer or for special fulfillment arrangements, you can create the order manually through the system, which will automatically generate the required purchase order for your vendor.

Required Reading: Before creating drop ship orders, ensure your drop ship SKUs are properly configured. Review the Setting Up and Managing Drop Ship SKUs article for complete setup instructions.
Critical: Drop ship SKUs must have a Preferred Vendor assigned before creating orders. The Preferred Vendor cannot be changed once the purchase order is created.
🔍 Before You Start - Prerequisites and Important Information

Before creating a manual drop ship order, verify the following requirements are met:

Required Configuration

  • Drop ship SKU must exist - The product must be configured as a Drop Ship Item type
  • Preferred Vendor must be assigned - Navigate to the product's Vendors tab and set the Preferred Vendor
  • Vendor information must be complete - Ensure vendor contact details and shipping capabilities are configured
  • Customer account must exist - The ship-to customer must be in your system

Understanding the Workflow

When you create a manual drop ship order, Pulse Commerce:

  1. Creates a sales order with the drop ship SKU(s)
  2. Automatically generates a purchase order once the sales order reaches "Warehouse" status
  3. Sets the Preferred Vendor as the ship-from location on the PO
  4. Uses the customer's address as the ship-to location on the PO
  5. Links the PO to the sales order for tracking and fulfillment
Important About Inventory vs Drop Ship SKUs: If a product exists as both an inventory SKU and a drop ship SKU, they must be separate SKU codes (e.g., "TSHIRT-001" for inventory and "TSHIRT-001-DS" for drop ship). Purchase orders are ONLY created for drop ship SKUs. If an order comes in with the inventory SKU but needs drop ship fulfillment, you must edit the sales order to change the SKU to the drop ship version before the purchase order can be created.
📝 Creating a Manual Drop Ship Order - Complete Steps

Step 1: Verify Drop Ship SKU Configuration

Before creating the order, confirm your drop ship SKU has the correct vendor assignment.

1Navigate to Products > Product Catalog Manager and locate your drop ship SKU.

2Click Edit and go to the Vendors tab.

3Verify the Preferred Vendor is set to the correct vendor who will fulfill this order.

Critical: The Preferred Vendor cannot be changed after the PO is created. If you need a different vendor, update this setting before creating the order.

Step 2: Create the Sales Order

4Navigate to Orders > Place New Order.

5Select the customer. Their shipping address will become the ship-to address on the purchase order.

6Add your drop ship SKU to the order (typically with "-DS" suffix).

7Complete shipping information, payment details, and any order notes.

8Click Finalize and Place New Order.

Step 3: Approve the Sales Order

If Auto-Approval is Configured: The order automatically moves to "Warehouse" status and the purchase order is created immediately.

If Manual Approval is Required:

9Navigate to Orders > Search Orders and locate your order.

10Click Approve Order to change status to "Warehouse."

System Behavior: Once the order reaches "Warehouse" status, Pulse Commerce automatically generates a purchase order for drop ship SKUs.

Step 4: Locate and Review the Purchase Order

11Navigate to Vendors > Search Purchase Orders > View Purchase Orders (Drop Ship).

Or click the PO # link under the PO Vendor column of the Items section. 

12Locate your purchase order and verify:

  • Vendor (Ship From) - Shows your Preferred Vendor

Step 5: Approve and Send Purchase Order to Vendor

13Click Approve PO to confirm the order.

14Click the CRM tab and email the PO details to your vendor.

Email Configuration Required: Ensure your email server is configured to relay emails through Pulse Commerce.

Step 6: Mark as Shipped When Vendor Confirms

15Return to Vendors > Search Purchase Orders and open the purchase order.

16Click Mark As Shipped.

17Enter tracking information: carrier, tracking number, and ship date.

🔄 Converting Inventory Orders to Drop Ship Orders

If an order comes in with an inventory SKU but needs to be fulfilled via drop ship, you must edit the sales order before the purchase order can be created.

Why This is Necessary

Products that can be fulfilled either from inventory or via drop ship must be configured as separate SKUs in Pulse Commerce:

  • Inventory SKU - Example: "TSHIRT-001"
  • Drop Ship SKU - Example: "TSHIRT-001-DS"

Purchase orders are only created for drop ship SKUs. An item cannot be both an inventory item and a drop ship SKU simultaneously.

Converting an Existing Order

1Navigate to Orders > Search Orders.

2Locate and open the sales order that needs to be converted.

3Click Edit Order.

4In the items section, add the corresponding drop ship SKU (with "-DS" suffix) with the same quantity 

5Remove the inventory SKU.

6Save the changes to the order.

7Follow Steps 3-6 above to approve the order and manage the purchase order.

Important: Make this SKU change before approving the order whenever possible. If the order has already been approved with an inventory SKU, you may need to cancel and recreate the order to ensure proper purchase order generation.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't a purchase order being created for my order?

Common reasons include:

  • The SKU is not configured as a Drop Ship Item - Verify the product type in Product Catalog Manager
  • No Preferred Vendor is assigned - Check the Vendors tab on the SKU
  • The order hasn't reached Warehouse status - Approve the sales order if needed
  • You used the inventory SKU instead of the drop ship SKU - Edit the order to use the correct SKU

Can I change the vendor after the purchase order is created?

No. The vendor is locked once the purchase order is generated. If you need to use a different vendor:

  1. Cancel the existing purchase order
  2. Update the Preferred Vendor on the drop ship SKU
  3. Create a new sales order

What happens if I have multiple drop ship SKUs on one order?

If the drop ship SKUs are from the same vendor, they will be combined into a single purchase order. If they're from different vendors, Pulse Commerce will create separate purchase orders for each vendor.

How do I handle partial shipments from vendors?

If your vendor ships items in multiple shipments:

  1. Mark the purchase order as shipped when the first shipment goes out
  2. Enter the first tracking number
  3. Add additional tracking numbers as subsequent shipments are sent
  4. The sales order will reflect shipped status once all items are fulfilled

Can I create a drop ship order for a product that doesn't have a drop ship SKU?

No. You must first create a drop ship SKU with the proper vendor configuration. Review the Setting Up and Managing Drop Ship SKUs article for instructions on creating drop ship SKUs.

What if the customer wants to cancel after I've sent the PO to the vendor?

Contact your vendor immediately to cancel the shipment. In Pulse Commerce:

  1. Cancel the purchase order in the system
  2. Cancel or refund the sales order
  3. Document the cancellation in the order notes

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