How orders work: from your customer to the source store and back
When a customer buys from a destination store, where does the order go? This guide follows an order end to end: Order Push to the source store, shipping, tracking, and what to do if a push fails.
One of SyncTec's biggest time-savers is that you never have to manually forward orders to whoever ships them. The feature that does this is called Order Push. Here is exactly how an order travels through the system.
The short version
A customer buys on the destination store, SyncTec pushes the order to the source store, the source store ships it, and the tracking number flows back to the destination store's order. The customer sees normal shipping updates, and nobody copies anything by hand.
Step by step
1. A customer places an order on the destination store and pays as normal.
2. SyncTec pushes the order to the source store. A matching order is created there with the items the source store can fulfill, and the source store gets a New order received notification.
3. The source store ships from its warehouse as it normally would.
4. Tracking comes back automatically. The carrier and tracking number are copied onto the destination store's original order.
Turning Order Push on
Order Push is not on by default for a destination store. Two things are needed:
- The destination store is on the Traction plan or above (the in-app message reads: Order Push is available on the Traction plan and above)
- Order Push is switched on in Settings under Order Push Settings
Until both are true, orders are not pushed; your stock still stays in sync, but orders stay on your store only.
What needs to be true for an item to push
For a specific item in an order to be pushed to the source store, all of the following must be true:
- The item's SKU exists on the source store
- The item is actively synced with stock tracking on
- The destination store's fulfillment location is mapped to the source store's through a Location Group
If some items qualify and others do not, only the qualifying items are pushed. This is by design: SyncTec only pushes what the source store can actually ship.
Tracking your pushes: the Order Push page
The Order Push page (in the sidebar) lists every order pushed between your stores and its sync status. Each row shows the order number, the source order number, store, customer, item count, status, and push status (success or fail).
If an order did not push: retries and manual push
Sometimes a push fails, for example if the connection hiccuped. When that happens:
- The row shows a fail push status. Click View error to see the reason, then Retry (or Retry Push in the error dialog) to try again
- Source stores can also use Manual Order Push: pick the Destination Store, type the Order Number (for example, 1001), and click Push Order to force a specific order through
Watching orders to fulfill (source stores)
Source stores get a dedicated Orders page that gathers unfulfilled orders across connected stores into one view, so you can ship from one place. (This page is only shown to source stores.)
What about inventory?
When an order pushes to the source store, its stock is reduced automatically (it is the one shipping), and that new stock level then syncs out to every destination store, so nobody oversells. If a destination store does not have Order Push on, SyncTec still keeps stock levels aligned; it just does not move the order.
A current limitation to know
If an order is only partially shipped or partially refunded, SyncTec updates the order's overall status but does not mirror it line by line (it matches items by SKU, not by individual line IDs). Fully shipped and fully refunded orders mirror precisely.
Getting help
- Email: support@synctec.io
- Contact us: use the Contact Us link in your dashboard