Splitting Orders with Shipping Rules
ShippingEasy provides straightforward tools for manually splitting orders. However, if you find that you always need to split specific types of orders, Shipping Rules can help automate the process.
There are two Shipping Rule actions that can be used to automate how orders are split:
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Split all line items: used to split orders with many order items. Each new order will contain a single order item.
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Break out and split by SKU: used to split out multiple quantities of specific order items.
As with all Shipping Rules, use conditions to target the specific orders that need to be split. If you are new to automation, learn more about:
There are some important things to consider when using Shipping Rules to split orders automatically.
Manually created orders cannot be split automatically using Shipping Rule:
If you manually add orders into ShippingEasy and forget to create them with the correct order items, we recommend using the manual Split Orders tools on the ORDERS page. Learn more about manually splitting orders.
Once a split order action is applied to an order, all subsequent Shipping Rules are skipped:
Splitting an order is a dramatic change. As such, no further automated action is taken on the original order after it is split. However, the newly created orders will be re-run through all Shipping Rules.
To make sure that all Shipping Rules apply correctly, it is best to organize 'split order' rules so that these are the first rules in your list. [Learn how to choose the sequence the Shipping Rules are applied.]
The Split all line items action will separate out orders into individual order items. The new orders will contain one order item each. The quantities of the original order items will not change.
Limitation of the Split all line items action:
The original order must contain multiple order items. To split orders with a single order item containing multiple quantities, use the Break out and split by SKU action instead.
The original order has three order items. Each item is large and needs to be shipped in its own box.
Original Order:
SKU: QBC, QTY: 2
SKU: DKK, QTY: 4
SKU: EKD, QTY: 1
After the Split all line items action splits the order, there will be 3 orders instead of one order. Each of the three orders will have only one order item. Notice that the order item quantities do not change.
New Order 1:
SKU: QBC, QTY: 2
New Order 2:
SKU: DKK, QTY: 4
New Order 3:
SKU: EKD, QTY: 1
Caution
The action Break out by SKU and Split by SKU is case sensitive and must match the SKU as it is listed in the Product Catalog.
The Break out and split by SKU action will separate out a specified SKU into a new order. The rule action will result in at least two new orders, containing respectively:
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New Order 1: the specified SKU as the only order item
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New Order 2: all other order items from the original order
If the quantity of the specified SKU is greater than 1, then additional new orders are created - each with a quantity of 1 for the specified SKU. In other words: in each resulting new order, the extracted SKU quantity will always be 1.
Best practice for the Break out and split by SKU action:
Consider if you want to target orders that only contain the specific SKU, or those that include the specific SKU among other order items. In either case, you will want to include the specific SKU in the conditions:
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Item SKU is equal to "the SKU to split out"
Then depending on the types of orders you are splitting, you will want to include other conditions that specify some or all of the following:
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Number of line items
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Total quantity
Keep in mind that you may require additional conditions to ensure that the Break out and split by SKU action only applies to the intended orders.
The original order has 3 order items. SKU G3600 is a special item that must be shipped separately. So this SKU needs to be split out from the original order.
Original Order:
SKU: T2949, QTY: 1
SKU: D4292, QTY: 4
SKU: G3600, QTY: 3
The Shipping Rule conditions are defined so that only multiple item orders containing the specified SKU are split. Together, these conditions make sure that only the original target orders are split by the Shipping Rule.
Shipping Rule:
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IF: Item SKU | Is equal to | G3600
Number of line items | is greater than | 1
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THEN: Break out and split by SKU | G3600
After the Break out and split by SKU action splits the order, there will be 4 new orders. Three of the new orders will contain a single quantity of the specified SKU G3600. The last new order will contain the remaining order items.
New Order 1:
SKU: G3600, QTY: 1
New Order 2:
SKU: G3600, QTY: 1
New Order 3:
SKU: G3600, QTY: 1
New Order 4:
SKU: T2949, QTY: 1
SKU: D4292, QTY: 4
The original order is for 3 of the same SKU. These items need to be shipped in separate boxes.
Original Order:
SKU: M_CB, QTY: 3
The Shipping Rule conditions are defined so that only orders containing only the specified SKU are split.
Shipping Rule:
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IF: Item SKU | Is equal to | M_CB
Number of line items | Is equal to | 1
Total quantity | Is greater than | 1
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THEN: Break out and split by SKU | M_CB
After the Break out and split by SKU action splits the order, there will be 3 new orders. Each resulting order will contain a single quantity of the specified SKU.
New Order 1:
SKU: M_CB, QTY: 1
New Order 2:
SKU: M_CB, QTY: 1
New Order 3:
SKU: M_CB, QTY: 1
Comments
Can you use wildcards in the "break out and split by SKU" part?
Example:
IF:
Item SKU | contains | G_
THEN:
Break out and split by SKU | G_%
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New Order 1:
SKU: G_3600, QTY: 1
New Order 2:
SKU: G_4800, QTY: 1
Would really appreciate a response to the question about "wildcards".
In addition would like to know if there is a way to set an auto rule to not split "IF" another specific SKU is included in an order.
We offer personal messages with our products that show as a separate line item. If an order is place with two of the same SKU items + a Personal message is there a way to keep the message attached to one of the SKU items?
Example Order:
SKU: XYZ, QTY: 2
SKU: PM, QTY: 1
New Order 1:
SKU: XYZ, QTY: 1
New Order 2:
SKU: XYZ, QTY: 1
SKU: PM, QTY: 1
Another Question: Is there a way to split by quantities?
Example:
Order
SKU: XYZ, QTY: 4
New Order 1:
SKU: XYZ, QTY: 2
New Order 2:
SKU: XYZ, QTY: 2
Can we auto split orders if 1 location doesn't have both items on the order, can the system split it and assign it to a locaiton that would have the 2nd item in stock?
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