A shipping policy is a brief document that offers important details, including shipment costs, delivery schedules, and protocols. It should serve as a thorough guide for clients and be clear, concise, and easy to grasp. Frequently, there is also a return and exchange policy.
In order to predict prices based on their location, online shoppers often require a delivery policy. Conditions for overseas exports, such as delivery schedules, shipping choices, and costs, should be specified in a well-written policy. In addition to saving time, this also lessens consumer complaints. Customers might feel more at ease when more information is provided regarding the return policy, exchanges, defective products, and foreign shipping restrictions.
To fulfil customer orders, warehouse picking is a crucial and costly process that involves selecting specific items from a fulfillment center. Despite the fact that it increases the operational expenses for distribution centres, businesses worldwide concentrate on streamlining this procedure to improve customer happiness and profitability. Choosing a picking strategy is crucial for facility managers and business owners since it has a big impact on warehouse productivity. The size of the facility, the amount of labour and financial resources available, the volume of inventory, and the frequency of customer orders are important factors.
Ship when all products are ready
When this option is selected, Odoo will hold off on shipping until every item in the order is available. The system won't send anything until the entire quantity is ready if the ordered quantity exceeds what you have in stock. The consumer will receive the entire order in a single shipment thanks to this procedure.
Let's consider there is a Furniture company, the company takes orders from customers and delivers all products together to the customer. So let's create a sales order for a customer.
Here the customer requested 50 quantities of Acoustic Bloc Screen and 20 quantities of Cabinet with Doors.
Next, access the selling order's Other Info tab. The shipping policy is shown as "when all products are ready," as you can see in the image below, under the Other Info tab.
As seen in the screenshot below, after saving the freshly produced quotation, hitting the CONFIRM button will turn it into a sales order.
You can then continue with the item's delivery process by choosing the delivery option.
Here the Cabinet with Doors is available and 20 quantities Reserved. But Acoustic Bloc Screen is not available. You can see from the screenshot below that under this type of policy, there won't be any backorders and the stage will be in "Waiting."
Delivery will be delayed under this shipping strategy because not all products are available. Until the supply is refilled to a level where the order can be fulfilled, it will stay pending.
Ship as soon as possible
When a consumer orders more things than you currently have in stock, this option comes in handy. In the event that this policy is chosen, Odoo will ship the things that are in stock first and the remaining items later. Keeping your clients satisfied is aided by this, particularly if they require a portion of the order immediately.
Let's now examine the second kind of delivery policy, which permits things to be shipped as quickly as feasible even when there are backorders. For instance, the company's policy is to dispatch the products that are available when a consumer places an order. As shown in the screenshot below, add the product and customer to a new quotation.
Here, a cabinet with doors is available, with 20 quantities reserved, as seen in the example above. However, there is no Acoustic Bloc Screen available.
You may see this under the Other Info page, as seen in the screenshot, because the shipping policy is configured to dispatch the product as soon as feasible.
As before, verify the information and go to the product's delivery smart tab.
The product in this section shows as "Ready” for delivery, despite the fact that there is not enough of it available. It puts the remaining items on backorder and displays the number that is currently in stock. Click the VALIDATE option to create the backorder so that the delivery can begin.
In Odoo 19, backorders are customer orders that cannot be completed right away because there is not enough inventory of the necessary goods. A backorder is created when a customer placed an order and there is not enough inventory to fulfill it.
The product will be supplied as soon as it comes once the backorder has been created. As seen in the screenshot below, you may access the update quantity feature by choosing the option.
Here, the backorder shows only Acoustic Bloc Screen with 50 quantities. As soon as the quantity is available, the customer will receive the product.
So let's update the product quantities.
Then again, check the Backorder. The product is reserved to the delivery as shown below. Click on the Validate button to complete the delivery.
Thus, two distinct shipping policy kinds in the Odoo 19 sales module were appropriately covered in this blog.
When every product is prepared, the shipping process is shortened; fewer shipments equate to less time spent handling and processing, which can assist optimise workflows and eliminate errors.
To read more about How Shipping Policies in Odoo 18 Enhance Your Business in 2025, refer to our blog How Shipping Policies in Odoo 18 Enhance Your Business in 2025.