Tracking order for product customer can't see

[hangel88]

I am working to set up my Shopify store, but have run into an issue in fulfillment. I am selling a custom modeled product to consumers. The process flow needs to be the following:

1. Customer orders
2. We ship impression kit in reusable packaging w/ pre-paid return label
3. Customer returns impression kit in the same packaging with the pre-paid return label
4. Lab gets impression kit and matches back to order #
5. Print custom product
6. Mail finished product to customer w/ packing slip

My issue is, the consumer never directly orders the impression kit. How can I track the impression kit on the backend? Is there a way to let the customer know the impression kit has shipped? Can this all be done automatically? Shopify suggested using partial order fulfillment and to change the product each time. But I'm not sure how to also create the pre-paid return label for the customer off of this with Shopify shipments. 

While this isn't for a dental product, it is very similar to other D2C companies that use impression kits like Smile Direct Club or Byte.com. Any help on this process would be greatly appreciated. Not sure if I can do it with just Shopify, or if I need to add an app to accomplish this.

[Anonymous]

Hi @hangel88 ,

Why not create a draft order or an actual paid order with Shopify at the time you ship the impression kit? Yes you definitely can use an app to fill in the gaps. It seems the real problem is the customer isn't directly placing an order in Shopify. We would like to take more time and get solid idea how far you've come and how we can help you. 

Please contact us here at hello@achieveapplabs.com to discuss more about a potential solution 

Best Regards,

Achieve Team