AUTOMATIC EMAILS NO LONGER BEING SENT AS OF 02.16

[thernandez]

Long time Shopify customer - 10 years. 

we use stamps.com to 'batch' fulfill orders. This process works quickly and has worked well for 10 years.

As of 02.16, this process has stopped working. Fulfillment still occurs in that the orders show the proper tracking an the order changes from fulfilled to unfulfilled but the e-mail confirmation and all subsequent communications (out for delivery and delivered) now fail.

In speaking with Shopify they indicate this is a 'stamps.com' issue which does not make sense to me as:

1. They are receiving the tracking and acknowledge the change in fulfillment on the order page.

2. Stamps does not provide further communications on fulfillment after this initial notice of tracking info and yet all future automatic emails also fail (out for delivery, delivered etc...)

3. The issue is also being seen by partner stores we work with who use other fulfillment tools like 'ship station'

Lastly, if we manually type in tracking the option to 'send details to customer' does still show and this works...so we believe that what has broke is the automatic process associated with batch order processing and, furthermore, there is no way to resend this information after the intial fulfillment unless we manually send the customer an email.

[Skye]

Hi, @thernandez 

Thanks for posting to the forums. I hope your day is going well so far!

That is absolutely a frustrating situation to be experiencing. While I can't say for sure without looking at your account, it could definitely be a Shopify issue, but it also could be a Stamps issue.

I completely understand your argument regarding Shopify sending the notifications, however, after reviewing the Stamps app it appears they trigger the notification updates via the API. Thus, while we send the notification, we are "told" when to send it. There could be an issue here with the app communicating to Shopify.

If it's possible to do, I recommend using one of your upcoming orders as a test. Instead of purchasing a label from Stamps, purchase from Shopify or even directly from USPS or another carrier and input the tracking information manually. If the notifications are sent then that would rule out it being a Shopify issue. 

Lastly, I recommend you also reach out to Stamps regarding the issue. If it is a third-party issue it would need to be resolved by their team. They do have live phone support and can be reached at 1-855-889-7867.

[thernandez]

Two things that are flawed with the idea that this is a Stamps issue.

1. Are you saying that stamps also tells you to send the 'out for delivery' and 'delivered' e-mails, because that would require the API making additional calls to Shopify AFTER initially printing lables and that seems odd. Are you possibly suggesting that if you lose one 'send an email' call that you then lose any subsequent? 

2. This issue also persists with other fulfilment tools. We have a business partner running shopify and they have the same problem with ship station.

I am more than happy to have someone look at our account. I have called and chatted into support with no luck. I believe a very small piece of the code has broke that triggers the automatic e-mail and, without shopify staff logging a bug or altering your dev team, this will never get fixed...

[Skye]

Hi, @thernandez 

Thank you for your quick response!

That is correct, the calls the app would make could affect all tracking updates including 'out for delivery' and 'delivered.' The notifications are sent by us, but based on the information provided by the app, are triggered by their application. 

Unfortunately, I don't have the ability due to our strict authentication policy to look at your account. However, you can definitely reach out again to our live team. Or, reach out via social media. While we can't look at your account from social media, we can request a ticket number from your previous interactions via direct message, to ensure our Merchant Advocacy team reviews the situation.

[thernandez]

You have some really weird holes in your UI. The shopify order shows the order as 'fulfilled'. It even includes the tracking number. It just doesn't send the e-mail or any additional e-mails.

It started on our store using stamps.com on 02.16 and on a partner store using ship stations at the exact same time.

I've never seen two apps break on the same day or a UI like this where you're showing all the information on the shipment method but don't send emails and this is somehow the apps fault.

Furthermore, this message board becomes almost useless if you always have the ability to say 'but I can't actually look at your store'. Have you ever tried chatting into Shopify? 99% of the time they say they have NEVER seen the reported issue before, only to cave later and acknowledge there is a problem with not so much as a 'sorry, our knowledge base needs to get better'. I thought I would give this forum a try but, shockingly, it's less helpful that chat. I didn't think that could happen....

I can't press a button that says 'accept as a solution' when no solution has been provided.

[Skye]

Hi, @thernandez 

I appreciate that the order is marked as fulfilled and includes a tracking number. However, that is not what triggers the notifications when you have third-party shipping applications installed. Generally speaking, when you are using these applications they override the native functions that trigger the updates, or send them themselves(depending on the app.)

While I would love to be able to look at your account, our Community Forums are only forums. Thus, it's not safe to exchange account information via this platform. As you're aware, Shopify businesses contain extremely sensitive information such as banking and tax information. Thus, we have an extremely high authentication standard that can only be achieved via our traditional channels.

The best way to make sure this is resolved is via our warm hand-offs. This process has our support team reach out to the developer on your behalf, in a group email chain. This way the process is transparent between Shopify, the app developer, and the merchant. The app developer must respond to these emails as we have a strict support policy for apps listed in the Shopify App Store. Failure of the developer to respond can impact their app listing.

To initiate a warm hand-off, please reach out to our live support team via our Help Center. From here, log in to your account to create a support request through live chat, or callback. Once you have logged in to your account, type your request in 'Ask about a topic', scroll down to 'Get Support', and then click 'Continue.'

[naxorn]

Had the same problem starting on Feb 16th too and noticed it today...  What I ended up doing was:

1. Open the Stamps.com desktop app (website may work too, but never tried)
2. Open the Orders section -- found on the left side in blue
3. Right-click the Shopify data source and select Edit Source
4. Dismiss the first window asking for a store name
5. Check the Send email notification option on the General tab.  It should look like the image below:
6. Save the settings
7. Confirm everything is working
   1. Fulfill an order through the stamps.com desktop app
   2. Check the order's timeline in the Shopify Admin and you should see a message like 'stamps.com sent a shipping confirmation to...'  NOTE: There might be a delay between the fulfillment from stamps and the timeline showing it.

Regardless, I agree something changed on either Shopify's end or Stamps.  After I enabled that option -- again? -- the shipping confirmation emails are now sent out when an order is fulfilled in the Stamps.com app.  Stamps.com software and I have had a delightful history together of stuff not working, so I wouldn't be surprised of settings getting reset on us...

Hope this works for you!

[Robykz]

Yes you are right, the API with Shopify changed and all vendors have struggled with the same problem as I can see. They had 6 months to upgrade to the new API so notification stopped working at the same time during that timeframe. I have still been unable to have this fixed by my third party shipping company 6 months after they adopted the new API.

What a shame. No support from Shopify on the other hand.

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Action Required - Migrate to Fulfillment Orders API by June 30, 2023. Update: Support For API Version 2022-04 Extended To June 30, 2023. TL;DR: Any public, custom or private apps leveraging the deprecated Fulfillment API endpoints will stop working on June 30, 2023 in favor of the new Fulfillment Order API.26 gen 2023

[Skye]

Hi, @Robykz 

That is very frustrating. Are you a Shopify Merchant or Partner?

If you're a partner you need to migrate an affected app to use the fulfillment orders API in which additional permissions will need to be requested. The permissions to request will differ depending on the type of app. You can follow the Fulfillment Orders API Migration guide in order to migrate your app.

Where applicable, the apps may also need to migrate to the Inventory Item API and InventoryLevels API as well.

If you're a merchant you will need to reach out to your private app developer to have them update the app. If you no longer has contact with the developer of the private app, you should either find an alternative solution in the Shopify App store or find another app developer/solution. Unfortunately, we aren't able to resolve issues relating to third party applications.

[Robykz]

I am a merchant and I have reached out to my vendors. They just don't care. They don't even understand the problem. I have contacted your customer support who reached out to the vendor on my behalf as well, but no answer. These are app published on your store and you should make sure they are following the minimum rules as use the correct API and work. I can't change app they are my 3PL and shipping company. I have no way out. It's not only frustrating it is slowing down my business and is destroying my customer service. People want to know when their package is shipped & notifications are not sent.

[Skye]

Hi, @Robykz 

I definitely understand the frustration.

If this is an app published in our Shopify app store we will absolutely get involved if they are not updating their app to the App Store requirements.  While we can't fix their app, we can delist it if it is not following guidelines. As such, can you please provide a link to the app in the app store?