An order says Abnormal
The one status that will not resolve itself.
What it means
Something has stopped the order and it needs a person. It is not an accusation and it is usually not your fault.
It is the one status that will not resolve itself. Everything else in the pipeline is a parcel moving. This one is a parcel waiting.
Find them
Open Orders and click the Abnormal tab. The number on the tab is how many are waiting.
Open the order and read the note on it. That note is the whole point: it says what stopped it.
The usual causes
An address problem. Incomplete, unparseable, or missing something the destination requires. Fix it in your store and tell us, or send us the corrected address.
The item cannot be sourced at the spec or price quoted. Sometimes a factory is out, sometimes what arrived was not right. We will tell you the options: wait, substitute, or cancel and refund.
A destination we cannot serve. Turkey and the Canary Islands have no line. Northern Ireland ships only on a separate, more expensive channel. See Where we ship.
Something undeclared. Most often a battery. If an item contains one and it was not declared, it cannot go on a normal lane.
A customs or carrier exception after dispatch.
What to do
- Read the note on the order. It says what is wrong.
- If the fix is yours, usually an address, make it and reply.
- If the fix is ours, we are on it, and the note will say so.
- If it is unclear, send us the order number and ask. One message.
- Tell your customer. They are waiting and they do not know why.
Do not leave it
An Abnormal order is not moving. Not slowly, not in the background. Every day it sits there is a day your customer is waiting for something that has stopped.
Check the tab daily. It takes seconds and it is the single highest-value habit in the app, because it is the only queue where nothing happens without you.
If you have auto-fulfilment on, this matters more, not less. Automatic fulfilment means you are no longer looking at each order as it lands, so the Abnormal tab is where your attention should go instead.
Frequently asked
Did I do something wrong? Usually not. Will it fix itself? No. Does it count against me? No. Can I cancel one? Yes, and the money held against it is released. See Cancelling an order. Several went Abnormal at once. Likely one shared cause, for example a product or a destination. Send us one order number and say there are others. The dashboard says Abnormal 2 but the tab says 1. Tell us, with a screenshot.
Still need help?
Real humans on every reply. Average response under 2 hours during business hours.