Pick lists & picking strategies

# When pick lists are generated

BinTech listens to Shopify's order/create and order/updated webhooks. When an order is assigned to a Location that BinTech tracks (i.e. not excluded as 3PL), the app creates one pick list per fulfillment Location. A single order that ships from two warehouses will produce two pick lists, each scoped to its own location.

# The lifecycle

A pick list moves through four states. The transition is driven by picker actions in the BinTech app and by Shopify fulfillment events.

PENDING

The pick list exists but no one has started it. You can still regenerate it (re-run bin selection) if the order changes.

IN_PROGRESS

A picker has hit Start. Bin assignments are now locked for that pick list — changing the strategy in Settings will not retroactively rewrite an in-progress list.

COMPLETED

Every line is marked picked (or explicitly skipped). The bins have been decremented. The pick list is ready for Shopify to fulfill the order.

FULFILLED

Shopify has fulfilled the order. BinTech updates the pick list to its terminal state and the row drops out of the active queue.

# Choosing a picking strategy

When a variant lives in more than one bin, BinTech needs a rule to choose. The strategy lives in Settings → Picking and applies to every new pick list in the shop.

Priority (default)

Pick from bins in priority order — lowest priority number first. Use this when your warehouse has a defined walking route and you want pickers to traverse the racks predictably.

Prefer single bin

Try to find a single bin that holds the entire line quantity. Falls back to priority order when no single bin can fulfill the line. Best for shops where most SKUs have a "deep" primary bin and the goal is to minimise stops.

Pick to empty

Pick from the smallest bins first so they empty out and free up storage. Useful when you keep overflow stock spread across multiple bins and want to reclaim space over time.

# Mid-pick reassignment

A pick list locks bin selections when it moves to IN_PROGRESS, but it does not lock the picker into them. If the chosen bin is short, damaged, or simply faster to substitute, the picker can swap to another bin that holds the same variant at the same location.

1. Tap the line on the pick list.
2. Choose "Pick from another bin" — you will see every bin at this location that currently holds the variant, with on-hand quantity.
3. Pick the substitute. The original bin is left untouched; the substitute is decremented when the pick list completes.

# Partial fulfillment & split shipments

If only some lines on a pick list can be picked — short stock, damaged units — you can complete the pick list with a subset. Shopify will accept the partial fulfillment and the remaining lines stay open as a separate pick list once stock is back.

How unpicked lines are reconciled depends on the Unfulfilled Pick Behavior setting:

Log as variance (default)

Bins are not decremented for unpicked lines. The discrepancy with Shopify's fulfilled quantity surfaces on the Reconciliation page so you can investigate. Use this when pickers always work through BinTech.

Decrement assigned bins

Bins are decremented for unpicked lines using the bin BinTech had selected. Use this when fulfillment sometimes happens outside BinTech (a manager fulfills an order from the Shopify admin without touching the pick list).

# Re-opening a completed pick list

A pick list can be re-opened from COMPLETED back to IN_PROGRESS as long as Shopify has not yet fulfilled the order. Re-opening reverses the bin decrement so the inventory is back where it was, then lets you pick again.

# Regenerating a pending pick list

Sometimes the order changes after the pick list was created — a customer adds a line, a bin assignment is updated, or you want to apply a freshly-changed picking strategy. As long as the pick list is still PENDING, you can regenerate it.

1. Open the pick list.
2. Click the actions menu in the header and choose "Regenerate".
3. BinTech re-runs bin selection against the current state of the order, the current bin assignments, and the current strategy. The pick list stays in PENDING.