Starshipit not importing Shopify orders? How to find and recover them

First: is it missing, or just slow?

When Starshipit's Shopify integration is working, new orders normally arrive within seconds, sent by Shopify the moment they're created. Starshipit can also check Shopify on a timer (about every 20 minutes) to catch anything that slipped through.

So an order that still isn't there after an hour isn't slow. Something is stopping it. That's worth checking the same day, before the customer starts asking where their parcel is.

Step 1: confirm the order really isn't in Starshipit

Search Starshipit for the order number (for example #1005), including shipped and archived orders, not only the unshipped list.
In Shopify, open the order and note four things: is it paid, does it have a shipping address, does it actually need shipping, and which location and delivery method (shipping, local delivery or pickup) it uses.

Those four facts decide which of the causes below applies.

Step 2: rule out your own import settings

Some orders are left out on purpose by the way Starshipit's Shopify integration is set up. Open the integration's settings in Starshipit and check:

Which orders it imports. Starshipit can import by order status (for example "Open", the default, or "Paid"). An order waiting on payment won't arrive under "Paid".
Location. If your store has more than one location and the integration is tied to one, check the missing order's location matches.
Delivery methods. Local pickup and local delivery orders are often excluded deliberately, since nothing is posted.
Domestic or international. Starshipit can be set to import only one or the other, account-wide.
"Use for checkout rates only". If this is ticked, the integration only provides shipping rates at checkout and imports no orders at all.

Also check the order itself: one with no shipping address, nothing that needs shipping, or that's cancelled or already fulfilled isn't meant to reach Starshipit.

If a setting explains it, change the setting (if the order should be shipped) and go to step 4.

Step 3: check the connection itself

If the order should have been imported under your settings, the link between Shopify and Starshipit is the likely problem. The tricky part is that it can fail while still looking connected. We reproduced this on a test store: with Starshipit's subscription to Shopify's order updates switched off, the integration still showed as connected, and new paid orders simply stopped arriving. Nothing warned us.

In the integration's settings, check that it's still subscribed to Shopify's order updates (the webhook subscription), and resubscribe if not.
Check that automatic import (the regular timer) is switched on, so anything missed in future is picked up within about 20 minutes.
If the connection has been removed or its keys have changed, reconnect the Shopify integration.

Step 4: bring the missing orders in with Import Now

Fixing the connection does not bring back the orders you missed. In our test, resubscribing only affected new orders. The orders placed while the link was down stayed missing until we imported them by hand.

In the Shopify integration in Starshipit, use Import Now and set the number of days so it reaches back past the oldest missing order.
Be careful: "Delete all unshipped orders" sits nearby and does something very different.
Search Starshipit for each missing order number again to confirm it arrived.

Why nobody told you

Starshipit can email you about orders that were imported. Nothing, by default, tells you about the ones that weren't. A broken link looks exactly like a quiet day, until a customer gets in touch.

Catching it automatically

That gap is why we built Missing Orders, a small Shopify app that checks every paid order that needs shipping against Starshipit and emails you when one hasn't arrived, with these recovery steps. It follows your import settings so it doesn't raise false alarms, and it only ever reads. It's coming soon to the Shopify App Store.

Starshipit is a trademark of its owner. Quiet Penguin is independent and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Starshipit. Starshipit's screens and setting names can change; if something here doesn't match what you see, tell us and we'll update it.