1
Key Concepts
Website orders (via Shopify or similar) give you full control over fulfillment timing and customer communication, but no built-in SLA enforcement — you set your own standards. Marketplace orders come with strict, platform-enforced SLAs, automated penalty systems for missed windows, and less flexibility in how you communicate with customers. A single workflow that doesn't account for this difference either over-polices your website orders or under-protects your marketplace fulfillment rate.
2
Best Practices
Set internal SLAs for website orders that match or beat your marketplace SLA commitments, so customer experience stays consistent regardless of channel. Prioritize marketplace order confirmation within their platform-enforced windows first, since missing these has direct rating consequences that missing a self-imposed website SLA doesn't. Keep inventory synced across both so a marketplace sale doesn't oversell a website order or vice versa.
3
Implementation
Compare your actual average fulfillment time for website orders against your marketplace orders over the last month — most sellers find an unintentional gap, often favoring one channel without meaning to. A unified system that pulls both website and marketplace orders into one queue, prioritized by actual SLA urgency rather than order source, closes this gap without requiring a completely separate process for each channel.
Pro Tip
Marketplace SLA penalties are automatic and immediate; website customer dissatisfaction from slow fulfillment is quieter but compounds just as much in the long run through reviews and repeat purchase rates.
Key Takeaways
- Marketplace orders carry enforced SLA penalties; website orders don't, but still need consistent standards
- Set internal website SLAs that match your marketplace commitments
- Prioritize marketplace order confirmation first given automatic rating consequences
- Sync inventory across both channels to prevent cross-channel overselling
- Measure actual fulfillment time gaps between channels rather than assuming parity
