What dispatch authority should I give my UK warehouse?
Give your UK warehouse authority to dispatch approved orders using agreed stock and packing instructions. Reserve substitutions, disputed changes and exceptional work for named approvers. Require confirmation that a hold or cancellation has actually stopped dispatch. Discuss the factory-to-warehouse handover with Cambridge China Bridge.
Name who can instruct the warehouse
Give your fulfilment provider a written authority schedule alongside its operating instructions. Name the people who can release orders, change delivery details, stop dispatch and approve extra costs. Specify the accepted instruction channel, each person's scope and a deputy. Remove access when responsibilities change.
Separate routine orders arriving through your sales system from manual exceptions. Ask the warehouse to verify unfamiliar senders through an established contact route and hold conflicting instructions for clarification. Keep the instruction, sender, acknowledgement and resulting action together in the order record.
Control customer-order changes
Route customer requests through your customer-service team unless you deliberately authorise direct warehouse contact. Require the order reference, requested change and current dispatch status. For address changes, verify the request through your established customer channel before approving it. Do not let a delivery note or customer message silently override the approved order.
Agree how an amended order replaces the original in the warehouse system. Ask for confirmation of the final item codes, quantities, address and delivery service, and that the old instruction cannot still dispatch. Use warehouse selection for the wider provider brief.
Define when dispatch can still be stopped
Ask the warehouse to distinguish order receipt, picking, packing and carrier handover. Agree the last stage at which it can reliably stop an order, the urgent contact route and what happens outside staffed hours. A printed label should not automatically mean the parcel has left. Require an explicit outcome: stopped, interception requested or already handed over.
Treat this as an operational cut-off. Consumers buying online, by mail or telephone can have cancellation rights even when goods are not faulty, subject to exceptions. Refer customer-rights questions to your team rather than letting the warehouse decide them from dispatch status. See online cancellation periods for that separate issue.
Restrict substitutions and stock release
Default to no substitution without written approval. Cover product variant, colour, size, accessories, batch and packaging. If alternatives are permitted, give the warehouse an approved mapping and state when your team must obtain customer agreement. Similar appearance or a higher selling price should not be a reason to choose an alternative.
Specify which stock is available for dispatch and who can remove a hold. Shortages, unclear labels and held batches should trigger escalation, not improvised replacement or release. Record the batch actually sent. Keep factory changes under the separate process in factory substitution approval.
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Approve exceptional work before it starts
Define exceptional work, such as repacking, relabelling, opening sealed goods, sorting suspect stock, urgent collections and disposal. Ask for the reason, affected stock, proposed work, quoted charge and effect on dispatch before a named approver authorises it. Approval should cover that job and scope; changed work should return for approval.
Give the warehouse standing instructions to isolate suspect goods and alert your team, with further work awaiting approval. If nobody responds, keep the affected order on hold and escalate to the deputy. Retain the approval and completion evidence for warehouse invoice checks. Test the instructions with a changed address, late cancellation, shortage and unavailable approver before using them.
Frequently asked questions
Can my warehouse accept instructions from customers?
Only if you deliberately authorise that route. Define which requests it can accept, how it verifies the customer and which changes need your team's approval.
Does creating a shipping label mean it is too late to cancel?
Ask for the actual picking, packing and carrier-handover status. Agree a reliable stop point and require confirmation that dispatch stopped. Refer consumer cancellation rights to your customer-service team.
Can my warehouse send a similar product if stock runs out?
Set a default of no substitution. Permit alternatives only under your written mapping and approval process, including customer agreement where your team requires it.
Who should approve extra warehouse work?
Name an approver and deputy. Require the proposed scope, charge and dispatch impact before work starts, then keep the approval and completion record with the invoice.