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Onboarding Fulfillment Center

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Welcome to ChannelDock! This guide walks you through everything you need to set up your account and get your warehouse & fulfillment operations live — step-by-step.

1. Account & Credentials

Your ChannelDock account will be created for you by our team. Once created, you will receive your login credentials via email.

Need help? Contact support via the support email
👉 Contact support

2. Complete Your Listing Page

Before you start processing orders, make sure your listing page is polished and branded:

How to fill out your listing page

Checklist:

  • Add your company logo (both light + dark mode versions)
  • Define your brand/company colors for a consistent look
  • Make sure your company name is correct
  • Set your delivery text

This improves your customers’ experience and strengthens brand identity.

3. Setup Shipping Methods (Carriers)

Configure and connect your shipping carriers so ChannelDock can create shipping labels and process orders:

Steps:

  1. Go to Settings > Carriers
  2. Add carriers you ship with (e.g., DHL, DPD, PostNL, SendCloud, etc.)
  3. Map carrier services to your internal shipping methods

See all supported carriers in our documentation:
👉 ChannelDock Shipping Carriers

👉 How to connect shipping carriers

4. Add Employee Accounts

Each team member that needs access to ChannelDock should have their own account.

Steps:
• Go to Settings > Employee Accounts
• Fill in user details and assign roles/permissions

For detailed instructions, read “Managing Employee Accounts” in the Help Center.

5. Setup Printers (PrintNode)

To print shipping labels and packing slips:

  1. Install PrintNode
  2. Connect your PrintNode account in ChannelDock
  3. Assign printers (A4/label printers) to users or processes

For a more detailed instruction read: “Connecting PrintNode” in the Help Center.

6. Add Packaging (Optional)

You can define packaging types (boxes, envelopes, etc.) to help ChannelDock suggest the right packaging per order.

Steps:

  1. Navigate to Settings > WMS > Packaging
  2. Add Packaging Categories and then Packaging Items
  3. Link packaging to products for automatic suggestions

👉 How to set up packaging

7. Configure Pick & Pack Costs

To correctly calculate fulfillment fees for your sellers, you must define your pick & pack pricing structure.

ChannelDock allows you to configure:

• Pick cost per order
• Pick cost per item
• Multi-pick cost (discounted additional picks)
• Additional handling fees

How To Set Pick & Pack Costs

  1. Go to Warehouse > Products
  2. Open a product
  3. Define:
    • Pick cost
    • Multi-pick cost (optional)
    • Additional handling costs (if applicable)

For more information or how to set the pick & pack costs more general, you can read this article. How to set pick & pack costs

If you work with standardized pricing for all sellers, you can define default costs and override them per seller or product where needed.

Tip: Keep your pricing structure simple at first. You can always refine it later.

8. Setup Shipping Rules (Automation Engine)

Shipping rules are one of the most powerful features in ChannelDock. They automate how orders are processed and which carrier/service is selected.

What Shipping Rules Can Do

Shipping rules allow you to automatically:

• Select a carrier based on destination country
• Switch service based on weight
• Choose specific services for marketplaces (Bol, Amazon, Shopify, etc.)
• Apply different rules for express vs standard shipping
• Override seller preferences

Without shipping rules, orders must be handled manually.

How To Create Shipping Rules

  1. Go to Settings > Shipping Rules
  2. Click Create Rule
  3. Define:
    • Conditions (country, weight, channel, etc.)
    • Action (assign carrier + service)
  4. Order rules by priority (top = highest priority)

If you want to read more about how to create shipping rules, open this article: Creating smart shipping rules

Important:
ChannelDock checks rules from top to bottom. And stops checking for rules if the shipping method is applied.
If an order does not match the first rule, it moves to the next until a match is found.

Best practice:
Place your most specific rules at the top and general fallback rules at the bottom.

Example structure:

  1. Express EU orders
  2. Heavy packages (> 20kg)
  3. Marketplace-specific rule
  4. Shipping method
  5. Default standard shipping fallback

This prevents incorrect label selection.

9. Invite Sellers to Your Fulfillment Center

If you operate as a fulfillment center, you can invite sellers directly into your ChannelDock environment.

How To Invite Sellers

  1. Go to CRM / Sellers
  2. Click Invite Seller
  3. Enter:
    • Seller email
    • Company details
  4. Send invitation

The seller receives an email with setup instructions.

After accepting the invitation:

• You can connect their sales channels
• You can define their pick & pack pricing
• You can manage warehouse stock for them

You can also invite sellers by copying your link and sending it to multiple sellers at once, optionally adding this help centre article to help them get started.

Tip: Make sure pricing and shipping rules are configured before inviting large sellers.

10. Warehouse Mapping & Stock Locations

Before adding inventory, your warehouse structure must be defined properly.

ChannelDock allows you to recreate your physical warehouse layout digitally.

Step 1: Create Warehouses

Go to:

Inventory > Warehouse Mapping

Add:

• Warehouse name
• Priority (if multiple warehouses exist)

Priority determines which warehouse is used first when fulfilling orders.

Click here to learn more about the warehouse mapping

Step 2: Create Stock Locations

Stock locations can represent:

• Aisles
• Shelves
• Bins
• Bulk storage
• Pallet positions

Example structure:

WH1-A01-S01-B01
WH1-A01-S01-B02

Well-structured locations enable:

• Efficient picking routes
• Stock counting
• Batch picking
• Faster warehouse operations

Tip: Keep naming consistent and logical.

If you want more information on how to streamline your warehouse, you can read this article.

11. Add Stock to Stock Locations

Once locations are created, inventory can be added.

There are multiple ways to add stock:

Option 1: Manual Entry

  1. Go to Inventory > Stock Locations
  2. Select a location
  3. Click Add Product
  4. Enter quantity

Option 2: Inbound Delivery (Recommended)

For structured warehouse operations:

  1. Go to Inbound
  2. Create inbound delivery
  3. Add products + quantities
  4. Assign stock locations
  5. Confirm inbound

This adds stock while maintaining traceability.

Option 3: Bulk Import

For large inventory uploads:

• Use CSV import
• Assign location codes
• Upload in bulk

Best for migrations or initial warehouse setup.

Important: Always Verify

After adding stock:

• Check product inventory overview
• Confirm quantities per location
• Verify seller visibility (if applicable)

Accurate stock location mapping ensures:

• Correct pick routes
• Accurate stock advice
• Proper order allocation
• No overselling

Final Checklist Before Going Live

Before processing live orders, confirm:

• Pick & pack costs are configured
• Shipping rules are active and ordered correctly
• Sellers are invited and connected
• Warehouse mapping is complete
• Stock is assigned to locations
• Printers are tested
• Carriers are connected

Once everything is configured, you are ready to process orders automatically.

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