How Shipping Policies in Odoo 18 Enhance Your Business in 2025

Arsalan Yasin 

Strategize your business with among the #1 Odoo Techno Functional Consultant || Certified in Odoo v10 - v17 || Leading


Shipping Policy

A shipping policy is a concise webpage that outlines essential details such as shipping rates, delivery timelines, and procedures. It should be clear, straightforward, and transparent, serving as a go-to guide for customers. Many businesses also include information about returns and exchanges within this policy.

Why a Shipping Policy is Important

Online shoppers often rely on the shipping policy to calculate costs based on their location. A well-structured policy should specify:

  • International shipping conditions
  • Delivery timeframes
  • Available shipping options
  • Associated fees

This helps manage customer expectations, reduces complaints, and saves time. Including details on return and exchange processes, defective product handling, and international shipping restrictions further builds customer trust.

Warehouse Picking

Warehouse picking is a crucial yet costly process where specific items are retrieved from a fulfillment center to fulfill customer orders. Businesses worldwide aim to optimize this process to improve customer satisfaction and boost profitability, despite its impact on operational expenses.

Importance of Choosing the Right Picking Strategy

Selecting the right picking strategy is vital, as it directly affects warehouse efficiency. Key factors to consider include:

  • Facility size
  • Available financial and labor resources
  • Inventory levels
  • Frequency of customer orders

Optimizing the picking process ensures smoother operations and enhances overall profitability.

Ship when all products are ready

Next, navigate to the Odoo 18 Sales module to manage an order for 50 acoustic block screens. To do this, click on the NEW icon, then create a sales order as demonstrated below.

In this step, select the customer and the product under the order lines section. You will notice that, under the Other Info tab, the shipping policy is displayed as "when all products are ready," as shown in the image below.

Save the newly created quotation, and it will be converted into a sales order by clicking the CONFIRM button, as shown in the screenshot below.

Next, by selecting the delivery option, you can proceed with the item's delivery process.

Here, you can understand that, on this kind of policy, you will not have any back orders and the stage will be in ‘Waiting’, as in the screenshot below.

With this type of shipping policy, the delivery will be on hold since not all products are available. It will remain pending until the stock is replenished to a sufficient quantity to fulfill the order.

Ship as Soon as Possible

This type of shipping policy ensures that products are shipped as quickly as possible, even if it requires handling backorders. It allows partial shipments for available items, ensuring that customers receive what’s ready while backordered items follow later.

Steps to Implement the "Ship as Soon as Possible" Policy:

  1. Create a New Quotation:
  2. Enable Backorders:
  3. Confirm the Quotation:

This policy is customer-focused, as it reduces waiting times for in-stock items and enhances the overall shopping experience. Providing clarity in the shipping policy ensures customers are aware of how backordered items will be handled.

Since the shipping policy is set to ship the product as soon as possible, you can view this under the Other Info tab, as shown in the screenshot.

Now, as previously, confirm the details and navigate to the delivery smart tab for the product.

Backorders and the "Ship as Soon as Possible" Policy

In this section, when creating a delivery order in Odoo, the product displays a status of "Ready for Delivery" even if the available quantity is insufficient to fulfill the entire order. The system shows the on-hand quantity for immediate shipping and automatically places the remaining items on backorder.

How to Process Backorders in Odoo:

  1. Review Delivery Status:
  2. Proceed with Delivery:

What Are Backorders in Odoo?

Backorders occur when a customer places an order for a product that doesn’t have sufficient stock available. The system divides the order into two parts:

  • The portion that can be fulfilled immediately with on-hand stock.
  • The remaining quantity, which is kept as a backorder to be delivered once the stock is replenished.

This functionality ensures that customers receive available items as soon as possible while managing expectations for the remaining quantity. It’s an essential feature for businesses operating with limited stock or high demand, ensuring efficient order management and customer satisfaction.

After creating the backorder, the product will be delivered once it arrives. By selecting the option, you can access the update quantity feature, as shown in the screenshot below.

You will receive the product as soon as the required quantity is back in stock.

In this blog, we have thoroughly discussed two distinct types of shipping policies available in the Odoo 18 Sales module.

When shipping is scheduled for all products to be ready at once, it simplifies the shipping process. Fewer shipments result in reduced handling and processing time, helping businesses streamline operations and minimize the risk of errors.