Demo build · Web automation
Platform: Shopify · Triggered by: a customer’s payment going through · Status: Built and tested on a demo store · Built: October 2026
The problem it solves
In most online stores, someone has to open each new order and click print before packing can start. When it gets busy, orders get missed, slips get printed twice, and dispatch waits on whoever is at the computer. It’s small, repetitive work that adds up over a day.
How it works
1
A customer’s payment goes through in the Shopify store.
2
The packing slip is created in the store’s usual layout.
3
It goes straight to the printer at the dispatch desk.
4
Staff pick it up from the tray and start packing.
What I built
When an order is paid, its packing slip is sent to the dispatch printer straight away. Unpaid orders, such as bank transfers, wait until payment is confirmed.
I recreated a standard Shopify packing slip, so staff see the slip they’re used to: ship-to and bill-to addresses, items with pictures and codes, and quantities.
In-store counter sales are skipped, so only online orders print a slip.
Day to day: staff collect slips from the printer tray and start packing, without opening orders or clicking anything. If the printer is out of paper or the computer is off, slips are designed to wait in a queue and print once it’s back on, and any slip can be reprinted in a couple of clicks.
Test results
Under 1 min
from payment to printed slip (in testing)
0 clicks
needed from staff to print a slip (in testing)
Passed
counter sale filter check (in testing)
Running costs, upfront
A Windows computer that stays on next to the dispatch printer, a printing app from the Shopify App Store, and a small service that connects the store to the printer.
Ongoing costs: two monthly subscriptions, roughly US$29 a month for smaller stores and up to about US$69 a month for stores with more than 1,000 orders a month (prices as of October 2026).
Is it right for you?
Shopify stores that pack and post orders every day from one dispatch area, where printing slips by hand has become a daily chore. The more orders a store handles, the more time it saves.
Free, no-obligation
Tell me about the task in a free 30-minute chat. I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth automating, and what it would cost to run.
