Order Holds

When an order is on hold, Shopify blocks fulfillment actions (fulfill, request fulfillment, etc.) until the hold is released.

Tagging still works while an order is on hold. Fulfillment does not.

You can see a hold on the Shopify order details page: fulfillment status is On hold, and Shopify shows the hold reason.

✅ Recommendation: If you have rules configured with Order Automator that you want to be processed after the order hold is released, check the option to Wait for fulfillment holds to be released when creating or editing the rule.

Common reasons why an order can be on hold

• Someone manually places a hold on the Shopify order details page
• A post purchase upsell flow is in progress (see below)
• An app placed the hold (fraud apps, 3PLs, etc.)
• A marketplace (ex: Facebook, Google) is still authorizing payment / running fraud checks (this can last from a few minutes up to 24 hours)

Automatic post purchase holds

Shopify automatically puts a hold on any order in a post purchase upsell / cross-sell flow.

The hold is released when:

• The customer visits the Order status page, or
• 1 hour has passed since checkout

Example: Order Automator has a post purchase upsell feature. If you use this feature to show an offer post-checkout, Shopify automatically puts the order on hold for up to 1 hour. The same sequence applies to any app that has a post checkout flow.