Order Hold Management

When orders are submitted into the Fulfillment Portal, there are a few ways an order can go:

• Waiting to Be Released
• Future Requested Ship Date
• Sent to WMS
• A different type of order hold

The desired outcome is for the order to show a status of "Waiting to Be Released," "Sent to WMS," or "Future Requested Ship Date." These statuses mean there are no issues with the order and it can ship on the next available date or the date noted on the order.

Orders that are Processing can be edited in the system, including the modification of ship date, destination address, and SKU lines on the order.

Orders that are Fulfilling have exceeded all other holds and are currently being physically packed by the warehouse.  Therefore, orders that are Fulfilling cannot be edited in the system.  All modification requests (except for UPS redirect/address change) must be emailed to csoperations@winedirect.com to submit to the carrier. 

However, further intervention is needed when an order shows any other type of status.

To view a summary of all order holds on your account, go to the Fulfillment Home Page and refer to “Open Orders by Status." When looking at “Open Orders by Status ”, please note that there are 2 areas to look at for order holds:

• Status
• Hold Reasons

Please review the list below for identified order holds and the guidelines for clearing the hold.  Please note that this list will also include if the hold can be cleared by the client or by action from the Client Services team and if the hold will delay or affect the shipping of an order:

Needing Action

Orders in “Needing Action” are not fully submitted into the system. When an order is submitted, it goes through some validation checks, and if a check fails to pass early enough in the process, it pauses the submission process and moves the order to “Needing Action.” Because of this “pause” in the process, you will notice that orders have a limited view. Unfortunately, the editing capability is limited to what you can see when in “Needing Action.”

This hold can and should be cleared by the client.  This hold will delay the proper submission of an order, stopping the order from shipping.

For details on how to clear this type of order hold, please click here.

AR Billing Error

This is a finance-based error that can pop up once the order ships.

Please note that this is not a real hold and will clear once our Finance Team troubleshoots the issue. This hold will not affect the order shipping.

Cannot Identify Shipping Channel

This means the state on the order is not mapped/set up.

Please provide a copy of your state permit to either your Account Manager or Account Coordinator, either one can help in getting the desired state set up.

This hold will be cleared once the proper permit information has been applied to the account.  This hold will prevent an order from shipping. 

Carrier Changed

This is a finance-based error that can pop up once the order ships.

Please note that this is not a real hold and will clear once our Finance Team troubleshoots the issue. This "hold" will not affect the order shipping.

Consumer Permit Required

This is specific to orders going to Alabama.

This means the designed Account Manager/Coordinator team is waiting to receive a copy of the Alabama (ABC) form for the specific order. Please send your Account Coordinator a copy of the Alabama form to clear the hold. 

This hold will prevent an order from shipping. 

For more information regarding Alabama orders, please click here.

Financial Preparation Error

This is a finance-based error that can pop up once the order ships.

Please note that this is not a real hold and will clear once our Finance Team troubleshoots the issue. This "hold" will not affect the order shipping.

Incompatible COOLPACK Order

This is a rare order hold but commonly pops up during the summertime.

Any order with a COOLPACK for a bottle size we don't have packaging for will go on hold. For a full list of COOLPACK packaging available, don't hesitate to contact your Account Manager.

To clear the hold, either the SKU causing the issue or the COOLPACK SKU has to be removed.

If you decide to remove the problematic SKU and would still like to ship, kindly submit a new order for that SKU without a COOLPACK.

This hold will prevent an order from shipping. 

Insufficient Inventory

This hold will be reflected on orders when there is not enough inventory to reserve on said order.

To view a full list of insufficient SKUs and quantities, please go to Orders > Back Orders. This will help provide a holistic view of all insufficient items by order and quantity.

For more information on Insufficient Inventory orders, click here.

To clear the order, the problematic SKU can be removed, or an Inventory IN can be submitted to replenish the SKU.

This hold will prevent an order from shipping. 

For more information on Inventory INs, please visit the Transfers: In Request.

Insufficient Vintage Funds

This applies mainly to those accounts shipping 3-Tier.

To clear the order hold, kindly replenish your account's Vintage Funds.

The client can clear this hold with assistance from the Client Services team.  This hold will prevent the order from shipping.

Invalid Address

The most common reasons an order goes on this hold are:

1. The address is a PO Box
2. The address lines exceed the available character limits

Due to our nature of shipping wine, orders cannot be shipped to a PO Box as an adult signature is required.

If the order is on hold due to the character limit, please visit the Ship-To Address Specifications tab to view the character limit specifications per address line.

Invalid Carrier / Service Destination

The carrier and service could not be determined from the order data.  

An incorrect shipping code is applied to the order, and/or the zip code needs to be corrected.

The client can clear this hold with assistance from the Client Services team.  This hold will prevent the order from shipping.

Missing Product Registration

This applies mainly to those accounts shipping 3-Tier.

If you're shipping to OH or NJ via this 3-Tier service, the SKUs must be registered with the state before shipping.

Please reach out to your Account Manager for more information on SKU registration.

Missing Required Item Price

This applies mainly to those accounts shipping 3-Tier.

If you're shipping to OH or NJ via this 3-Tier service, the "Unit Price" of each SKU must be listed. The "Unit Price" plays into the Vintage Funds for the 3-Tier service.

To clear the order hold, please edit each line item and update it with the SKU's respective unit price.

Order Has No Lines

This is rare, but this is reflected when an order is submitted with no SKUs.

To clear the order hold, either update the order with the desired SKUs and quantities or cancel the order.

Order Type Not Setup

This is rare but is reflected when an order comes in with a type not mapped/set up.

Please reach out to your Account Manager to review the details and steps to set up the order type.

Packaging Setup Error

This is a finance-based error that can pop up once the order ships.

Please note that this is not a real hold and will clear once our Finance Team troubleshoots the issue.

Rate Card Error

This is a finance-based error that can pop up once the order ships.

Please note that this is not a real hold and will clear once our Finance Team troubleshoots the issue.

Required Permit Not Found

Due to state compliance, some states require that a copy of the account's permit be printed outside the box.

This hold comes up when the permit has expired, and we have yet to receive a copy of the renewed permit.

To clear this hold, kindly provide your Account Manager or Account Coordinator a copy of the renewed permit; either can help you clear the order hold.

Shipping Instructions

Please note that these “Shipping Instructions” are for your use and not reviewed or touched by the WineDirect team.

If you would like us to review the order with you, please send us an email or give us a call.

Otherwise, we’ll wait for the “Shipping Instructions” to be removed by you or someone at the winery before shipping the order.  

A Shipping Instruction hold does not reserve inventory and places a “ghost hold” on all warehouse locations & sub-inventories set up for the account.  A default shipping instruction is also automatically applied and must be released from any re-shipped order processed in the fulfillment system.

Volume Limit Exceeded

Some states limit how much wine can be sent at any given period.

Please review the state laws at the Wine Institute for assistance in clearing the order hold.

Please note that WineDirect cannot override these limits enforced by the destination state. 

Weather Hold

These orders can be released by going to Orders > Advanced Weather Holds

Much like the “Shipping Instructions,” this tool is client-configured and managed, and we will defer to you when you’re ready to remove the hold.

For more information on Weather Holds, please visit the Advanced Weather Holds tab.  A Weather Hold does reserve inventory.