Your import settings determine which orders get pulled from your store into your Dashboard, when they’re confirmed, and how products are handled. Adjusting these can help you control what Printful fulfills and when.
To find these settings:
- Go to your Dashboard → Settings → Store settings.
- Click on the Orders tab.
Order import settings explained
1. Automatically confirm orders to be fulfilled
When this setting is enabled, orders that meet the import criteria will go straight to fulfillment as soon as they arrive (as long as your billing is set up).
If you prefer to review your orders first, you can switch to manual order confirmation. When manual confirmation is enabled, all imported orders will be saved as drafts, so you can check or edit them before sending them to fulfillment.
2. Import existing products (Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, Squarespace, Wix)
This feature is available for Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, Squarespace, and Wix integrations, and lets you choose whether or not to automatically import your existing store products into your Printful Dashboard. (For other integrations, this feature is enabled by default and can't be turned off.)
You can find this setting as a toggle from your Dashboard → My products or Stores → your store:
Here’s how it works:
Turn this setting ON to:
- Automatically import your existing store products into Printful as unsynced items.
- This is a quick way to bring in a large product catalog so you can start syncing and fulfilling from one place.
Turn this setting OFF to:
- Prevent your store’s products from being imported to Printful automatically.
- You’ll also see an option to remove all unsynced and ignored products from your Dashboard. This helps clean things up without deleting anything from your storefront.
Important: Avoid deleting products directly from your Printful Dashboard if they still exist in your store. Doing so will delete them from your storefront. To stop Printful from fulfilling a product without affecting your store, use the unsync or ignore options instead.
3. Import unsynced orders
Controls whether orders containing only unsynced products will be imported.
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Check “Import unsynced orders” to:
- Allow orders with only unsynced products to import.
- If the order contains both synced and unsynced products → it will import as a Draft with the note “due to unsynced items.”
- If all products are unsynced → it will import with the status Not synced.
- If you also have Manually confirm imported orders enabled, the imported order will appear with the status Needs approval instead.
How it works:
- Order with unsynced products is submitted → status depends on the product mix and your settings.
- You get an email telling you which products need syncing (if Notify about unsynced orders is enabled). Learn more about notification settings here.
- Once all products are synced, the order is sent to fulfillment.
- That product will be auto-fulfilled in future orders.
4. Notify about unsynced orders
- When enabled: You’ll get an email each time an unsynced order is imported.
- Why it matters: The faster you sync the product, the sooner your customer gets their order.
5. Manually confirm all imported orders
- When enabled: Every imported order will be saved as a draft until you approve it.
- When disabled: Orders that meet the order import requirements will be processed automatically.
Platform-specific notes
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Shopify:
- Only paid, unfulfilled orders with at least one synced product are imported automatically.
- If all items in the order are unsynced, the order won’t import unless you manually request fulfillment from your Shopify order page. If some items are synced and others are not, the order will import automatically, but show a “Not synced” status.
- Draft orders (even if marked as Paid) usually won’t import unless they’re converted to regular orders and fulfillment is requested.
- Make sure Printful is set as the fulfillment service for the products you want us to fulfill. Learn more about this here.
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WooCommerce:
- To import unsynced products, make sure the “Import not synced products” setting is on in the integration settings.
- API access must be enabled and unblocked by other plugins or firewalls.
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Square:
- Orders must have a reference_id and be marked as physical products; digital or service items won’t import.
- Etsy, eBay:
Each product must have a unique product or variant ID for syncing to work correctly.
- Etsy doesn’t rely on SKUs for syncing. Instead, it uses product and variant IDs, which Etsy may sometimes change unexpectedly. If that happens, syncing can break until you manually reconnect the product in your Dashboard.
- On eBay, product or variant IDs are entered in the SKU field. If you change the SKU on eBay, it can break the sync, so any updates should also be made in your Dashboard.
Tip: If you’re unsure, start with “Import unsynced orders” and “Manually confirm all imported orders” enabled. This gives you the most control while learning the process.
Need help?
If your order isn’t importing as expected, contact our Support Team through the contact form or start a chat with us. Please include:
- Your order number and store name
- A screenshot of the order view and history from your store’s admin panel
- The troubleshooting steps you’ve already tried