How to sort a ShipStation pick list by bin location

ShipStation's pick list can sort by product name, SKU, number of items, or Warehouse Location. Sorting by location turns the list into a walking route. The catch is that the Warehouse Location field is usually empty for Shopify stores, because the bins live in Shopify. Here's how to fix that, and how to make the sort order match your aisles.

Step 1: Get a bin into every product's Warehouse Location

ShipStation only sorts by what's in its own Warehouse Location field. It doesn't read Shopify metafields. You have three ways to fill it:

• By hand in ShipStation's product screen. Fine for a few dozen products, painful past that.
• CSV import. Export SKU and bin from Shopify, then import them into ShipStation's products. Simple, but you have to re-run it every time bins change.
• An automatic sync that reads the bin metafield in Shopify and writes Warehouse Location in ShipStation on a schedule. More setup, nothing to remember after. This is what I set up for stores.

Whichever you choose, keep Shopify as the source of truth. Bins change in one place, and ShipStation follows. The trade-offs are covered in How to get Shopify bin locations onto ShipStation pick lists.

Step 2: Use a bin format that sorts correctly

Sorted as plain text, A10 lands before A2, because "1" comes before "2". If your pick list sorts that way, your pickers will zig-zag. Two easy fixes:

• Pad the numbers: A02, A10, B01. Text sorting then matches walking order.
• Keep one pattern everywhere: aisle, then bay, then shelf, like A02-03-1. Mixed formats such as "A2 shelf 3" and "A-2-3" sort unpredictably.

Set the format before you bulk-load bins. Renaming a few hundred bins later is a chore.

Step 3: Sort the pick list by Warehouse Location

When you print a pick list for your selected orders, choose Warehouse Location as the sort. If your list includes product images and it times out on big batches, ShipStation's guidance is to turn product images off in the document options.

Step 4: Handle the edge cases

• Products with no bin sort together at one end. Give them a placeholder like ZZ-UNASSIGNED so they're obvious, and fix them over time.
• One product in two places (a shelf and overflow): Warehouse Location holds one value, so store the primary pick location and note overflow separately.
• Variants that live in different bins need bins at the variant level, not just the product level. Decide this before you load data.

The short version

Fill Warehouse Location from Shopify, pad your bin numbers, and sort by location. If bins move often or your catalog is large, automate the sync so the pick list stays right without anyone thinking about it.