StoreFulfil Library

Handling Paid Label Recovery

Operator runbook for recovering an existing paid DHL shipment without creating a duplicate charge.

Troubleshooting
Updated Aug 2026
Owner: Technical Support
Area: Shipping

Before you begin

Recover a paid DHL shipment by reconciling the original carrier outcome instead of creating a duplicate charge.

Prerequisites

  • The DHL case is visible in Needs Attention.
  • The Admin can identify the original StoreFulfil reference and shipment.
  • Carrier-portal access is available without placing a new booking.

Stop and check

Only a definitive carrier failure can justify a new booking; ambiguity always stops paid action.

A DHL request can be accepted and charged even when StoreFulfil loses the response. Treat every uncertain or stale booking as potentially paid until carrier evidence proves what exists.

What Each State Means

  1. Booking: a paid request may still be in flight. Wait for the booking lease; never submit a second request.
  2. Uncertain: DHL did not provide a final result to StoreFulfil. A shipment may already exist and must not be retried.
  3. Manual review: StoreFulfil only has its stable reference. An Admin must find that reference in the DHL business portal and enter the existing DHL shipment number.
  4. Reconciliation pending: StoreFulfil knows the DHL shipment number and can perform a read-only label retrieval.
  5. Booked, local finalisation pending: DHL evidence and the paid label are retained, but local order state could not be completed safely.
  6. Label retrieval failed: the paid shipment remains recorded, but the returned document could not be fetched or verified as a supported PDF.
  7. Shopify pending: the local DHL shipment is complete, but Shopify fulfilment still needs the normal safe reconciliation.
  8. Resolved: the DHL shipment, verified PDF label, local tracking, and Shopify fulfilment are confirmed.

Safe Recovery Procedure

  1. Open Needs Attention and locate the DHL recovery case. Check the client, order, evidence, age, and risk before acting.
  2. If a DHL shipment number is already shown, choose Recover DHL label. StoreFulfil performs a read-only DHL lookup and does not create a shipment.
  3. If only a StoreFulfil reference is shown, open the DHL business portal, search for that exact reference, and copy the existing DHL shipment number into the recovery dialog.
  4. Confirm that StoreFulfil retrieves and verifies the PDF label, restores tracking, and reports whether Shopify finalisation is complete.
  5. If Shopify remains pending, use the shipment sync recovery shown by StoreFulfil. That path first checks Shopify for an existing fulfilment.
  6. Download the retained label only after StoreFulfil reports that the document passed PDF verification.

Never Do This

Never retry, prepare, or create another paid DHL label for a Booking, Uncertain, Manual review, Reconciliation pending, or Booked/local-pending case. Only a definitive Failed booking can use the separately confirmed retry flow after the visible problem is corrected.

Evidence to Record for Escalation

Record the client, StoreFulfil order number, StoreFulfil shipment ID, StoreFulfil reference, DHL shipment number when known, visible recovery state, first-seen time, latest error, and whether Shopify is pending. Never include DHL credentials, passwords, access tokens, or the private label URL.

Definitive Failure

Failed means DHL rejected the request before accepting a paid shipment. After correcting the reported account, billing number, sender, product, address, parcel, or environment issue, the same Admin may prepare a fresh five-minute confirmation and use Review DHL retry.

Carrier Portal Shows No Match

A missing retrievable label is not permission to create another shipment. Verify the shipment number, billing account, environment, and portal history, then escalate for carrier review if the original outcome remains ambiguous.

Age and Ownership

Needs Attention shows how long the case has been unresolved. DHL recovery is owned by a Warehouse Admin; operators must leave the order unchanged and give the visible case details to an Admin.

Production Readiness Failures

Before a Production charge, StoreFulfil checks the active account, 14-digit billing number, shipping profile, sender, recipient, DHL Kleinpaket entitlement, parcel weight, and environment activation where DHL supports validation. Correct the named condition rather than bypassing it.

Completion Check

  1. The DHL recovery state is Resolved.
  2. A verified PDF label is downloadable from the shipment.
  3. The DHL shipment number and tracking link are present.
  4. The shipment sync state is Synced and the Needs Attention case has cleared.
  5. The activity log contains the recovery outcome.

Expected Outcome

The existing DHL label is recovered, verified, attached to the original shipment, and reconciled to Shopify without a second carrier booking.

Runbook evidence

Use these signals to decide whether the work is ready to continue, complete, or needs an owner.

State checkpoints

Uncertain or manual review

DHL may already have accepted the paid request, but StoreFulfil lacks final evidence.

Next: Find the original shipment by the exact reference or escalate; do not retry.

Reconciliation pending

StoreFulfil has a DHL shipment number and can perform a read-only lookup.

Next: Recover and verify the existing label.

Definitive failed

DHL rejected the request before accepting a paid shipment.

Next: Correct the displayed cause and use a fresh deliberate retry confirmation.

Resolved

The label, tracking, local shipment, and Shopify result are reconciled.

Next: Download retained evidence only while it is within its allowed window.

Completion evidence

  • The recovery state is resolved and a verified label and Shopify result are present.

Escalation evidence

  • Record every StoreFulfil and DHL reference, state, timestamp, error, and Shopify status.

Work safely

Who may take this action

Warehouse Admin

What you should see

DHL may already have accepted the paid request, but StoreFulfil lacks final evidence.

Safe next step

Find the original shipment by the exact reference or escalate; do not retry.

What not to do

Only a definitive carrier failure can justify a new booking; ambiguity always stops paid action.

How to tell it is complete

The recovery state is resolved and a verified label and Shopify result are present.