Hi there,
This is the last lesson. It builds straight on the order log from lesson 5.
Today: a packing list built from your orders.
If you make to order, you probably open each order to copy what was bought and what the buyer wants written on it. This recipe does that copying. Each new order becomes one row per item, with SKU, quantity, title, personalization text and gift flag. Tick "packed" as you go, filter for "not packed", and that's today's list.
Like lesson 5, you can practice with a sample order file (1 item) in a separate practice scenario before a real order comes in: test it with Run once and never switch it on. There's also a 2-item sample (made-up data: a planter and a personalized keychain) to check that an order with two items gives you two rows. The live scenario checks for new orders every 2 to 6 hours (every 6 hours is cheapest).
Like every recipe here, it never contacts the buyer. Address columns are off by default, and the Sheet can still hold gift messages, so share it only with the people who pack and delete rows once an order ships.
How you'll know it's working
The 1-item sample adds exactly 1 row with SKU, quantity, title and personalization text. The personalization column shows "Alex" (the sample's name), and the address columns stay empty.
The two things most likely to trip you up
- Only one row for an order with several items. The Iterator isn't pointed at the order's items. Point it at the transactions array.
- Blank personalization. Map formatted_value from the item's variations.
On Make's free plan: Make Free gives you 1,000 credits a month[price-check] and appears to allow only 2 active scenarios, according to a Make community forum report (not a Make pricing or help page). If you plan to run several of these recipes at the same time, that 2-scenario limit could matter. This one uses about 320 of 1,000 credits a month checking every 6 hours (estimate, if run alone). Checking every 2 hours instead uses about 560. Run in the same scenario as the order log from lesson 5, the two use about 410 together.
Time saved: about 40 minutes a week, Estimated. That assumes 20 orders a week at about 2 minutes each to copy by hand. Making, packing and labels stay manual.
[TEST STATUS: Not yet tested. Replace with "Tested on sample order data; your first real order is the live run. Last tested: {date} (mock-tested)" from the PASS log before this sequence goes live.]
What's next
That's all six starter recipes. To keep up with what changes, Shop Hours Back is the weekly Automate Your Hours email for Etsy sellers: what changed in Etsy and Make that week, and which recipes it affects. Series subscribers get it automatically; anyone else can sign up here.
Thanks for working through all six, Jesse at Automate Your Hours