The starting point
Retailers can start a potential licensing review with one operational sequence: an order line, what prevented fulfilment, the response and the recorded outcome. The first question is whether those relationships survive across the storefront, warehouse and returns systems. Sales volume alone does not answer it.
Build a useful inventory.
Describe categories and connections. Keep actual records in your own systems during the initial fit review.
| Illustrative category | Describe without exporting | First question |
|---|---|---|
| Order lines | Retained period; line and parent-order links | Are several rows one order? |
| Fulfilment exceptions | Backorder, split dispatch and response categories | Is a shipment event retained? |
| Returns | Authorization, receipt and disposition coverage | Can a credit exist without goods returning? |
Scroll across to read all three columns.
Keep the operational question separate from customer targeting.
A useful starting scope might describe how stock shortages were handled, rather than who bought what. Shopify’s export reference separates financial and fulfilment states and represents additional items on separate rows. That is one documented structure to compare with your own archive. It does not prove that your exports retain warehouse or carrier events, or that you may share customer information.
Find the handoff that loses the story.
Ask the commerce owner where an order line connects to dispatch and where a return connects to a stock decision. Record app changes and marketplace periods separately if their coverage differs. Keep refunds without returns in a financial category. Customer messages, addresses and payment identifiers stay out of the first inventory; a later scope needs review of confidentiality, permissions and what the remaining links reveal.
Make the next conversation inexpensive.
Use the inventory to describe periods, systems, approximate volumes and gaps. Ask a potential evaluator whether exception handling is relevant before funding a full export. VOID’s initial referral service has no upfront seller fee. Possible compensation from a receiving program is conditional and disclosed before a named introduction. Your business approves its recipient and exact details; a real sample or license is a separate decision.
Hypothetical screening example
Illustration: narrow to split-dispatch history.
A fictional retailer can connect order lines to two warehouse dispatches but retains no carrier delivery confirmations. Its inventory can explain split fulfilment and stock exceptions. It cannot support a promised-delivery accuracy label. The owner keeps the initial scope at dispatch history and lists the absent delivery evidence before any potential introduction.
Next decision. Narrow: discuss fulfilment decisions; hold delivery-performance claims.
Questions before the next step.
Does an order CSV count as a complete fulfilment history?
Only if its retained fields and links answer the chosen question. Order rows, payments and shipment observations should be described separately.
Should we send customer records to show the opportunity?
Begin with categories and coverage. VOID needs neither an export nor storefront access for the initial fit conversation.
Source notes
Software documentation describes possible record structures. It does not establish your retained history, rights or buyer acceptance.
Shopify — exporting ordersShopify · Checked 2026-10-11An order export distinguishes order and line-item fields and can contain several rows per order. It includes identifying fields and notes. Financial and fulfilment statuses describe different states.