Order Lifecycle

A forward delivery order follows this flow:

Code
┌──────────────────┐
│ Order Placed     │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐    ┌───────────┐
│ Allocated        │───▶│ Cancelled │
│ to Partner       │    └───────────┘
└────────┬─────────┘          ▲
         │                    │
         ▼                    │
┌──────────────────┐          │
│ Picked Up        │──────────┘
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ In Transit       │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ├────────────────────┐
         ▼                    ▼
┌──────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐
│ Out for          │  │ Delivery Failed  │
│ Delivery         │  │ (Not Contactable,│
└────────┬─────────┘  │  Delay, On Hold) │
         │            └────────┬─────────┘
         ▼                     │
┌──────────────────┐    (reopen for retry
│ Delivered        │     or RTO/RTS)
└──────────────────┘

Core States

These are the states you'll actually branch your logic on. status_id in tracking responses and webhooks can take other, less common values too (QC failures, e-way bill holds, hyperlocal partial delivery, and a few more) — see the status field on OrderDetails in the API Reference for the complete list.

Delivery Failure

When a delivery attempt fails, the order moves into one of several hold statuses depending on the reason — cid (customer asked for another date), nc (customer not contactable), na (not attempted), or on_hold. There is no single generic "NDR" status; NDR (Non-Delivery Report) is the industry term for this class of outcome, not a status value you'll see in the API.

From any of these hold statuses, you can:

1. Reopen for another delivery attempt — update customer contact or address, then set status_update.status to reopen_ndr to trigger a re-delivery
2. Initiate RTO — return the item to the origin warehouse
3. Initiate RTS — return the item directly to the seller

Use the Order Update endpoint with status_update to trigger these transitions.

Webhooks

Shadowfax sends real-time POST callbacks whenever an order transitions state. Configure your webhook URL in the SFX 360 Partner Portal.