If your warehouse picks orders quickly, a customer who has started fixing their address could change it again after the parcel is packed. Tacey's Order holds switch puts a hold on an order once the customer changes its delivery address, and keeps it there until their edit window closes, so any further correction lands before anything ships.
Where to turn it on
In Tacey, open Editing Tools.
Open the Global settings tab.
Find the Order holds section.
Turn on Hold fulfillment while the edit window is open.
Click Save.
What happens once it is on
When a customer changes the delivery address through Tacey and their edit window is still open, Tacey places a normal Shopify fulfillment hold on the order's unfulfilled items. You see it on the order in your Shopify admin, like any other hold, with a note saying when it will lift. When the edit window closes, Tacey releases the hold and the order can be fulfilled as usual.
Orders nobody edits are never held. The hold starts with an address change, not at checkout. Changes to contact details, notes or gift messages do not place it either.
If you need to ship early, you can release the hold yourself from the order in Shopify admin at any time.
Why it is off by default
Most stores do not need it. With the switch off, a confirmed address change with nothing owed ships straight away, with no delay at all. Holding every order for the full window (for example 48 hours) slows down every order to protect against the few that change.
Tacey already holds fulfillment automatically, whatever this switch says, in the one case where shipping would clearly be wrong: when a customer's change leaves them owing an unpaid balance. That hold stays until the balance is paid. A plain address change never moves money, so on its own it never triggers that hold.
When to turn it on
Your warehouse or fulfillment app picks up orders within minutes of checkout.
You set a long edit window and want to be sure no parcel ships to an address the customer is still fixing.
You have had parcels go to an old address because the change arrived after packing.
The switch has no effect while customer editing is off
The hold is tied to the edit window. If Let customers edit their own order (in the Edit window section above it) is off, there is no window to hold for. If you turn on Order holds while editing is off, the page tells you: "This has no effect while 'Let customers edit their own order' above is off, since there is no edit window to hold fulfillment for."
What this does NOT do
It does not stop every 3PL. A Shopify fulfillment hold stops Shopify's own fulfillment requests. A warehouse system that pulls orders straight from Shopify on its own schedule may not respect holds. Check with your 3PL, or keep your edit window shorter than their pick-up time.
It does not extend the edit window. The hold lasts exactly as long as the window you set.
It does not hold orders that customers cannot edit, such as local delivery orders, or orders with nothing left to ship.
Frequently asked
I see a hold on an order but the switch is off. Why?
Most likely the customer made a change that left a balance to pay. That hold is separate from this switch and clears once the balance is paid.
Will turning this on hold orders that were placed before I switched it on?
Only if a customer changes one of those orders' delivery addresses while its edit window is still open. The switch never places holds on open orders in bulk.
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