First, confirm it is actually ShipHero and not your store. Then contain the damage and communicate. Here is exactly how to do that during a ShipHero outage, plus what usually breaks and how long incidents tend to last.
How do I confirm ShipHero is actually down?
Check two independent sources before changing anything in your store. First, StatusBird's live ShipHero status page, which is based on independent checks every 2 minutes. Second, ShipHero's own status page at status.shiphero.com. If the official page still shows green, do not assume you are wrong: vendors often acknowledge incidents well after they start. If both look clean, the problem is more likely your store's configuration or a specific integration.
What does a ShipHero outage look like?
- Warehouse staff unable to load pick lists or scan barcodes in the ShipHero app
- Shipping label generation failing or timing out
- New store orders not appearing in ShipHero
- Tracking numbers and fulfillment status not syncing back to your store
- Inventory quantities frozen across connected sales channels
What breaks in your store
If ShipHero goes down and you run your own warehouse on its WMS, pick and pack operations stop almost completely: staff cannot see pick lists, scan items, or print shipping labels. If ShipHero handles your outsourced fulfillment, new orders stop syncing in and tracking stops syncing back. Either way, inventory counts stop updating across your sales channels, which creates overselling risk, and customers stop receiving shipping confirmations.
For context, ShipHero has had no major incidents in the last 90 days of StatusBird's independent monitoring (100.0% availability), so a real outage is unusual. That makes it easy to mistake one for a problem on your end, which is why confirming first matters.
What to do during the outage
- Switch urgent shipments to manual label purchase directly on carrier websites such as USPS, UPS, or FedEx.
- Print or export open orders from your store platform so warehouse staff can keep picking from a paper list.
- Record all manually fulfilled orders so you can mark them fulfilled in ShipHero after recovery and avoid double shipping.
- Pause or reduce ad spend on low-stock SKUs while inventory sync is frozen.
- Notify customers on expedited shipping methods if their orders will miss the carrier pickup.
Frequently asked questions
Can my warehouse keep shipping while ShipHero is down?
Only manually. Staff can pick from an exported order list and buy labels directly from carrier sites, but barcode scanning, automation rules, and batch label printing through ShipHero will not work. Keep a careful record of what you ship manually so ShipHero and your store can be reconciled afterward.
Will orders placed during the outage be fulfilled automatically once ShipHero is back?
Yes, in most cases the integration syncs queued orders once ShipHero recovers and they enter the normal fulfillment flow. Verify the outage window afterward by comparing your store's orders against ShipHero, and manually resync anything that is missing.
After the outage
Once ShipHero recovers, verify the affected workflows end to end rather than trusting the status page. Note the start and end times while they are fresh: if you are on a paid ShipHero plan with an SLA, documented downtime is what a service credit claim is built on. See how to claim SLA credits for the process.
How this data is measured
StatusBird checks ShipHero's status every 2 minutes, around the clock, independently of the vendor. The availability figure counts major and critical outages only; minor degradation is excluded so numbers are not skewed by vendors that report small blips near-continuously. Grades run from A+ to F. See the live numbers on the ShipHero reliability page and current status on the ShipHero status page, or browse all 84 service grades.
Know before your customers do
StatusBird monitors ShipHero and 83 other services online stores depend on, plus your own storefront, every 2 minutes. When something goes down you get an SMS, email, or Slack alert with plain-English context, usually before the official status page catches up. Start monitoring free, no card required for the free plan.