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Metrics type: Key MetricsCategory: Fulfilment

At a glance

Pending Shipment is the live count of paid Depop orders waiting to be dispatched. It is the most actionable fulfilment number in the shop: every order on this list is a clock running toward its dispatch deadline. A backlog that swells well past your normal level is the earliest sign that on-time shipping, ratings and disputes are all about to come under pressure.

Calculation

Pending Shipment is the live count of paid, undispatched orders from the Depop integration, compared against the trailing 30-day average to set the alert. Vortex IQ derives the baseline from your own order history so the threshold reflects your normal volume rather than a fixed number.

Worked example

A representative reading of Pending Shipment for a typical reseller on Depop. The shop’s 30-day average backlog was about 8 orders. After a viral listing it jumped to 19 in a day, more than twice the baseline, tripping the alert. Vortex Mind confirmed the spike was demand, not a stuck queue, so the action was to block out packing time rather than investigate a fault. The seller cleared the backlog over two evenings and on-time shipping held above 94 percent. For a quick triage view, ask Ask Viq for pending orders sorted by closest dispatch deadline.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Reconciling against Depop

Where to look in Depop’s own dashboard: Your unshipped orders are listed in the Selling or orders view of the Depop app. The Vortex IQ count should match the orders awaiting dispatch there; gaps are usually refresh timing or differences in how cancelled orders are treated. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ: Cross-connector reconciliation: read backlog with orders per day and on-time rate to tell a demand spike from a capacity problem. For divergence investigations, use Vortex Mind.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Q: How often does Pending Shipment update? The count tracks close to real time and refreshes on the standard data refresh. Force a manual refresh after a packing session to watch it fall. Q: My backlog is high but it is normal for me. Is that a problem? Not necessarily. The alert is relative to your own 30-day average, not an absolute number. If your baseline is genuinely high, tune the multiplier in the Alert Rules tab so the alert fires only on real surges. Q: Why is the trigger relative rather than a fixed count? A fixed count would be wrong for most shops. Two pending orders is a crisis for a low-volume seller and a quiet day for a high-volume one. The relative trigger adapts to your scale. Q: Can I customise the alert threshold? Yes, the backlog multiplier is configurable per profile in the Alert Rules tab.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Pending Shipment is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Depop and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.