At a glance
Pending Shipment counts orders that buyers have paid for but you have not yet shipped. Let this backlog grow past roughly twice your normal level and you risk late dispatch, sour ratings, and losing the Fast Shipper badge.
| What it counts | Paid Mercari orders awaiting dispatch, where the label is unprinted or the parcel has no carrier acceptance scan yet. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from Mercari, refreshed on the standard data refresh. |
| Why it matters | Mercari rewards prompt shipping. A backlog above about 2x your 30-day average means orders are stacking up faster than you can dispatch, which threatens ratings and Fast Shipper status. |
| Reading the value | Lower is healthier. Read it against your 30-day baseline rather than as an absolute. A brief spike after a sale event is normal; a sustained one is not. |
| Currency | number |
| Time window | RT |
| Alert trigger | >2x 30D avg |
| Sentiment key | mer_pending_ship |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Vortex IQ counts every Mercari order that has been paid but not yet handed to the carrier, then compares the live count against the rolling 30-day average of your pending queue. The alert fires when the current backlog runs at more than twice that average. Orders drop off the count once a shipping label receives its first carrier acceptance scan.Worked example
A representative reading of Pending Shipment for a typical Mercari reseller. A sneaker reseller usually carries 3 to 4 unshipped orders at any moment. After a weekend Smart Pricing drop, the card jumps to 11 on 14 Jun 26, well past the>2x 30D avg line. The seller blocks out an afternoon, prints labels in a batch, and clears 9 parcels to a carrier acceptance scan that day, pulling the count back to 2. Acting fast protects the 3-day window and keeps the Fast Shipper badge intact. Cross-check against the ships-within-3-days rate to see whether the backlog has already started eating into on-time dispatch. When the number surges, Vortex Mind traces upstream causes such as a sale event or a paused fulfilment routine, and Ask Viq answers plain-English questions like “which of my pending orders are closest to the ship deadline?”
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
mer_ship_within_3d_rate | Shows whether the backlog is already pushing orders past Mercari’s 3-day window. |
mer_revenue_at_risk | Quantifies the dollar exposure tied to orders at risk of late dispatch. |
mer_total_revenue | Confirms whether a backlog spike followed a genuine surge in sales. |
mer_avg_review_rating | Reveals if slow dispatch has begun to drag down buyer ratings. |
mer_return_rate | Helps spot whether delays are leading to cancellations or returns. |
Reconciling against Mercari
Where to look in Mercari’s own dashboard: In the Mercari app, open your Selling or To Do view, where orders awaiting a shipping label or carrier drop-off are grouped together. Each shows a ship-by date. The count of items in that to-ship state is what this card mirrors. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Period boundary. An order paid moments before the refresh may appear here before it shows in your queue, or vice versa. | Variable | Match the period range. |
| Time zone. Ship-by deadlines are set in Mercari’s time zone, which can shift which orders look overdue. | Marginal | Confirm time zone match. |
| Filter scope. A label printed but not yet scanned by the carrier still counts as pending until acceptance. | Variable | Match filter settings. |