Orders and Shipments

The Bigship SDK has two distinct concepts: Orders and Shipments. Understanding the difference is essential for using the API correctly.

Orders

An order is the data submission stage. You provide shipment details — consignee information, product details, payment method, and documents. At this point, no courier has been assigned and no physical movement has occurred.

Order methods:

Method	Type	Description
createOrder({ segment_type: 'domestic_b2c' })	B2C	Submit a single-box consumer order
createOrder({ segment_type: 'domestic_b2b' })	B2B	Submit a multi-box business order

const order = await client.createOrder({
  segment_type: 'domestic_b2c',
  MasterOrderPickUpLocation: 123456,
  MasterOrderReturnLocation: 123456,
  MasterOrderDate: new Date().toISOString().replace('T', ' ').substring(0, 19),
  MasterOrderPaymentMode: 1,
  OrderInvoiceNo: `INV-${Date.now()}`,
  MasterOrderInvoiceAmount: 2500,
  MasterOrderShippingName: 'Jane Doe',
  MasterOrderShippingMobileNo: '9876543210',
  MasterOrderShippingAddress: '123 Main St',
  MasterOrderShippingZipCode: '400001',
  MasterOrderShippingCity: 'Mumbai',
  MasterOrderShippingState: 'Maharashtra',
  MasterOrderShippingCountry: 'India',
  totalNumOfBoxes: 1,
  boxes: [{
    weight_unit: 'kg',
    dimension_unit: 'cm',
    noOfBoxes: 1,
    dimensions: [{ length: 20, breadth: 15, height: 10, weight: 0.5 }],
    products: [{
      productName: 'Laptop',
      qty: '1',
      amount: '2500',
      totalAmount: 2500,
      collectableAmount: 0,
      categoryId: '4',
    }],
  }],
  invoice_document_file: 'data:application/pdf;base64,...',
});

Shipments

A shipment is the physical movement stage. After an order is manifested, a courier is assigned, an AWB or LRN is generated, and the package can be tracked and labeled.

Shipment methods:

Method	Description
placeOrder	Assign courier to an order (manifest)
getOrderDetail	Retrieve full order details including AWB
downloadDocument	Retrieve shipping label or other documents

// Place the order to create a shipment
const place = await client.placeOrder({
  MasterCustomOrderId: '311276742',
  courierId: 5,
  riskTypeId: '2',
});

// Now retrieve the order details
const details = await client.getOrderDetail('311276742');

// Get the shipping label
const label = await client.downloadDocument('311276742', 'label');

Lifecycle

Order Created ──→ Placed ──→ Shipment Active ──→ Delivered
(createOrder)    (placeOrder)  (AWB assigned)    (tracked)

An order becomes a shipment after manifestation (placeOrder). Until then, it exists only as a data record with no courier assignment or tracking number.