Purpose: This article explains when and how to escalate a merchant issue into Tech-CS, and what to check and gather first, so issues can be triaged and turned into engineering tickets quickly.
When to raise something into Tech-CS
Tech-CS is for merchant-reported technical issues that CS cannot resolve directly and that need engineering investigation or a fix. Raise an issue when:
- An order is stuck, erroring, or failing to submit to a lab and you cannot resolve it from the dashboard
- A merchant hits an error message, error reference, or unexpected behaviour in the dashboard, API, or a sales channel (Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, Amazon)
- Something looks like a bug: a correct file printing wrong, pricing that does not make sense, a product that will not order to a destination it shows as available for
- Product or catalogue data looks wrong (recommended sizes, missing pricing sheets, SKUs not configured)
Do not raise into Tech-CS for things CS owns and can answer directly (general how-to questions, standard order amendments, refunds within policy).
Checks before raising
Before escalating, make sure it is not something you can answer or action yourself:
- Read through the knowledge base first. Search this Help Centre (including the Tech-CS section) for the product, error, or topic. Many issues are already documented with a known cause, fix, or answer you can give the merchant directly, self-serve wherever you can.
- Rule out the obvious. Check whether the order is paused, whether funds are sufficient, whether the artwork is configured, and whether the merchant is doing something the product does not support.
- Only escalate what genuinely needs engineering. If you have checked the knowledge base and ruled out merchant error and it still needs investigation or a fix, then it belongs in Tech-CS.
This keeps the channel focused on genuine technical issues and gets merchants a faster answer where the information already exists.
What to gather before raising (the essentials)
An issue can only be triaged if it has enough detail. Before posting, collect whatever applies:
- Merchant email and Merchant ID
- Zendesk ticket number (always, so history and screenshots can be pulled)
- Order ID (and OMS ID if relevant)
- SKU(s) involved
- Destination country
- The exact error message or error reference (copy it in full, do not paraphrase)
- Sales channel / route if relevant (Shopify, Etsy, OrderDesk, API, dashboard/MOF)
- Screenshots of the error or the problem
How to raise it from Zendesk
When raising a ticket from Zendesk, use the Tech-CS macro in the side conversation. This posts the issue into Tech-CS with the merchant and ticket detail in a consistent format, and keeps it linked back to the Zendesk ticket. Add the specifics above (order ID, SKU, error text, what you have ruled out) and attach any screenshots to the Zendesk ticket.
Why screenshots and detail matter
Engineers do not have access to Zendesk. Anything visual or merchant-specific, screenshots, error screens, print files, order history, must be captured by CS and attached, or the engineer cannot see it. A ticket without the evidence attached will stall.
What happens next
The issue is reviewed, checked against existing tickets to avoid duplicates, and where appropriate raised as a Jira ticket under the Tech-CS epic (OPS-3583) and assigned to the right engineer. You will get the ticket link, and when the ticket is resolved an update is posted back to the original Slack thread automatically.
Quick checklist before you post
- Checked the knowledge base, it is not something I can self-serve
- Ruled out merchant error (paused, funds, artwork, unsupported action)
- Merchant email + ID
- Zendesk ticket number
- Order ID / SKU / destination (as applicable)
- Full error text or reference
- Screenshots attached to the Zendesk ticket
- Raised via the Tech-CS macro in the side conversation