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Understand Public and Signed-In Access

Search Fulfield guidance across setup, fulfillment operations, payments, and support topics.

Getting Started

Understand Public and Signed-In Access

P1Public

Know what visitors can inspect anonymously, what requires a Client account, what requires an approved Shipper account, and why a public action redirects.

Who can do this

  • Available to everyone.

Before you start

  • Identify whether you are browsing, buying fulfillment as a Client, or providing fulfillment as a Shipper.
  • Use only an account whose role matches the action.

Steps

  1. Without signing in, browse the home/marketing pages, public Help/FAQ/videos/posts, run location search, use scenario and filters, open eligible shipper profiles, inspect approximate location, services/pricing/SLA/reviews, and prepare an application.
  2. Create or sign in to a Client account to save the business/typical-case profile, see precise shipper address where allowed, contact shippers, request contracts, and create/manage client operational work.
  3. Create or sign in to a Shipper account to complete the provider application. Portal operations require the appropriate registration/approval state and role permissions.
  4. Expect Contact Shipper and Send Shipment on a public profile to redirect to Login. After Client sign-in, incomplete profiles are routed to completion before the action continues.
  5. Expect Send Shipment without an existing active relationship to open contract review, while an existing recognized contract changes the action to Create Shipment.
  6. Use /help for public guidance, /client/help for client-only/shared guidance, and /shipper/help for shipper-only/shared guidance. Exact audience membership controls which articles appear.
  7. If a route redirects unexpectedly, confirm the signed-in email, role, profile/approval status, and intended route before creating another account.

Fields and decisions

  • Public means no account state is needed. It does not mean every underlying address, record, or operation is public.
  • Client is the buyer/merchant role. Shipper is the warehouse service-provider role. Team permissions can further narrow signed-in actions.
  • A session marker can change a public route to its client counterpart, but the account still must have the correct role/profile.
  • Exact warehouse address is protected in anonymous profile view; city/region and approximate map remain visible for discovery.
  • Approval affects Shipper portal access and public eligibility. Client profile completion affects client relationship actions.
  • Help role separation is retrieval/navigation scoping, not a license to place secrets in help content.

Finished when

  • You know which account/approval/profile state is required for the intended action and which Help Center should contain its instructions.
  • Unexpected redirects are diagnosed from role/state rather than by creating duplicate accounts.

What this changes

  • Signing in activates account-specific routing and access checks.
  • Changing role is not a preference toggle; it changes the account model and generally requires the correct registration/support path.

Common problems

A public action returns to Login.

Sign in as the required Client role. If already signed in, verify the session/account role and reopen the profile.

A signed-in Client is sent to profile completion.

Save the required client registration/profile fields, then retry the action.

A Shipper cannot access the operational portal.

Check whether registration is incomplete, pending, changes were requested, or approval/plan prerequisites remain.

The wrong role was created.

Stop before creating data and contact support for role/account guidance rather than making duplicate accounts.

Safety checks

  • Do not share an account between client and shipper businesses to bypass role controls.
  • Do not infer that a hidden address or article can be exposed by editing the URL.
  • Do not create duplicate identities to work around pending approval or incomplete profile state.

When to contact support

  • Contact support when the account role/status shown in the portal conflicts with the intended registration, a correct role loops between routes, or protected information appears anonymously. Include email and route but no password/code.

Owner: Fulfield Product Support | Content version: 2026.09.01.1 | Last verified: 2026-09-01