How to Manage a Retail Order

Everything that happens to an order after it is created happens on its page: payment, shipping, returns, refunds, notes and the receipt.

Before you start

An order — see How to Create a Retail Order. Open it from the market's Orders tab, from Fulfillment, or from the customer account's Orders tab.

Where an order can go

An order is always in one of five states:

• Draft — just created. You can still edit its items, customer, market and tax.
• Authorized — approved, but the money has not come in yet.
• Paid — the customer has paid. The items are taken from stock.
• Cancelled — called off before payment. Anything it was holding goes back on the shelf.
• Refunded — all of its money has been given back.

Steps

1. Take Payment records the payment. You can do this straight from Draft (a sale paid at the counter) or after Authorize.
2. Edit (Draft only) changes the items, quantities, prices and tax, the customer, or the market. Clearing the customer turns the order into a walk-in sale.
3. Cancel Order is available until the order is paid.
4. Ship (Paid orders) records a parcel: the carrier, tracking number and link. Each shipment then moves on through Update — In Transit, Out For Delivery, Delivered. The shipped and delivered times fill themselves in. The Packing list on the Shipping tab tracks each item being picked and packed.
5. Return Items (Paid orders) takes some or all items back. Choose how many of each are coming back and why. Leave Approve now on to refund the customer straight away and put the items back in stock, or turn it off to approve the return later from the Returns tab. An item can never be returned more times than it was bought.
6. Refund gives back what is left of the payment without taking items back (for example, a goodwill refund). The order is then marked Refunded.
7. Print Receipt prints a clean receipt with the items, totals, any refund and the customer (or "Walk-In Sale").
8. Notes keeps a running record of the order. Turn on The customer may see this note for a note meant for the customer.

What you'll see

The Payments tab lists the payment and every refund, so the order's money always adds up. A partial return keeps the order Paid and shows the refunded amount; once everything has been refunded the order becomes Refunded. The order also appears on its customer's account, under Orders.