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, the receipt and the invoice.

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.

Create the invoice

Some customers need an invoice: a numbered document to pay against or to keep for their books. An order can be invoiced while it is Draft, Authorized or Paid.

1. Open the order and click Create Invoice (or go to the Invoice tab and click it there).
2. Check what will be billed: the customer, the number of items, and the total. Click Create Invoice again to confirm.
3. The invoice is made from the order — its items, shipping, tax and any discount — so its total is the order's total. It gets its own number, such as INV-2026-0012, and a PDF. It appears on the Invoice tab and beside Invoice in the summary at the top.

Good to know:

• Nothing is sent to the customer until you choose to. Use Email Invoice (below), or click View PDF to print it, download it or send it yourself.
• Pressing Create Invoice twice never makes two invoices.
• A cancelled or refunded order can't be invoiced.

How the invoice gets paid

The payment is taken on the order, never on the invoice, so money is never recorded twice.

• When you click Take Payment on the order, its invoice is marked Paid at the same moment. The payment is listed on the Invoice tab as Paid on the Order, with the order number and who took it.
• If the order is already paid when you create the invoice, the invoice is created already paid — ready to send as a receipt.
• An unpaid invoice shows a Take Payment button on the Invoice tab that does the same as the one at the top of the order.
• If you cancel an order whose invoice has not been paid, the invoice is voided with it.
• A refund or a return on a paid order does not change its invoice: the invoice stays the record of what was paid, and the Payments tab shows the money that went back.

Send the invoice to the customer

Open the Invoice tab and use the Send to Customer card.

1. Click Email Invoice.
2. Check Send To (it starts with the email on the customer's account; you can change it without changing the account) and add a Personal Message if you like.
3. Read What the Customer Will Get, then click Send.

The customer gets an email with the invoice as a PDF and a View invoice button that opens it on your organization's own invoice page — no account or password needed. Copy New Link gives you a link to share another way (earlier links stop working), and Turn Off Link stops every link at once. Every send is listed under Sent and Shared with who sent it, when, to whom, and how often the customer opened it.

Email a receipt

Once the order is paid, the button becomes Email Receipt. The customer gets a thank-you with the amount received and the day it was paid, the paid invoice attached, and a View receipt button; the invoice page shows Paid in full. Receipts are listed under Sent and Shared as Receipt emailed to.

Void an invoice

If the invoice was a mistake, click Void Invoice on the Invoice tab, type why, and confirm. The invoice keeps its number and stays listed under Voided Invoices with your reason and who voided it; the customer's link stops working; the order itself does not change, and you can create a new invoice for it. An invoice that has been paid can't be voided, because that would erase money you received.

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, and its invoice under Invoices on the same tab — click it to open the order's Invoice tab.