Managing Orders

Overview

Orders are created when a customer completes the checkout process. They are visible by "Administrator" and "Shop Manager" users only.

You can find the orders section to manage and view your shop orders by visiting your admin panel.

Each order is given a unique "Order ID". Order IDs are just like Post IDs and are by default non-sequential. An order also has a "status". The order statuses let you know how far along the order is, starting from "Pending", and ending with "Complete". The following order statuses are used by default:

• Pending payment: Order received (unpaid).
• Failed: Payment failed or was declined (unpaid). Note that this status may not show immediately and may instead show as pending until verified (i.e., PayPal).
• Processing: Payment received and stock has been reduced - the order is awaiting fulfilment.
• Completed: Order fulfilled and complete - requires no further action.
• On-Hold: Awaiting payment - stock is reduced, but you need to confirm payment.
• Cancelled: Cancelled by an Administrator or the Customer - no further action required.
• Refunded: Refunded by an Administrator - no further action required.

Note: If you are using PayPal and orders are staying as "pending" you could have an IPN issue.

Viewing orders

When you start taking orders the order management page will begin to fill up. You can view these orders in your admin panel by clicking on the "Orders" menu item in the left hand admin menu.

Each order row displays useful details, such as the customer's address, email, telephone number, and the order status. You can click the order number or the "view order" button to see the single order page (this is also where you can edit the order details and update the order status). Order rows also have some handy shortcut buttons to quickly mark orders complete and processing.

You can filter the list of displayed orders by date, status and customer by using the form at the top of the screen.

Editing/viewing single orders

From the single order page not only can you view all order data, you can also edit and update it. You can:

• Change the order status.
• Edit order items - Modify the product, prices, and taxes.
• Control stock - Reduce or restore stock for an order.
• Order actions - Resend order emails to the customer using the drop down menu above the "Save Order" button. Send New Order, Processing Order, Completed Order, or Customer Invoice emails - very handy if manually creating an order for your customers
• Modify product "meta" to edit product variations by removing and adding meta.

Order Data

The order data panel lets you modify the order status, view (or change) the customer's order note, and change which user/customer the order is assigned to.

You'll also find the customer billing and shipping addresses, along with a link to view other purchases the customer may have had in the past. To edit addresses, click the "edit" link and a form will appear. Once saved, the new address will be displayed in a localised format.

Order Items

Note: To edit an order, the status must be set to "On Hold" or "Processing Payment".

The next panel on the order page is the "order items" panel. This panel lists all the items which are in the order, as well as quantities and prices.

The editable parts of line items include:

1. Tax Class - Tax class for the line. This may be adjusted if, for example, the customer is tax exempt.
2. Quantity - The quantity of the item the user is purchasing.
3. Line Subtotal - Line price and line tax before pre-tax discounts.
4. Line Total - Line price and line tax after pre-tax discounts.
5. Add Meta - Add and remove meta to change product variable options.
6. Sorting - Sort by "Item", "Cost", "Quantity", and "Total" by clicking on the respective listed items.

Here you can also add additional fees for items. Click "Add fee" and fill out the fee name, tax status and amount.

To add custom meta fields, use the "Custom Fields" metabox.

Order Totals

The Order Totals panel stores totals and tax for the order. You can enter these values yourself or have them part calculated for you using the "Calc totals" button. The totals comprise of the following:

• Cart Discount - Pre-tax discounts. Can be auto-calculated.
• Order Discount - Post-tax discounts. Needs to be input manually.
• Shipping Cost - Cost excluding tax.
• Shipping Method - Name of the method.
• Cart Tax - Cart tax total.
• Shipping Tax - Shipping tax total.
• Order Total
• Payment Method - Name of the payment method used.

There are two buttons available on this panel: "Calc Taxes", and "Calc Totals". Calculating taxes will use your prices, and calculate the tax based on the customers shipping address. If the customer's address has not been input, it will default to the stores base location.

There is also a section called tax rows. This is where you can define (and name) multiple tax rows. This is useful if, for example, you take multiple taxes or use compound taxes. These values are displayed on the customer invoice.

Adding an order manually

You can manually add an order using the "Add New" link at the top of the orders page. Once added you can input the customer details, add line items, and calculate the totals. You should set a relevant status for the new order - if it needs to be paid use "pending".

After saving, you can use the "Order Actions" dropdown to email the Customer Invoice with payment instructions. To send, be sure to select "Save Order".

Order/Customer Notes

The "Order Notes" panel displays notes attached to the order. These are used for storing event details, such as payment results or reducing stock levels, and for adding notes to the order for the customer to view. Some payment gateways also add notes for debugging.

The notes feature can be a very powerful tool for communicating with customers. Need to add a tracking number for shipping? Some stock is delayed? Add a customer note and they will be automatically notified.

When added, customer notes are highlighted in purple. Customers receive notes via email, but they can also view them by viewing an order, or using an order tracking page (if you've set one up).

Refunding Orders

It is possible to do refunds directly from your website dashboard if your payment gateway allows it.

For more information about Manual and Automatic Refunds, please see the Refunds documentation (Soon).