Statuses

Your main page for order review is found by navigating to: Store > Orders. Here you will find a list of all active orders and it is from here that you will process these orders as needed. In this document, we’ll review what each standard order status means, what state that order status belongs to, and how to create custom order statuses of a particular state.

ORDER STATES

Each order status belongs to an ‘order state’. The state typically indicates what part of the order process the order is in and whether or not changes can still be made to the order.

1. Canceled - Orders that have been canceled or abandoned.
2. In Checkout - Customer is in the process of placing an order but has not completed the checkout process.
3. Post Checkout - Orders that have completed the checkout process and waiting to be processed - Pending, Processing and Paypal pending.
4. Payment Received - Orders for which the funds have been collected, but the order itself has not been completed.
5. Pending Warehouse - Orders that have been sent to the wholesaler and waiting to be fulfilled by the wholesaler.
6. Shipped via Warehouse - Orders that have been shipped via the wholesaler
7. Completed - Orders that have been processed (placed, shipped and payment collected) completely - Completed by Warehouse and Completed

DEFAULT ORDER STATUSES

1. Active - Orders that are not ‘Canceled’, ‘In Checkout’ or ‘Abandoned’  The main order page (Store > Orders) will always show Active Orders by default.
2. Canceled - Orders that were manually canceled by the store.
3. In Checkout - Orders that a customer had begun the checkout process for, but not completed the checkout. These orders are not valid, may not have payment information, and the customer is generally aware that their order did not go through. The store can either cancel or ignore these orders. Orders can also remain in ‘In Checkout’ status when a customer could not complete checkout because of an error during checkout - invalid credit card information, missing shipping or billing information, missing customer email etc. Orders that remain ‘In Checkout’ for a specific length of time (default is 1 month) will automatically move to ‘Abandoned’ status.
4. Pending - An order that is waiting for the store to take action on. The order has been placed by the customer but no further action has occurred yet.
5. Processing - Order that the store is working on. It is recommended that a store change a ‘Pending’ order to ‘Processing’ as soon as any action is taken on that order.
6. Payment Received - Order for which payment has been received, and this status can be used for any payment method. For credit card orders, marking an order as “Payment Received’ will charge the credit card and is often used to charge a customer's card before the order is ready to be filled. For example, a store pre-selling signed copies ahead of an author event might want to charge a customer's card before having the book signed. Generally, canceling a ‘Payment Received’ order will automatically refund the customer’s credit card.
7. Pending Warehouse - Order that has been sent to Ingram, and will be filled by Ingram from one of its warehouses. There is nothing a store needs to do with an order that is ‘Pending Warehouse’.
8. Shipped via Warehouse - Order that has been shipped by Ingram. For orders shipped by Ingram, it is at this status that the customer’s credit card is charged.
9. Completed by Warehouse - Order that has been successfully filled and shipped by Ingram. Ingram sends ABA an invoice for that shipped order.
10. Completed - Order that has been processed and shipped by the store. It is recommended that an order is marked as ‘Completed’ after it has been marked as ‘Payment Received’.
11. Paypal Pending (IndieCommerce members only) - Order, paid for using Paypal, and waiting for the store to take action on; a credit card authorization has been obtained on Paypal’s end, but not a charge. When the store captures the funds manually via Paypal, the order status will be updated automatically from ‘Paypal Pending’ to “Payment Received’.
12. Abandoned - Any order that left in 'In Checkout' for a month is moved by the system to 'Abandoned' state.

Selecting all order statuses together will provide a list of every order that has ever been placed on the site.

NOTE: The features below this point are for IndieCommerce members only.

CUSTOMIZING EXISTING STATUSES

You can alter the title of an existing status. In the example below the store has decided to change “Processing” to say “Processing - Not Shipped”

Navigate to: Store > Configuration > Orders > Workflow

1. Locate the title you wish to change and modify it - Example: locate Processing, change to “Processing - Not Shipped”
2. Submit Changes

CREATING NEW ORDER STATUSES

In addition to the default order statuses, you can create your own custom status and assign it to a specific ‘state’. In the example below, the store has decided they want a separate “Payment Received” status for Pre-Orders.

Navigate to: Store > Configuration > Orders > Workflow > Create Custom Order Status

1. Enter a unique ‘Order Status ID’ - Example: preorderspr
2. Enter a title - Example: Pre Orders Payment Received
3. Select the ‘Order State’ - Example: For this option, we would choose ‘Payment Received’
4. Create

You should now see this custom order status as an option under View by ‘Order Status’ and when updating the status of a specific order.

NOTE: After creating a new order status it is important to confirm that your default statuses are set correctly. The default “Post Checkout” status is “Pending”. If you were to create a new “Post Checkout” order status called “Pending - Confirming Availability”, you would want to make sure the default status remained at “Pending”.

To confirm, after creating the new order status:

Navigate back to: Store > Configuration > Orders > Workflow

1. Expand ‘Order States’
2. Review the “Default Order Status’ for the state you created a new status for and make any necessary changes.