Orders

After your catalog is completely setup, this page will be the most used page of the administration section. From here you will view and process your orders. Once shipped, you will update their status with Shipping tracking data.

On the initial page, you will see at the upper right hand corner, an entry to search for a specific order by just entering the order number. You can also view only specific orders such as only those that have a status of "Pending". And they can be sorted by order ID, order total, customer name, or date purchased.

In the table, there is the list of orders that match your selections above. The list shows the following:

Order No. - this is the order no. of the order and is also a link. Clicking on this link will display the details of the order.

Customer - Name of the customer responsible for the order.

Order Total - the total amount of the order in US $.

Date Purchased - the date that the order was created online.

Status - the status of the order which can be any of the following: pending, processing, back ordered, cancelled, and shipped.

Clicking on the order no. will display the details of the order. On this page you will see the Customer's information:

• Customer's address,
• Customer's telephone,
• Customer's e-mail address,
• Delivery address,
• Payment information,
• Authorize.net transaction information, if any,
• Products purchased,
• Shipping information,
• Order status.

Each product listed has its own status. This is for the possibility that one or more products on the order will be back ordered, shipped, or cancelled. If the whole order is in stock, then updating the overall order status at the bottom will change the status for all products on the invoice.

The shipping information has the option of entering tracking numbers for the shipments. If you use FedEx or UPS, you should use the tracking numbers to keep your customers informed of their shipment. If you have more than one tracking number for an order, enter the 1st number and click on the update button. Another entry will appear underneath the one you just entered.

The last section of invoice information is the Status. Displayed in this section is the Date Purchased (a.k.a. date order was created), Status which is the overall order status, and Date Last Updated.

The status of the order can take one of 4 states:

• Pending - which is the default of all new orders,
• Processing - which should be the state once you begin fulfilling the order,
• Backordered - if the item or all items on the order is not in stock and has to be ordered,
• Cancelled - if the order is to be cancelled because of customer request or fraudulent payment or whatever other reason.
• Shipped - once the order has actually shipped out the door, the order status should be set to "Shipped" and updated. Any shipping tracking numbers should also be entered.

At the bottom, there are four buttons:

• e-mail - clicking this button will automatically generate and send an e-mail to the customer informing them that their order status has changed and should visit your site to check for details.
• invoice - click this button will open a new window with invoice data only. To send to the printer, just click on File | Print in the window menu. This is a copy that would normally be sent to the customer.
• packing slip - click this button will open a new window with invoice data but without pricing information. To send to the printer, just click on File | Print in the window menu. This is a copy that would normally be included in the outside of the packaging box.
• update - this will update the order with the changes made.
• back - this link will take you back to the list of orders.