The following steps below are typical of how the store operates. Every business is different and your own steps may vary. You can also automate many of these tasks by using the action rules to automatically change statuses immediately after checkout. Please see How to force order and payment status for more information.
- When a previously saved order is due to recur, the system generates a new order for customer. When the preferred payment uses credit card, the system will automatically attempt to charge the card and upon success will decrement the inventory. Also, if the Configuration > Checkout has the Run action on checkout option selected, the system will automatically run the place order action rule. In all other cases where the system is not able to automatically collect the payment successfully (e.g. wire transfer, cash payment, credit card declined, etc.), the inventory is not adjusted. Discounts, shipping, handling costs and taxes are automatically applied to order.
Because recurring order normally repeats over a long period of time and many factors can affect the validity of the order (e.g. customer credit card expired, product features changed, inventory is empty, changes to available shipping methods, changes to business and legal requirements, etc.), it is the responsibility of the merchant to verify the new order is valid and issue the payment collection manually as needed.
When a payment is successfully paid or the total amount is $0.00, the system will mark the following statuses.
Order Status = Ordered
Payment Status = Pending
Shipping Status = Not Required/Not Shipped
If the payment failed and the total amount is greater than $0.00, the system will mark the following statuses
Order Status = Ordered
Payment Status = Incomplete
Shipping Status = Not Required/Not Shipped
If the Payment Status is Incomplete, an invoice is sent out to request for payment, otherwise a receipt is sent out.
- Merchant reviews order and marks order as valid. You can skip this step if your order to fulfillment steps are very quick.
Order Status = Processing
- Merchant decrements product inventory level. If payment was automatically collected successfully, you don’t need to adjust inventory level.
- Merchant creates a new payment and collects the money if payment is not already collected. In the case of credit card, the system will attempt to collect the payment automatically.
Payment Status = Paid
- Merchant runs place order actions (e.g. grant security role, execute Web request). This step is not required if the Configuration > Checkout has the Run action on checkout option selected, which automatically runs the action rule on recurring order creation.
- If product requires shipping, administrator ships product once paid. In the case of Cash on Delivery (C.O.D), the product may be shipped first before receiving payment.
Shipping Status = Shipped
- Merchant closes order. Any downloadable product (virtual goods) will automatically become available when order is marked Completed or payment is Paid.
Order Status = Completed