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This documentation is currently being worked on. Until the stable version of PrestaShop 1.5 is released, it should not be seen as definitive.

Table of content

Managing Orders

As a shop manager, you will have to deal with heaps of orders and their accompanying invoices and customer support requests – at least, that's what we wish for you. The daily task of handling numerous orders can be daunting. Fortunately PrestaShop does its best to help you wade through them all and successfully handle your customers' purchases, along with credit slips and the unavoidable merchandise returns.

Orders

The "Orders" page under the "Orders" tab enables you to see all of the information about all the purchases from your shop. All of your shop's transactions are available there, organized by date (by default, it is set to sort from newest to oldest).

You can filter the results and easily find the orders you're looking for by using the fields above. For instance, to identify Mr. Doe's orders, type Doe into the "Customer" field and then click "Filter".

Viewing Order Details

In order to process the orders you receive, you have to view the information they contain.
Click on the line containing the order, or click on the button to the right of the order.

The order detail sheet fills a full page.

This summary of the order gives you access to:

  • The status and history of the order.
  • The carrier information: total weight of order and carrier chosen by the customer.
  • The method of payment that was used, the cost of the products, and the shipping costs.
  • Various details on the ordered products.

In the "Shipping address" section of the page, you can see a "G" icon: the enables you to use Google Maps to locate the address on a map.

Changing the order

Orders are not unalterable. There are many reasons why you would need to change an order before its products are gathered, packed and sent to their new owner: one of the product is out of stock, the customer changed his or her mind, etc.

At the top of the page are the "Add a product" and "Cancel products", which trigger two actions upon clicking:

  1. scroll down the page to the "Products" section.
  2. add fields to the product sheet.

Adding a product

When adding a product, the products table gets a row added with a handful of fields. The first text field is actually a small search engine: type the first letters of a product to see a list of corresponding products. Select the one you want to add, and the grayed-out field of the row become available.
If the product has combinations, you can select it in a drop-down list that appears below the name: the unit price update accordingly.
Set the quantity of products, then click the "Add product" button: the product is added

Note that the "Add a product" button from the "Products" section triggers the same action the button of the same name in the top bat.

You cannot add more product quantity than there is of available product.

Removing products

Clicking the "Cancel product" button in the top bar adds a column in the product list, titled "Cancel". This column feature a check-box and a text field: check the box to indicate that you want to remove quantities from this product, and type a number in the text-field indicating how much of the product should be removed. Finally, click on the "Cancel product" button at the bottom of the "Products" section in order to validate your choice.

You can edit the quantity of many product at the same time.
If a product's quantity reaches 0, it is removed from the order altogether.
You cannot remove more than the quantity of product.

Editing the order details

Many sections of the order sheet can be edited, enabling you to update or correct some of the data provided by the customer.

Order Status

The first drop-down list in the order page enables you to change its status. You can choose between the following status:

  • Awaiting bank wire payment
  • Awaiting cheque payment
  • Awaiting PayPal payment
  • Canceled
  • Delivered
  • On backorder
  • Payment accepted
  • Payment error
  • Payment remotely accepted
  • Preparation in progress
  • Refund
  • Shipped

In order to get a better view of the order's activity, every status change is recorded, and the log appears right below the status change drop-down list. Therefore, you should only change a status if it has been clearly confirmed: do not mark an order as "Delivered" when you have sent the package, use "Shipped", do not use "Preparation in progress" when in fact you have only taken a quick glance at the order, etc.

Actions Buttons

The action buttons in the top bar change depending on the order's status. For instance, once the order is in the "Delivered" state, the "Add a product" and "Remove products" turn into two new buttons: "Return products" and "Partial refund".

Return products is to be used when the customer returns products: once the returned product has been received, you can mark it as returned directly in the order form. Click the "Return products" and a new column will appear, title "Return". Check the box the the involved products, set the number of items that were return, and click the "Return products" at the bottom of the table.
Note that this will only work if you have enabled merchandise return for your shop! To enable merchandise return, go to the "Merchandise Returns" page under the "Orders" tab, and in the "Merchandise return (RMA) options" section, choose "Yes" for the "Enable returns" option, and save. This will apply to all products and all orders.
Three options are available when set a product as returned, below the table:

  • Re-stock products. When checked, PrestaShop will consider that the returned product as available for sale again, and will therefore increase the stock for this product.
  • Generate a credit slip. When checked, a credit slip will be created for the selected items. A credit slip is an acknowledgment from your shop that merchandise has been returned and that a refund has been issued. The customer can then use it as a discount for his or her next purchase.
  • Generate a voucher. When checked, a voucher will be created for the amount of the selected items. A voucher takes the form of a discount code that the customer can enter during the checkout process. You can edit the customer's voucher by viewing the customer's page: from the current order's page, click on the link under the customer's name in the "Customer information" section; once in the customer's page, reach the "Vouchers" section. You can edit each voucher by clicking on the "Edit" icon.

In PrestaShop 1.5, vouchers are part of a new kind of discount feature: "cart rules". They can be created and edited from the "Cart Rules" page, under the "Price rules" tab. The cart rules creation process in the next chapter, "Creating Price rules".

Difference between a credit slip, a voucher and a cart rule

A credit slip is first and foremost a written proof that a product has been returned. Most of the time, the user can use it as a voucher.

A voucher is a discount code which does not have to be tied to a merchandise return or a refund, and which can take many more forms than a simple credit slip:

  • a discount on an order (percentage).
  • a discount on an order (amount).
  • free shipping.

You can apply a voucher to all customers, or a group of customers, or a single customer; you can set its expiration date;

A cart rule is basically an advanced version of a voucher: in addition to what a voucher could do in PrestaShop 1.4, the cart rules system introduced in PrestaShop 1.5 enables you to:

  • Name the discount.
  • Allow the customer to use only a portion of the discount.
  • Assign priorities between cart rules.
  • Set the compatibility between cart rules.
  • Have the discount only work with some carriers.
  • Have the discount only work with a selection of products and/or categories and/or manufacturers and/or suppliers and/or attributes... or all of these at the same time if necessary!
  • Have the discount be applicable for free shipping and/or a discount on an order and/or a free gift... or all of these at the same time if necessary!

Partial refund is to be used when you need to refund only part of the order and not the whole order, either because the customer returned the ordered product, or simply as a sign of goodwill for a damaged product that the customer chose to keep anyway.

Documents

You can get many PDF documents out of the order page. When available, they are listed in the "Documents" section of the page.

By default, you can download the order itself as a PDF, by clicking on the "Print order" button on right.

You can get an invoice for the order by clicking on the "Generate invoice" button from the "Documents" section. Once generated, the "View invoice" below the top-bar gets activated.

When you put the order in the "Delivered" state, a delivery slip PDF is generated, which you can then download from the "Documents" section.

Shipping

The shipping details of the current order can be partly edited. More specifically, you can change the tracking number: in the "Shipping" section, click on the "Edit" icon in the "Tracking number" column, and enter the new number.

Shipping Address

The "Shipping address" section enables you to edit the destination address of the package your team is about to send. You can either choose the drop-down menu to choose another of the addresses that the customers has already registered on your shop, or you can use the "Edit" icon to edit the currently chosen address.

If you need to send the package to an address that is not already registered in PrestaShop, you must first create it. To do this, go to the "Customers" tab, open the "Addresses" page, and click in the "Add new" button. Do not forget to put the correct e-mail of the customer, as this is the way PrestaShop will know to associate that new address with your existing customer! Once done, go back to the order's page, and change the address using the drop-down menu.

Note that a small "G" icon enables you to visualize the destination of the package on Google Maps.

Invoice Address

The "Invoice address" section enables you to edit the payment address of the order. Just as for the shipping address, you can either choose the drop-down menu to choose another of the addresses that the customers has already registered on your shop, or you can use the "Edit" icon to edit the currently chosen address.

If you need the payment to be tied to an address that is not already registered in PrestaShop, you must first create it. To do this, go to the "Customers" tab, open the "Addresses" page, and click in the "Add new" button. Do not forget to put the correct e-mail of the customer, as this is the way PrestaShop will know to associate that new address with your existing customer! Once done, go back to the order's page, and change the address using the drop-down menu.

Discount

In the "Products" section, at the bottom of the products listing, you can find an empty table with a "Add new discount". This create a simple discount, not as advanced as the vouchers/cart rules system. Clicking it will open a new form, with the following items:

  • Name. Give the discount a short name. This will be public to the customer.
  • Type. Choose the discount type: "percent", "amount" or "free shipping".
  • Value. For the "percent" or "amount" types, set the value of the discount.
  • Invoice. Select to which invoice from this order this discount should be applied. When there are more than one invoice, you can check the box to apply the discount to all the invoices.

The discount will be applied to the total before the shipping costs.

Sending a message to your customer

In the "New Message" section, at the bottom of the page, you can send a message to the customer, in order to give him or her information concerning the order, a delay, a surprise, or keep him informed on offers and specials. This is key to good business.

There are two links available:

  • Click here to add a comment or send a message to the customer.
    • You can send a message by writing it in the message box.
    • Pre-written message can be saved and used multiple times, saving you the hassle of writing them over and over again. If you would like to send one of these messages, select it from the drop-down menu. You can add further details to the pre-written message if needed.
  • Click here to see all messages. Rather than opening a message form, this link will take you to the "Customer service" page of the "Customers" tab. This is fully explained in the "Managing Customers" chapter of this guide.

In both of these cases, once your message is ready, click "Send". Your customer will receive your message in their inbox (the one indicated in their account).

You can create more pre-written messages using the tool in the "Order messages" page, under the "Orders" page.

Invoices

Each time an order from your shop is validated, an invoice is sent out to the customer. You can download the invoices for a single order from the order's page. The "Invoices" page under the "Orders" tab enables you to download a selection of invoices from past orders in PDF format, all at the same time (in the same PDF file).

You can print a PDF of several invoices depending on two main criteria:

  • By date. Very useful when you need to print all invoices for a given month or a given quarter. Select the start and end date, and click on the "Generate PDF file by date" button in the top bar.
  • By order status. A must have when you need to print precisely which orders are canceled, refunded or on backorder. PrestaShop helpfully indicates the number of invoices tied to each status in parentheses.

In both cases, the invoices are generated into a single PDF, each with their own pages. You cannot get a single PDF for each invoice of the given period or statuses.

Invoice Options

You can choose whether or not invoices should available to your customers as soon as the order is made, as well as the Invoice Prefix and the invoice number you want listed on the printed version of the invoice. This feature can help you simplify the management of your account.

  • Enable invoices. When disabled, your customer will not receive an invoice after their purchase. You will be responsible for handling the invoices, if your customers ask for one.
  • Invoice prefix. You might like to have language-tagged invoices: "IN" in English, "FA" in French (for "facture"), "CU" in Spanish (for "cuenta"), etc. Or you could directly choose to have language codes: "EN", "FR", "SP", etc. Of course, you can also choose to not have a prefix at all.
    PrestaShop will then generate the invoices number according to you settings: "#IN000001", "#FR000002", etc.
  • Invoice number. If your business has already had orders and invoices before you started using PrestaShop, you can use this option to start your invoice number from a higher number.
  • Footer text. You can use to have a custom text at the bottom of all your invoices. The text will appear below the name of your shop in then invoice.
  • Invoice model. Depending on your themes, you might be able to use more than one style of invoice. Test them with a fake order, in order to choose the one you prefer. If you know how to code in HTML, you can add your own invoice models or edit the existing ones: they are located in the /pdf/ folder of your PrestaShop installation.
  • Use disk as cache for PDF invoices. You can choose to store generated invoices on PrestaShop's server disk rather than in its server cache. While it saves on memory usage, it slows down the PDF generation itself, so use it knowingly.

Do not forget to save your changes.

When your customers ask for their invoices, you can redirect them to the "Order History" section of their user accounts, which keeps all of their invoices available for them.

Merchandise Returns

Under the "Merchandise Returns" tab, you have the possibility of enabling customers to send products back to you. Simply make a choice, the time of validity, and save.

Once you have activated this option in your back-office, the customer can choose to return an item (provided the order is still in the time of validity). In order to do this, s/he must do the following:

  1. Access the "Orders History" section of his or her account.
  2. Select the order from which he wants to return an item.
  3. Select the product(s) that s/he wishes to return by checking the box next to its name(s).
  4. (optional) Add an explanation, in order for the shop team to understand why the customer wants to return this products.

Once the form is complete, the customer clicks on "Make an RMA slip", and the request is sent to you.

A list of returns will appear in your back-office.

It is now up to you to accept it or deny it:

  • Click on the name of the return to see more details.
  • Change the status to continue with the return process or stop it.

Delivery Slips

A delivery slip is a notification of delivery. It can also be called "delivery note" or "advice note".
It is supposed to be put in the shipped package, along with the ordered products. It will have your shop's logo, and indicate the content. On receiving the package, the customer will be able to use the delivery slip in order to double-check the content of the package, see that nothing is missing from the order.

Printing a delivery slip is exactly like printing an invoice. Select the dates, as well as the options you would like, and then confirm them to create your documents.

You can print a PDF of several delivery slips depending only by date, which is very useful when you need to print all delivery slips for a given day or a given quarter. Select the start and end date, and click on the "Generate PDF file" button.

Delivery Slips Options

The two options are the same as for the invoice options:

  • Delivery prefix. You might like to have language-tagged delivery slips: "DE" in English, "LI" in French (for "livraison"), "EN" in Spanish (for "entrenga"), etc. Or you could directly choose to have language codes: "EN", "FR", "SP", etc. Of course, you can also choose to not have a prefix at all.
    PrestaShop will then generate the delivery slips number according to you settings: "#DE000001", "#LI000002", etc.
  • Delivery number. If your business has already had orders and delivery slips before you started using PrestaShop, you can use this option to start your delivery slip number from a higher number.

Do not forget to save your changes.

Credit Slips

Following your agreement on a product return, you should receive a package from the customer. Once you have received that package, you must create a credit slip. It can also be called "credit note" or "credit memo".

In your list of orders, click on the order for which the customer is returning some items for more details.

Below the "Products" table, do the following:

  • Check the item(s) returned.
  • Check the box "Re-stock Products" if you wish to put the product back in your stock.
  • Check the box "Generate a Credit Slip."
  • To make a customer happy after committing an error in their order, consider giving him a voucher by checking the box next to "Generate a Voucher."
  • You can also reimburse his shipping costs by clicking next to "Include Shipping."

Once you have selected all the options you want, confirm by clicking on "Refund Products."

The credit slip is now created and will be available in the Order Details well as in the "Credit Slips" tab.

You can click the link to download the PDF.

Your customer will see the slip in his "My Account" section.

If you have created a voucher, they will see it in the "My vouchers" section of their account. If they click on it, it should look something like this:

The amount of the returned item(s) is added to the voucher. The customer can use the discount code (listed in the far left of the column) next time he places an order.

Statuses

Having different order statuses enables you to easily manage your orders, and keep you customers informed of the evolution of their purchase.

The various available statuses are visible and editable in the "Statuses" page, under the "Orders" tab.
The page displays a list of the currently registered statuses, along with

  • Their distinctive colors: existing status have colors that help quickly decide if there's an issue with the order or if it all goes well.
  • Their icons.
  • Their ties to two PrestaShop behaviors (more are available):
    • Should the customer receive e-mail when the order gets this status?
    • Does this status allow the customer to download and view a PDF version of the order's invoice?
  • The name of their e-mail template: you can edit these templates, language by language, in the "Translations" page under the "Localization" tab. In the "Modify translations" section of the page, choose "E-mail template translations" in the drop-down menu, then click on the flag of the language in which you wish to edit these templates.
  • Their action icons: "edit" and "delete".

You can create a new status with the "Add New" button.

Fill out the form:

  • Status name. Keep it very short and distinctive.
  • Icon. You can use any 16*16 icon; for instance, the excellent and free FamFamFam Silk icon set: http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/
  • Color. You should strive to have the status' color match the existing colors (if relevant). The default color usages are:
    • Red/Orange: canceled or refunded orders,
    • Crimson red: payment error,
    • Blue: orders which are still awaiting payment,
    • Light green: paid orders,
    • Dark green: delivered orders,
    • Purple: shipped orders,
    • Pink: backordered orders.
  • Options:
    • Consider the associated order as validated. If enabled, this status marks all associated orders as "paid", and puts them in this same status.
    • Allow customer to download and view PDF version of invoice. If disabled, you will have to send customers their invoice yourself.
    • Hide this state in order for customer. This enables you to create internal statuses, for you and your team. Customers will never see this in their order status page.
    • Send e-mail to customer when order status is changed. When enabled, a drop-down menu appears to let you choose which mail template to use.
    • Set order as shipped. Be careful: once an order is set as "shipped", it cannot be set back.
    • Set order as paid. Same here: once an order is set as "paid", it cannot be set back.

Order Messages

When you have to send a message to your customers using the PrestaShop administrative interface, you can choose to save this message in order to send it out again to other customers with similar questions, comments, or concerns.

To do this, go to the "Order Messages" page under the "Orders" tab. One default message is already saved: "Delay". To add others, click on the "Add New" button. You can also edit the default message.

The form goes to the essentials:

  • Name. Give your message a descriptive name so that you can easily find it again later.
  • Message. Write out the content that you wish to send to your customers.

Once done, click on "Save".

You can create as many messages as needed.

Once you pre-written messages are all set, you can send them by going directly into a customer's order:

  • Select the pre-written message.
  • Edit it if needed.
  • Click "Send."

Your customer will receive the message on the email address associated with this account.

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