Managing Orders: Fulfilling Customer Purchases

When a customer successfully completes a checkout on your website, a new Order is generated in PolyCMS. Effectively managing these orders is critical to providing excellent customer service and keeping your business running smoothly.

This guide explains how to view, process, and fulfill orders in your admin panel.

The Orders Dashboard

To access your sales data, navigate to E-Commerce > Orders.

Here you will see a chronological list of all purchases made on your store. Key information such as the Order Number, Customer Name, Date, Total Amount, and current Status are visible at a glance.

Understanding Order Statuses

Orders in PolyCMS follow a specific lifecycle. Understanding these statuses is essential for order processing:

• Pending: The customer has initiated the checkout process but payment has not yet been confirmed (common for Bank Transfers or pending PayPal transactions).

• Processing: Payment has been successfully received. The order is now in your queue and waiting to be packaged and shipped.

• Completed: You have shipped the physical product (or the system has automatically delivered the digital download). The transaction is finalized.

• Cancelled: The order was aborted by the customer or the payment failed.

• Refunded: The customer requested a return, and the money has been sent back to them.

Processing an Order

When you receive a new order (usually indicated by an email notification and a "Processing" status), click on the Order Number to view its details.

The Order Detail screen provides everything you need to fulfill the purchase:

1. Customer Details & Addresses

On the left side, you will see the customer's contact information, their Billing Address (where the invoice should be billed to), and their Shipping Address (where you need to send the physical products).

2. Order Items

This section lists exactly what the customer bought, including the specific variations (like size or color), the quantity, and the price they paid at the time of purchase.

3. Payment Logs & Transactions

PolyCMS maintains a secure audit trail. Here you can see exactly which payment gateway was used (e.g., Credit Card, Cash on Delivery, Bank Transfer) and verify if the transaction was successful.

4. Order Notes

You can use the Order Notes section on the right sidebar to:

• Add Private Notes: Write internal memos for your staff (e.g., "Customer called to change shipping address").

• Send Notes to Customer: Add tracking numbers or personalized messages that will be emailed directly to the customer.

Generating Invoices

PolyCMS features a robust, "Immutable Invoicing" system. This means that once an invoice is generated, it captures a snapshot of the business data at that exact moment, ensuring compliance with accounting and tax regulations.

To generate an invoice:

• Open the Order details.

• In the right sidebar, click the Generate Invoice button.

• The system will create a permanent PDF invoice with a unique, secure tracking number (e.g., INV-R7X9Q2YV).

• You can then download this PDF or email it to the customer.

Fulfilling the Order

Once you have physically packaged the items and handed them over to your shipping carrier:

• Add the shipping tracking number to the Order Notes (make sure to check "Send to Customer").

• Change the Order Status dropdown in the top right corner from "Processing" to "Completed".

• Click Update Order.

The system will automatically email the customer to let them know their package is on the way!