Processing and Tracking Orders

Overview

Once a checkout succeeds you have an order to fulfill. Orders move through pending, paid, fulfilled, cancelled, and refunded. This guide covers reading an order, recording fulfillments with tracking, handling partial shipments, placing fulfillments on hold, and using the order timeline. Refunds and returns have their own guide.

The order lifecycle

• pending — created but not yet paid (for example a manual or unpaid order).
• paid — payment captured.
• fulfilled — all items shipped or delivered.
• cancelled — order voided; stock is restocked once.
• refunded — money returned; stock is restocked once.

An order also carries an internal fulfillment status that reflects how much of it has shipped (nothing, partial, or fully fulfilled).

Open and read an order

1. Open Orders from the navigation rail. The list shows recent orders with status, totals, and customer.
2. Click an order to see its line items, totals (subtotal, discounts, shipping, tax), applied discounts, addresses, payment state, and its fulfillments and returns.
3. Use the order's timeline to read and add events — notes and status changes that create an audit trail for the order.

Fulfill an order

1. Open the order and choose Fulfill items.
2. Select the line items and quantities you are shipping now. You can fulfill everything at once or just part of the order.
3. Set the fulfillment status (pending, partial, or fulfilled; defaults to fulfilled).
4. Add a tracking number, carrier, and shipped date if you have them.
5. Save. StretchShop records the fulfillment, updates the order's overall fulfillment status, and lists it under the order's fulfillments.

Partial fulfillments

When a shipment covers only some items — say two of three units — fulfill just those quantities. The order becomes partially fulfilled. Fulfill the remainder in a second fulfillment when the rest ships. StretchShop prevents over-fulfilling: if you try to ship more than were ordered, it blocks the action and reports the ordered, already-fulfilled, and requested quantities.

Update tracking, hold, release, and cancel

• Update tracking — add or correct the tracking number and carrier on an existing fulfillment at any time.
• Hold — place a fulfillment on hold (for a fraud check or stock issue) so it isn't actioned.
• Release — take a fulfillment off hold when it's ready to proceed.
• Cancel a fulfillment — reverse a fulfillment that was created in error.
• Edit the order status — move the order forward (for example to fulfilled) as work completes.

A realistic example

An order has 3 candles. Two are in your Toronto warehouse and one is on backorder. You fulfill 2 of 3 with carrier Canada Post and a tracking number, and the order shows partial. You place the shipment on hold for an hour while you confirm the address, then release it. When the third candle arrives you create a second fulfillment for the last unit, and the order flips to fulfilled. Throughout, you add timeline events like "Called customer to confirm address" so your team has full context.

Tips

• Record tracking and carrier at fulfillment time so customers and your team can follow the shipment.
• Use partial fulfillments for split shipments instead of waiting for everything to be in stock.
• Use hold/release rather than cancelling when a shipment just needs a pause.
• Add timeline events for anything non-obvious — refunds, calls, exceptions — so the order tells its own story.

Troubleshooting

• "Over fulfilled" — you tried to ship more than were ordered; the error lists ordered, fulfilled, and requested quantities — reduce the amount.
• "Fulfillment items required" — select at least one line item and quantity before saving a fulfillment.
• "Order item not found" — the line you referenced isn't on this order; refresh and pick a current line.
• Bad fulfillment status/date — status must be pending, partial, or fulfilled, and the shipped date must be a valid date.