In this article, you will learn how to complete the following tasks related to draft orders:
- Add products
- Add a customer
- Add discounts, shipping, and taxes
- Email invoice to customer
- Mark as paid
- Add payment method
A draft order is an order that is created by the store owner or their staff on behalf of a customer. The order can be finalized by either manually adding payment information or by sending an email invoice to the customer for them to complete the payment step. This feature can be useful for accepting phone orders or creating a custom proposal for a customer.
To get started using Draft Orders, log into your store and navigate to Orders -> Drafts on the left sidebar menu.
You will then see a list of all of your store's draft orders. The draft orders list page has filtering, sorting, and search features similar to your regular orders list.
To create a new draft order, click on the Create Order button at top right side of the screen.
Add products
The first step in creating a draft order is to add one or more products to the order. If you know the name of the product, you can simply start typing the name of the product in the search bar as shown below and then click on the product when you see it in the list.
You can also browse by category to add products to a draft order. If you click on the Browse Catalog button, you will see an expandable list of your category structure.
When you click on a category that contains products, you will then see a list of the products and variants in that category. You can check the checkbox next to one or more products that you want to add to the draft order.
When you are done, just click on the Add to Order button at the bottom of the modal window to add the selected products to the order.
You will now see the product(s) list on the order. You can adjust the price or quantity of the product by typing in a new value. If you need to delete a product from the order, just click on the x next to the line total.
Add a customer
The next step is to add a Customer to the draft order. If the order is for an existing customer, you can start typing their name in the search box and you will see a list of matching customers that you can select from. If it is a new customer, you can click on the + Add New Customer link.
If you are adding a new customer, you will then see a modal window to enter the customer information. When you are done entering the information, click the Add Customer button.
When you select or add a new customer, the shipping address will be set to the customer's default shipping address. If you need to change the shipping address, you can click on the Edit link next to the address to select a different address or add a new one.
Add discounts, shipping, and taxes
In the order subtotal section, you can manage Discounts, Shipping, and Taxes.
If you want to add a discount to the order, you can click on the Add Discount link and add either a percentage or flat dollar amount discount to the order.
If the products on the order require shipping, you must click on the Add Shipping link to add a shipping rate before you will be able to save the draft order. You will see a list of all of the available shipping service levels from the shipping carriers connected to your store. You can also enter a custom shipping rate.
If the products on the order are taxable, you can click on the Add Tax link to calculate sales tax on the order.
Email invoice to customer
After you have entered all of the required information, you then need to save the draft order before you can proceed with sending an invoice or adding payment information. Click on the Save as Draft button at the top right side of the screen.
After you save the draft order, you will then see that the payment section is available. The first option for payment is to send an email invoice to the customer.
You will then see a modal window asking you to confirm that you want to send the email. Click the Send button to send the email.
The customer will then receive an email with a summary of the order and a button to View Invoice.
When they click on the button, they will be taken to the Payment step of checkout to add their payment method and complete the order.
Mark as paid
If you accept payment from the customer offline, you can use the Mark as Paid button in the payment section to complete the order. This can be useful in cases where a customer mailed a check or paid cash in person.
After clicking Mark as Paid, you will then see a modal window asking you to confirm the action.
After you confirm, you will then find the order in your regular list of all orders with a payment status of Paid. The order will then be ready for fulfillment if required.
Add payment method
If the customer has given you their credit card information, you can use the Add Payment Method button to enter the information and charge the credit card.
You will then see the payment form where you can fill in the credit card and billing address information.
You can then click the Charge button to charge the credit card and complete the order.
You will then find the order in your regular list of orders with a payment status of Paid. The order will then be ready for fulfillment if required.
That is everything that you need to know about Draft Orders. In the next article, we will look at managing Abandoned Checkouts.