Being able to manage orders and respond to messages is an important part of running a Big Commerce store. The steps below will help you understand and use the actions and different types of correspondence on your Big Commerce site.

 

Order Actions

To view order actions go to the View Orders page and on the far right side of the menu, there will be an Action button. Click that to view all actions such as editing the details of the order, shipping the products, and refunding a payment, just to name a few.

Performing actions on an order will change the status of the order, but manually changing the order status will not perform an action. For example, if you want to refund a customer’s order, you will need to use the refund action in this menu. Just changing the order status in the drop-down menu will not refund the order.

This video will give you a rundown of order management. At 2:28 it talks about the order actions menu.

Here is a list of all actions you can see in the Order Actions menu:

• Edit Order — Edit the billing address, cart contents, shipping address, shipping method, payment method and discount charges on an existing order. 
• Print Invoice — Print a paper or PDF invoice containing pertinent order information. See Printing an Order Invoice.
• Print Packing Slip — Print a paper or PDF packing slip containing pertinent shipment information. See Printing Packing Slips.
• Resend Invoice — Send a copy of the invoice to the email address associated with the customer.
• Send Message* — Send an order message to a customer.
• View Notes* — Add and see any Order Comments and Staff Notes about the order. Order Comments are visible on invoices; Staff Notes are only viewable in the control panel and are not seen by customers.
• Refund — Allows you to partially or fully refund an order. This action will only appear if the order was placed using a compatible payment gateway.
• Void Transaction — Will cancel the order and release any funds that may have been authorized. This action will only appear if the order was placed using an authorize only compatible payment gateway.
• Ship Items — Create a shipment which specifies a carrier, service, tracking number, and shipping notes.
• View Shipments* — View details, update tracking numbers, and print packing slips for order shipments. This action will only appear if the Ship Items action has been used.
• View Order Timeline* — View timeline events pertaining to the order such as when the payment was authorized, the amount that was captured, or past refunds.

 

Detailed Explanation Of Common Actions

Some actions you’ll likely see more than others. It’s important to know as much as possible about these actions as possible. These actions are the Send Message, View Notes, View Shipments, and View Order Timeline.

Send Message

Customers can send you messages from their Account page if they have signed up. These messages will be sent to the email of your choice. This email can be reviewed or changed in the Order Notifications. When you receive a message they will be displayed in the View Orders page.

Clicking the message notification will take you to the View Messages page where you can reply by using the Send a Message button. In the control panel, the sender of the order message is the user’s email address, unless it’s the Store Owner user, in which case it appears as admin.

View Order Timeline

The View Order Timeline provides details about an order’s transactional history. Here you will find tax calculations and notifications of when payment authorization or capture took place, as well as the specifics of past refunds. 

Orders will display this icon to indicate a timeline is available:

 

View Notes

The View Notes option allows you to add order comments or staff notes to an order without having to go through the edit an order workflow. Comments are visible on invoices while Staff Notes are only visible in the control panel and are not seen by customers.

Orders will display these icons to indicate a staff note or comment has been added:

Order Comments Icon:

Staff Notes Icon:

View Shipments

The View Shipments option will only appear if the Ship Items action has been used. View Shipments allows you to see the details of the shipment, update the tracking number, and print a packing slip — all without the need to visit the View Shipments page.

Skip to the 4:07 timestamp to learn more about the Ship Items action.

Order Actions In Bulk

Three actions can be performed in bulk:

• Print Invoice
• Print Packing Slip
• Resend Invoice

To perform a bulk action, check the box to the left of each desired order, then select the action from the Choose an action drop-down menu and click Confirm.