Reference Guide

Order Processing

Order Processing

There are a lot of things you can do with orders, such as cancel items, split, and mark items as being on back order, but the main steps are:

1. Create an order. Normally the customer creates an order while they are shopping in your store, but you can manually create orders in the admin interface (ideal for phone orders or other manually placed orders.
2. Authorize payment. Authorizing a payment means that the customer has enough purchasing power on their credit or debit card for the order. The money isn't transferred yet, but a hold is placed on the authorized amount for anywhere from 3 to 30 days depending on your merchant account provider.
3. Capture Payment. Capturing payment triggers a "settlement" at your merchant bank. Essentially, it means that the money is transferred from the customer's account to your account.
4. Create the Shipment. Creating a shipment generates a picking number. This is the step when you put the order items in one or more boxes.
5. Enter tracking numbers. In this step you mark the item as shipped, and optionally, enter a tracking number. This step is done for you automatically if you use Miva Merchant’s built in UPS, FedEx, USPS, Endicia or Canada Post shipping modules to generate the shipping label.
6. Generate a shipping label and ship.

To Process Returns and Refunds

Returns are a special workflow in order processing. All storeowners have slightly different return policies and procedures, but in Miva Merchant the general process looks like this:

1. The customer contacts you and asks to return something.
2. Create an RMA number.

2.1. Edit the order, select the item(s) and click Create Return.

• The Create Return button generates an RMA number for the item(s) that you selected.
• You can configure an email that will automatically be sent to the customer with your return instructions and the RMA number. See Order Fulfillment > Template Based Emails Tab.
3. Mark the item as received.

3.1. The customer returns the item(s).

When you receive a returned item, you can find the order by searching on the customer's name, but you can also create a filter for orders that have RMA items.



3.2. Edit the order. Select the returned item(s) and click Manage Return(s).

3.3. In the Manage Return(s) dialog box:

• Check the Received checkbox.
• If you are tracking inventory for this product, and the item is undamaged and you're going to return it to inventory, click the Restock checkbox. The system will automatically increase the inventory of this item by one. If you are not tracking inventory on the product, the Restock checkbox has no effect.
• If you want to cancel the RMA (delete the RMA number) click Cancel.
• Click Close if you want to close the Manage Return(s) dialog box without changing anything.
• When you are done making changes in the Manage Return(s) dialog box, click Save.



4. Issue a refund.
• If the customer paid with a credit card and you are using a payment gateway that supports refunds, you can edit the order and click the Refund button.
• If the customer paid by check, or you are using a payment gateway that does not support refunds, you can manually send the customer a refund, with a check, credit slip, PayPal account, etc.
• You can also credit the customer's account. See To Give Customers Account Credit (Adjust Credit Balance).