If a customer has placed an order outside of your online storefront, such as over the phone or in-person, you can record the transaction by creating a manual order.
Manual orders can reference an offline payment such as cash or check, or you can manually enter their credit card details if you are using a non-hosted payment gateway. Non-credit card online payment methods, such as PayPal or Apple Pay, cannot be used in a manual order.
Additionally, you can save an order as a draft, which will generate a cart URL. This unique URL can then be sent to customers, allowing them to go directly to your storefront cart page with a pre-populated cart that is ready for check out. See Creating a Draft Order for more details.
Requirements
- You must have the Manage Orders and Add Orders permissions enabled in your user account.
- To select the Manual payment option during the Payment step, you must have the Finalize Manual Orders using Manual Payments permission enabled in your user account.
Creating a Manual Order
Go to Orders › Add. You will be taken to the Add an Order screen. Creating a manual order consists of four phases:
- Customer info — entering the billing details
- Items — adding items to the cart
- Fulfillment — entering the shipping details
- Payment — selecting a payment gateway and entering the payment details
Adding Customer Info
Select whether the order is for an Existing customer or a New customer.
For a New customer, enter their email address, their billing information, and any other additional account signup fields you have added, such as their birthdate or a pet's name. Specify a password if you want to create an account for them, or leave the password fields empty to check them out as a guest.
For an Existing customer, a list of customers will appear for you to select from when you enter their name, email address, or company name in the Search field.
Once selected, a list of available billing addresses will appear on the right side of Billing information. Click Use this address to populate the billing information form with the customer's saved address.
Not seeing any addresses? The customer might not have saved their address on the checkout page. You will need to manually enter the address to continue creating the order.
Specify which currency should be used for the transaction.
When you have finished entering the customer's details, click Next to begin adding items to the cart.
Adding Items
Use the Search field to search by product name or SKU. The Search field will display up to 10 products that match your search criteria.
Use the Add a custom product link to add a product or service that is not in your product catalog. For example, you could use this to add a $10 convenience fee for a special delivery.
You can also click the Browse categories button to browse your catalog. Select a category in the Search by category section, then select products in the lower window. You can filter results by typing values into the Search by product name field. Click Select to add the highlighted product to the cart.
If the product has options, a customization window will appear. Options can be selected in the Options tab, while the price and quantity can be changed in the Basic details tab. When you are finished, click Add item to add the product to the cart.
Use the Action menu to Customize, Copy, or Delete items that have been added to the cart.
When you have finished creating the cart, click Next to enter the shipping details.
Fulfillment Details
Specify the destination using one of the following options:
- Billing address specified — Choose this if the shipping address is the same as the billing address.
- New single address — Choose this if the order is being shipped to a different location.
- New multiple addresses — Choose this if the order is being shipped to more than one location.
Click Fetch shipping quotes to generate a list of shipping methods based on your shipping zones. Select the desired shipping method, then click Next to enter the payment details and finalize the order.
Use the Custom option to add a custom shipping method and specify its cost. Pick None if you don't want to apply any shipping charges to this order.
Finalizing the Order
Review the billing, shipping, and cart details. Select Change on the far right to return to any specific step and update its details.
Use the Summary section to provide a manual discount, enter a coupon code, or coupon promotion code, or gift certificate, and to get a recap of the order totals. If your store is on an Enterprise plan, you can add multiple coupon codes to a single manual order.
Enter any comments or staff notes by scrolling down to the Comments and notes section. Comments are visible on invoices, while Staff notes are only visible in the control panel and are not seen by customers.
The Payment section is where you will choose the payment method for the order. The drop-down menu will display any online or offline payment options you have enabled.
Missing the Manual payment option? You must have the Finalize Manual Orders using Manual Payments permission enabled in your user account to select this payment option.
The Manual payment option can be used in record-keeping for over-the-phone or in-person orders that have already been paid. Note that these orders are counted toward your BigCommerce account billing. See BigCommerce Pricing to learn more.
Use the Description field to specify its use and add details to the manual payment.
When you are finished, click Save & process payment.
FAQ
Can I create a manual order for a gift certificate?
No, gift certificates can only be purchased through the storefront.
Can I use store credit on a manual order?
No, store credit cannot be applied to manual orders. However, you can apply a discount to the order and then adjust the amount of store credit on the customer's account afterwards, under Customers › View.
Can I use PayPal's credit card method to process manual orders?
While non-credit card online payment methods, such as PayPal and Apple Pay, cannot be used in a manual order, you can use PayPal’s credit card payment method for manual orders. However, you will need to enable Require CVV for Manual Orders under the PayPal settings tab in the BigCommerce control panel to add this functionality.
Can I create manual orders that use pickup methods?
No, manual orders in the control panel do not support pickup locations and methods configured via Buy Online, Pick up in Store APIs. However, you can create manual pickup orders with an API request.
