If you would like to start an order, but you're not yet ready to charge the customer, then saving an order for later under the Pending Orders tab is the way to go.
NOTE: If you're looking for cash, check, or offline payments entered entirely by an admin, that's a different feature. See Accepting Offline Payments: Pay Later, Cash, Check & Wire. This article covers orders that hold inventory before a payment method is settled.
Enabling Pending Orders
Before you can save an order for later, you will first need to enable this setting. To enable Pending Orders:
Go to Settings > More > POS, Admin, & Bulk.
Navigate to the section for Pending Orders.
Select the toggle next to "Enable Save for Later in Admin Cart" and then select Save Changes.
You can also enable Open Invoice Email if you'd like to send customers a copy of their invoice for pending orders
Once this is enabled, you can add a default message that populates when you send the invoice. You will also have a chance to edit the message when you're sending the invoice email
NOTE: Enabling Pending Orders and Open Invoice Emails does not automatically turn on the ability to send customers purchase links in their email. If you'd like to enable purchase links as well, please reach out to support via the chat icon in the lower right-hand corner or by emailing support@offsetpartners.com.
Saving an Order for Later
When you're building an admin order and need to step away, whether a customer is deciding on a few more bottles, needs to verify the purchase, or you're waiting on a callback, you can save the cart instead of completing or abandoning it. This is also best practice for wholesale orders where an invoice needs to be reviewed before the payment is sent.
Build the order as you normally would from the Dashboard, the Customer Account Page, or the Orders page
Instead of completing checkout, select the Save Cart for Later button in the top right or at the bottom of the order
The order will be saved under Orders > Pending
You can also find these located on the customer account under the "Pending" tab
If you need to edit the pending orders, you can do so from the pending order page by selecting Resume next to the order
IMPORTANT: If you're building an admin order and a product shows fewer bottles available than you expect (even though your Products page shows plenty in stock) check the Pending Orders page first. A saved order holds its inventory indefinitely, and there is no timeout. Someone has to actively resume and complete the order, or remove it, to release that inventory back to the site.
Sending Purchase Links in Invoice Emails
You can build a cart on the customer's behalf and send them a link to complete checkout themselves, rather than collecting payment over the phone or in person. See here for a demo video on this feature.
Please note if you do not yet have this enabled, you will need to reach out to support@offsetpartners.com to activate this feature.
Build the order as you normally would from the Dashboard, the Customer Account Page, or the Orders page
On the final page, select the checkbox next to Email Invoice
Check Include a link for self-checkout
From here you can choose whether the customer can pick their own shipping address and fulfillment method, or whether the order should be locked to what you've already selected
Review and edit the email copy in the pop-up if needed
Send the invoice
When the customer clicks the link in their email, they're taken to a dedicated cart page on your site to complete that specific order.
Removing a Pending Order
If you no longer need the pending order, you can delete it from the Pending Orders page.
Go to the Pending Orders page
Select the X next to the order you want to remove
The order is deleted, and its inventory becomes available again