Orders and stock
What each step of an order does to your stock, and how backorders fill.
Overview
Orders and stock explains what each step of an order does to your numbers: holding units when it arrives, removing them when it ships, and handling cancellations, returns and backorders. It all happens automatically.
Why use it
- Read your stock numbers with confidence.
- Understand how O2M prevents overselling.
- Know which warehouse ships each order and how backorders fill.
The journey of an order
Orders from your connected channels change stock automatically. You do not need to do anything for this to work.
Order arrives
from a channel or made in O2M
Units held
Available → Held for orders
Shipped
units leave the warehouse
Delivered
order complete
Return
units come back for a check
- Order arrives: O2M decides which warehouse ships it and holds the units there. Available stock drops at once and every other channel is updated, so you do not oversell.
- Cancelled before shipping: the held units return to Available.
- Shipped: the units leave on hand. Without Warehouse Management this happens when the channel says the order shipped; with it, when the parcel is handed to the courier on a manifest.
- Cancelled after shipping: O2M waits for the parcel to come back. If it has not arrived within 30 days (adjustable), it is written off and a claim is opened.
- Delivered: the order is complete. Orders still marked shipped are marked delivered automatically after 7 days by default.
- Returned: returned units wait for a check in Returned items or Returns QC.
Quantity changes
If a channel changes the quantity on an order line before it ships, O2M holds more units or releases the difference. A line added to an order is held like a new order.
Which warehouse ships an order
- 1If the channel chose a location (a Shopify or Flipkart location, or an Amazon supply source), the warehouse linked to that location ships it.
- 2Otherwise the nearest linked warehouse to the customer's PIN code is chosen. When two are equally near, the one with more of the order's stock is used.
- 3If one warehouse can supply every line, the whole order ships from it. If not, each line ships from its nearest warehouse with stock.
- 4Units no linked warehouse has become a backorder.
The order page shows Ships from for every line. Use Move to warehouse to change it before the order ships, as long as the other warehouse has the units.
Backorders
A backorder is an order line O2M accepted without enough stock. The order is never refused. The missing units are shown on the order page, the item page and the Backorders report, and a critical alert is raised.
As soon as stock arrives at a warehouse linked to the order's channel (an adjustment, a receipt, a transfer, a return), O2M fills open backorders automatically, oldest order first, and the alert clears.
Amazon FBA orders
Orders fulfilled by Amazon come from Amazon's own stock, so they do not change the stock you hold. Your FBA stock is shown separately as a read-only warehouse.