Understanding orders in Shopify

Learn how Shopify orders work, what the different order statuses mean, and where to find everything you need to manage your sales.

Every time a customer buys something from your store, Shopify creates an order. This guide walks you through what an order contains, what the different statuses mean, and how orders move through your workflow.

Quick summary

Orders live in the Orders section of your Shopify admin. Each order has a payment status (is the money collected?) and a fulfillment status (has the item been shipped?). A complete order is both paid and fulfilled. You can view, filter, print, and manage every order from one place.

Where to find your orders

From your Shopify admin, click Orders in the left sidebar. You will see a list of your orders, with views at the top of the page, such as Unfulfilled and Unpaid.

You can filter orders by status, date, fraud risk, and more using the filter options at the top of the list. You can also use the search bar to find an order by customer name, order number, product name, or SKU.

What's inside an order

Click any order to open it. Here is what you will see:

Order header:

Order number (e.g., #1042)
Date and time placed
Customer name and email

Order summary:

Products ordered, with quantities and prices
Discounts applied
Shipping rate charged
Taxes charged
Total amount

Payment information:

Whether payment was captured
Which payment method was used (e.g., Visa ending in 4242, PayPal)

Customer information:

Billing address
Shipping address
Customer notes, if any

Timeline:

A log of everything that has happened on this order — payment received, email sent, fulfillment created, etc.

Order statuses explained

Every Shopify order has a payment status and a fulfillment status, and both need to be complete for an order to be fully done. Orders also have an order status (Open, Archived, or Canceled), and an order with a return has a return status too.

Payment status

Status	What it means
Paid	Payment was captured, or the order was marked as paid
Pending	Payment isn't complete yet, for example a non-card payment that is still processing, a manual payment such as cash on delivery, or payment terms set for later
Partially paid	You captured less than the full order total
Authorized	The payment details were approved but the money hasn't been captured yet. Only shown if you capture payments manually
Expired	An authorized payment wasn't captured before the payment provider's deadline
Due	A payment with payment terms is due today or overdue, and hasn't been captured yet
Refunded	Full payment has been returned to the customer
Partially refunded	Some of the payment was returned
Voided	Authorization was cancelled before capture

Fulfillment status

Status	What it means
Unfulfilled	Items have not been shipped yet
In progress	You marked the order as in progress, for example while picking and packing it
Fulfilled	All items have been shipped
Partially fulfilled	Some items shipped, some still pending
On hold	You or an app put fulfillment on hold. The order can't be fulfilled until the hold is released
Fulfillment not required	Nothing is left to fulfill, for example because the order was canceled or fully refunded first (shown as Not required in the order list)
Scheduled	Used for prepaid subscription orders until their fulfillment date

Returns have their own return status: Return requested, Return in progress, Inspection complete, or Returned.

Aim for 'Paid + Fulfilled'

A healthy, completed order shows Paid for payment and Fulfilled for fulfillment. If an order has been paid but not fulfilled, it is sitting in your queue waiting to be shipped. Check your unfulfilled orders daily.

Order notification emails

When a customer places an order, Shopify automatically sends them a confirmation email. As you process the order, Shopify can send additional emails:

Order confirmation — sent when the customer places the order
Shipping confirmation — sent when you fulfill the order (you can untick the customer notification when fulfilling)
Shipping update — sent when you add or update tracking on an order that is already fulfilled
Out for delivery / Delivered — sent when the carrier or fulfillment app reports that status, if tracking supports it
Order refund — sent when you issue a refund
Order canceled — sent when you cancel an order

Most customer notifications are sent automatically and can't be switched off. You can customize these emails in Settings → Notifications.

Draft orders

A draft order is an order you create manually on behalf of a customer — for example, if they ordered over the phone or email. You build the order in Shopify, then send the customer an invoice with a checkout link so they can pay.

Find draft orders under Orders → Drafts.

Archived and cancelled orders

By default, Shopify archives orders automatically once there is nothing left to do, such as orders that are paid and fulfilled, or fully refunded. Archiving moves an order out of your active list but does not delete it. You can find archived orders in the order view for archived orders (Shopify's help pages call it Closed or Archived), or by filtering by order status. You can turn automatic archiving off in your order processing settings.

Cancelled orders show a Canceled status. When you cancel an order, Shopify offers to refund the full amount to the original payment method, and that option is selected by default. If you choose to refund later instead, you must issue the refund separately. If the payment was never captured, cancelling voids it.

Common questions

Why does an order say 'Payment pending'?

This usually means the payment has not been completed yet. It can happen when the customer paid with a method other than a credit card that takes time to process, when the order uses a manual payment method such as bank transfer or cash on delivery, or when the order has payment terms for later. (A card that was approved but not yet charged shows Authorized instead.) Check the order timeline for more detail, and contact your payment provider if a payment seems stuck.

Can I edit an order after it's been placed?

Yes, with some limits. Before the items are fulfilled, you can add or remove products, change quantities, update shipping fees, and add or remove discounts: go to the order and click Edit. If an edit raises the total, you can send the customer an updated invoice; if it lowers the total, you can issue a refund. You can also update the shipping address, from the order's Customer section.

What is an order risk level?

Shopify's fraud analysis gives online credit card orders a fraud recommendation of low, medium, or high risk, and flags medium- and high-risk orders in your order list. It looks at signals such as whether the card passed address (AVS) and security code (CVV) checks and the IP address the order came from. For a high-risk order, you can try to verify the order, cancel it, or refund it before fulfilling. Fraud recommendations are available on the Grow plan and higher, or on any plan if you use Shopify Payments.

How do I find an order by tracking number?

Shopify's help pages don't list tracking numbers among the things you can search orders by. The reliable route is to search by the customer's name or the order number, then open the order to see the tracking number with its fulfillment.

Need a hand?

If you're stuck, email support@chykalophia.com and we'll help. Include your website address and a screenshot if you can.