Magento allows you as the administrator and your customers to create orders. This feature makes it easy to let your customers place orders over the phone, because you will be able to create the order and invoice from the admin panel. Regardless of whether the orders are administrator generated or user generated, you will manage them similarly.

First you need to understand the basic terms used when creating orders, which are:

• Sales Order – A record of an order created prior to payment. These can be canceled.
• Invoice – Record of payment for a Sales Order. These cannot be canceled.
• Shipment – Record of the items on an invoice that have been shipped.
• Credit Memo – Record of a refund. This option is only available after an invoice has been created.

Each of these steps can be managed through the administrative panel. Also, you can create orders from the Order Creation Page.

How to Create Orders

Creating orders starts on the Order Creation Page. Access this page by logging into the Magento Administrative Panel, selecting Sales and then Orders. From here, click "create new order." Then, select your customer or create a new customer.

Next, chose the order currency from the drop down list. You can manage the items in the shopping cart through the Customer's Current Activities option. If you do make any changes to the shopping cart, click Update Changes when you are done. If you need to add products to the order, click Add Products. This will bring up a listing of all of the items in your store, and you can choose the ones you want to add to the order. Before you are done, edit the price, quantity, and discount of any items. You can also add a gift message if desired. If you need to move an item out of the Sales Order, use the Action drop down box and choose Move to Shopping Cart or Move to Wishlist. Then, click Update Items and Qty's.

At this point you will see the Account Information page. Make any changes to the customer's information, and choose the billing and shipping addresses. Then, choose the payment and shipping methods. This brings you to the Order Total page, where you can add comments or coupon codes. If you want the comment to be sent to the customer, check the Apply Comment to the Confirmation Email box. If you want the customer to have a confirmation of the order, check the Send Order Confirmation Email box. If everything on the order seems accurate, click Submit Order to process it.

Order Fulfillment Options

When you are ready to create an invoice, choose the "Invoice" button on the Order page. You may not see this button if you chose Authorize and Capture for the Payment Action when you set up your store. However, if you do click the button, it will take you to the new invoice page, where you will see what looks like the order. The first invoice on the order will include the shipping amount for the whole order, even if it ends up broken into several shipments, so make sure you include the shipping on this first order. Taxes are applied to each invoice individually.

On the invoice, you will see the following options:

• Qty to Invoice – Each item on the invoice shows the quantity left to invoice in order to fulfill the order. You can lower this amount, but you cannot increase it. If you do lower it, click "Update Qty's" to save the change.
• Create Shipment – Checking this box will generate the tracking number for the order.
• Amount – This drop down box is only available for online orders. It provides three options. Capture Online allows the payment to be capture through an online payment gateway. Capture Offline is the option to choose if your customer is paying outside of Magento. Not Capture is the option to choose if the invoice will not be capturing the payment, but Magento will be capturing it later. Use caution with this option, because you cannot create a Credit Memo until Magento has captured the payment.
• Customer Notification – Choose Email Copy of Invoice to have the system automatically send an email to your customer. You can also add comments in the Invoice Comments Field.

Once an invoice is complete, it can be printed as a .pdf, voided, canceled, or credited using the admin panel features.

Shipments

The Shipment button on the Order page gives you the ability to create the shipment for your orders. Under this button you can do the following:

• Choose the Qty to Ship – This field will show the total amount left on the order, and you can reduce it if you need to ship fewer in that shipment.
• Add Tracking Number – Allows you to generate a tracking number for the shipment option the customer chose.
• Email Customer – You can email your customer with a copy of the shipment information and tracking number.

Once a shipment has been completed, you can create a .pdf file of it to print as a packing slip to include with the order. This can include shipment comments.

Credit Memo Options

If a customer needs a return, you will create a Credit Memo using the button on the order page. This includes the following options:

• Qty to Refund – This field shows all of the items in the order, and you can lower the number, but you cannot raise it.
• Refund Shipping – This field shows the amount the customer paid for shipping, and you can change this if desired.
• Adjustment Refund – If you need to give the customer an additional refund that does not apply to the other categories, you enter the amount here. Keep in mind that the total refund cannot be more than the customer originally paid.
• Adjustment Fee – The amount entered in this field will be subtracted from the total refund.
• Email Customer – Customers can be emailed with the details of their refund if you wish, and this email can include comments.

When you are done setting up the refund, click "Refund." This will complete any online refunds. However, if your customer paid offline, you will need to choose Refund Offline and Magento will not handle the refund.

Managing Orders

Magento offers a few more managing tools for orders. You can place orders On Hold if there is a problem with the shipment or payment. You can cancel any items that have not yet shipped. You can choose the Edit button to make changes to any open order. If you need to repeat an order at any stage of the process, choose Reorder, a button that appears if you have set up the system at configuration to Allow Reorders. The Batch Updates for Orders will help you save time as you process orders.

Magento is designed to give you all of the tools you need to create orders, invoice customers, capture payments, and make changes or refunds in one convenient back office. As you learn the program, consider practicing by making a few orders of your own and then canceling them. You will quickly learn how to use these important features.