Knowledgebase

How Do I Place a Phone Order?

 

The Phone Order section allows for you as a merchant to place orders for your customers through the Store Manager itself. To make use of the Single Page Phone Order feature:

  1. Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager
  2. Using the left hand navigation menu, go to Orders >Phone Orders
  3. Once there, look to the top right of the page and click on the "More" button. then select "New Version" from the menu.

You will then be presented with the following view:


Selecting Items for the Order

To begin the phone order:

  1. Use the search bar on the left hand section to search for the product(s) that will be purchased.
  2. As the items appear, you can click "Add to Cart" (Or "Customize" for product s with options) to add it to the order.

Tip:
If the order is for an item that does not exist on your store's database, you can click on the "Create a new product" link. This will allow you to enter a Name, ID, Weight and Price of the item for the order.

Note that this action does not create a full product on the store but rather uses a generic product listing on your store's database. The name, ID, weight and price you specify during this step will only be used on the individual phone order itself.

This function should not be used to create actual product listings on your store. Instead it is intended for phone order situations where the purchase being made is for an arbitrary item. (i.e. a one-off product, service, or miscellaneous fees)

Important
If you are working with product inventory, please note that any items added through a phone order will take priority over your Inventory Control settings. This means that if you have your store set to use a setting such as Out of Stock when you have 0 stock, you can still place an order with this item. It will be reflected as a Back-Order in the completed order and the stock history for the product will also reflect the Administrator who placed the order.

  1. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all of the desired products are added to the order.

Additional Information
If you are using the "Allow Phone Orders Custom Prices" function in your store's settings, you can edit the prices for the products as desired. This setting can be found by going to Settings >General >Store Settings and clicking on the "General" tab. Look under "Other Options" to toggle the setting on or off as needed.

Be aware, however, the Phone Orders Custom Price setting will not apply Quantity Discounts to the phone order.


Selecting a Customer record for the order

  1. Next, use the right hand side section to search for and select your customer's store record

Tip:
If the phone order is for a brand new customer, click on the "Create a new Customer" link to add the customer to your store's database.

Unlike the "Add New Item" link decribed in the previous tip, this action will create a full customer record.

Additional Information
After selecting a customer record, you will also see a View Previously Ordered Items button. Clicking on this button will display a modal window where you can browse through this customer's previously ordered items and quickly add them to a new order. Perfect for customers who frequently order the same item or if they were trying to order a product they did in the past.


Selecting Shipping & Payment

Once you've selected the customer record for the order, their information will be populated along with order totals.

This will also open up the sections for selecting the Shipping and Payment options on the order.

  1. Click on the "refresh shipping rates" button in the Shipping section to calculate shipping for the order.
  2. Select the desired shipping option for the order.

For each selection, the Order Total will refresh to update with the new additional costs as they are selected

Tip:
You can also charge a custom shipping rate using the "Custom Shipping" option at the bottom of the shipping section.

Additionally, if the order is applicable for Shipping Insurance, you can also select these options as needed.

  1. Next, select the payment method options for the order.

Finally, at the bottom of the page you will see an "Additional Information" section where you can add internal and external comments to the order as well as answer any checkout questions you might have set up on your store. To view this section, click on the "Hide/Show" icon to expand the view.

Additional Information
Within the "Order Total" section you will also have the ability to apply discounts to the order as needed. This can be done by either applying a coupon/gift card code on the order, or a discounted dollar or percentage amount of your choosing.

Note that the dollar/percentage discount will appear on the order as its own separate line item in the list of items purchased whereas a coupon code discount will appear in the order total sumamry. Also note that the dollar/percentage discount will only work on orders completed in the Phone order interface. If you would like to apply a discount to an order that the customer will complete on the store front, please consider using the Apply Coupon option instead.

Once you are ready to finish the order, click on the "Complete Order" button located at the very bottom of the page.

You will be presented with the order summary and link buttons to print the invoice and go to the order in your Online Store Manager to finish processing it.


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