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Merchants on Shift4Shop Pro (and higher; including the Free End-to-End eCommerce Plan) plans can place phone orders for customers at a temporary quoted price. The customer will then receive an email notification of the quoted order that they can use to complete the order at the quoted amount.
Here's how to set it up.
- Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager
- Using the left hand navigation menu, go to Modules
- Once at the Modules page, use the search bar at the top to search for "Order Quotes"
- When the module appears, click on the "Settings" button
A small popup modal will appear with the module's basic options and settings. These are the following:
- Allow customer to request a quote
Enable this option if you'd like to allow your customers to initiate the quote request. (They will have the option on the Payment Method section of the checkout page)
- Lock users at checkout
This checkbox will lock the user's customer record to the quoted order. This means that the customer will not be able to do anything other than view/finish the order on your store when they log into your store. It effectively locks them to the order until the order is completed by the user (or the quote expires). To use this optional setting, simply place a mark in the checkbox provided.
- Days to Expiration
Use this field to set the number of days until the quoted price expires. After this time period passes, the quoted order will go into store's canceled order status.
After you finish configuring these basic options, click "Save" on the popup modal. After the module saves, you'll once again see the "Order Quotes" module from step #3 above.
- Mark the "Enabled" checkbox and click "Save" at the top right of the modules page.
The Order Quotes plugin is now ready to use.
Additional Information
Enabling the Order Quotes module adds the following to your store:
- A New Offline Payment Method
An offline payment method called "Quote" is added to your store. This payment method is automatically set to only work on Phone Orders.
- A New Order Status
Additionally, a new order status called "Quote" is added to the store's Manage Orders page. This status will contain all open quote orders.
- A New Quote Email Template
Lastly, a new Quotes orders email template is also made available to you. It's default text is the same as the text for the Not Completed/Abandoned Orders email template. You may edit this text by going to Settings >Design >Emails and editing the "Quote" template found under the Orders section.
Creating a Quote Order
The Order Quote system is first started by placing a Phone Order.
Important
The regular phone order system has a "Custom Shipping" option on it. Please note that this method is only compatible with Phone Orders that are being placed and completed within the 3dcat Online Store Manager. It is not compatible with the Order Quotes module and cannot be used for that type of order.
When you get to the payment selection part of the phone order, use the "Quote" payment method and complete the order.
This creates an order complete with its own invoice number. However, it's not a fully completed order. Rather it is placed into the store's "Quote" order status and has a remaining balance on it.
At this point, the customer/shopper will receive the quote order email that will let them complete the order. When they click on the button in the email, they'll be prompted to log into their customer record to complete the order at the quoted price. (If you opted to lock the user to the order, viewing/finishing the order is all they'll be able to do.)
Customer Initiated Quote
If you allow the customer to initiate the Quote Request, they will be able to do so via the checkout page. In the Payment Method section of the checkout page, they will see the Quote option. Using this option at checkout will create the quote order as described above.
Additional Information
Note that the customer will be prompted to log into their account if you selected an existing customer record when creating the phone order. However, when creating the phone order/quote for a brand new customer, all you would need to create the phone order is the customer's email address (no password).
If this is the case, the customer will not be prompted to log in. Instead, they'll be taken to the checkout where they'll finish the checkout process by adding their address information, password, etc.
When the order is completed, it will then move to your store's New status for processing. If the Quote Order's exceeds the expiration time, the order will pass into the Canceled status instead.
As merchant, you will also have the ability to duplicate the quoted order(s) as needed. Just remember to change the Customer record in case the duplicate is for a new customer.
Note
Please be aware that orders in the Quote order status will not be reflected in your store's monetary Sales reporting data. Once the order is placed and completed by the user and - as a result of being in the New status - the order's value will be reflected in sales reporting. The order's date will also update to reflect the date it was converted.
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