Order states

Every order in Bolder has two kinds of state that move forward independently: the payment state (the order’s financial situation) and the delivery state (what stage of preparation or shipping it is in).

Payment states

Pending payment order

A pending order is a purchase request placed by a customer in your store for which payment has not been received yet. These orders are waiting for payment and cannot be processed until it is received and confirmed.

Pending orders do not affect inventory for the products they include, since they have not been confirmed or processed yet.

Once payment is received, the order state changes to confirmed and the inventory of the included products is reduced.

Confirmed order

A confirmed order is a purchase request whose payment has been received and verified: the money has been transferred and received by the merchant. Once confirmed, the order starts to be processed and prepared for shipping, and inventory is reduced for the included products.

Confirming an order can include checking product availability, preparing the package for shipping, generating an invoice or purchase receipt, and notifying the customer that their order is being processed.

Important: an order being confirmed does not mean it has been delivered, only that payment was received and the purchase process has started.

Completed order

A completed order is a purchase request that has been processed, delivered, and received by the customer: the purchase process finished successfully.

Physical products: the customer received the product and confirmed receipt.
Digital products: the customer received the digital product (download link or activation key) and confirmed receipt.

The delivery and receipt process can vary depending on the shipping method used and your store’s delivery policy.

The Completed state changes automatically when a previously confirmed order is marked as delivered. This state can also be set manually, which means the order did not necessarily go through the whole delivery process recorded in the system.

Canceled order

A canceled order is a purchase request that was canceled before being processed, whether by the customer’s decision, by internal management, or because a pending payment order expired.

When you cancel an order, the purchase process stops and the inventory of the included products is not necessarily affected on its own. A canceled order does not mean it was paid, only that it was canceled at some point in the process.

If a confirmed order is canceled > the delivery state also changes to returned, so the stock is reversed.
If a pending order is canceled > there are no stock changes, since no deduction had been made.

Incomplete orders (abandoned carts)

What is an incomplete order?

An incomplete order happens when a customer reaches the payment process (checkout) but does not complete all the steps needed to place the order. In Bolder, these records are identified as “Incomplete” and appear in the admin panel.

Important: if a customer visits your site but does not enter their email at checkout, that behavior is not considered an incomplete order. The email is the minimum data required to record the intent to buy.

Examples of incomplete orders

Email only: the customer enters their email in the first stage of checkout. There is no address, shipping option, or payment method defined (“to be defined”).
Email + address + shipping option: the customer entered their email, address, and shipping option, but did not select a payment method.
Email + address + shipping option + payment method: the customer completed all the previous steps, but did not click “confirm order and go to payment”.

Difference between incomplete orders and pending orders

Pending orders (in yellow) are those where the customer reached the last stage of the payment process, but it was not completed successfully. Incomplete orders are distinguished by having captured at least the customer’s email at checkout, but not going further than the payment method selection.

Access incomplete orders

Incomplete orders are not shown right away when you open the “Orders” view, since priority is given to orders that were actually placed (under review, pending payment, confirmed, completed, or canceled).

Go to the Orders view in the admin panel.
At the top of the page, open the State dropdown.
Select the Incomplete option.

When you review a specific customer’s history, all types of orders are listed, both complete (confirmed, pending, etc.) and incomplete, as long as the customer reached checkout and provided their email.

Incomplete orders can also be queried through the Bolder API with status: abandoned.

When new records appear

Incomplete orders are not added to the list right away, since the customer could fill in the missing details and finish the purchase. For this reason, there is a 3-hour waiting period before an incomplete order appears in the list.

Note: incomplete order records stay visible for 3 months of inactivity.

Delivery states

Delivery states show what stage a paid order is in. They are managed from the Fulfillments app.

State	Description
Waiting	The paid order is waiting for the first administrative action.
Preparing	The order has entered the preparation phase.
Ready	The order is ready for the customer to pick up or to be shipped.
Shipped	The order was sent to the customer.
Delivered	The order was delivered to the customer.
Returned	The order was returned.

In the Orders list you will see two color-coded columns: State (payment) and Delivery (delivery state). When you change either state, you can notify the customer.

Considerations

The payment state and the delivery state are independent: an order can be confirmed (payment) and in preparation (delivery) at the same time.
Only incomplete orders with a registered email can receive automatic or individual communication.

Questions about how to manage your order states? Write to us at help@onbolder.com.

Information that could complement this guide

Whether there is a configurable period to automatically cancel pending payment orders.