As Web Orders are placed though the eCommerce store, they are downloaded automatically or manually and placed into the Orders list, viewable by clicking Orders in the Browser window.
The download schedule can be configured by going to Tools->eCommerce->Setup and setting the dropdown to any increments between every 5 minutes and every hour. Unless you have a high volume eCommerce store, usually 30 minutes or every hour is perfectly adequate to reduce traffic on your computer network. You may also manually start the download process at any time by going to Tools > eCommerce and clicking Download Orders. LightSpeed will "poll" the eCommerce store for any pending orders to download.
If you have installed a tracker in your Browser, the counter would change red to show new orders which have been downloaded. (Note that the Tracker refreshes when the Browser screen is redrawn through general LightSpeed navigation, and may not light if LightSpeed is simply sitting idle.) When your eCommerce has been properly configured with an SMTP Email server, you will also get email notifications as orders have been placed.
Orders downloaded from Web Store are nearly identical to Orders placed manually though LightSpeed. The primary difference is that the downloaded order will contain an additional item for Shipping as specified by the user, and the payment will be on file as a Credit to be used later when invoicing. Customer information is also downloaded with the Order. If a Customer Card already exists with a matching email address, the customer information is merged with this card. If a card does not already exist, one is created. Note that if you have an existing customer card but it does not contain the email address, LightSpeed is unable to match and will create a new card in this case. It's easy to merge Customer Cards to combine these and eliminate the duplicate.
In normal workflows, Orders are converted to Invoices when you are ready to ship the product. For a better workflow, we recommend creating the shipment with your shipper and getting the tracking number before you convert the Order to an Invoice. You can copy/paste the shipping address from the Order into your shipping software.
To convert an Order to an Invoice, follow these steps:
- Open the Order in the Browser
- (optional) Click on the Notes tab, and paste your tracking number into the Printed notes, then click Save.
- Click on the Invoice button which appears at the bottom of the window.
- You will be prompted that the Order was created under another user, and if you want to split the Invoice. We recommend clicking Yes (see below for additional details on why.)
- All the Order information is copied to the Invoice, including Shipping Address.
- In the Invoice window, click Save. This will assign an Invoice ID and immediately take you to the Payment screen.
- The payment that has been previously collected through Web Store is available as a Credit, and the green Apply Credit button should be available (If it is not, you may not have your payments set up correctly.) Click on the green Apply Credit button to apply the money.
- Choose the Order from the list that contains the credit. This should be the exact amount that matches the Invoice total. The Amount to Apply will be automatically filled in.
- Click OK.
- You may also choose to click the action menu (gear icon) and print either a Full Page or standard receipt to include in the box as you ship.
By pasting the tracking number in the Order before converting to an Invoice, it will be copied in the Notes so it is in both documents. Your store staff may view the Invoice to reference the tracking number later, but it's the Order that is updated back to Web Store. If you have LightSpeed set to upload Orders in the Tools > eCommerce > Documents setting, having the tracking number in the Order allows a person on Web Store to view it within their order details. If you create the Order to an Invoice and get the tracking number afterwards, you have to manually update both documents.
During the Order-to-Invoice process, you will be promoted that the Order was placed by another salesperson, and if you wish to "Split" the order with the currently logged in user. It is highly advisable that you click Yes and perform this function.
Web Orders are downloaded assigned to a special User account called "Web Order". You will see this account when viewing Orders under the User column. When you create an Invoice under your own account, the system will treat it as if you are sharing credit with another salesperson, hence the question on splitting. The reason it is advisable to do the split, as opposed to clicking No which removes Web Store altogether, is that keeping Web Order attached to Invoices allows you to run salesperson reports later on and use this field as criteria.
For example, if you wanted to run a report on all Web Orders within the last month, you can run a report by Salesperson and include the Web Order user in the criteria box. If you have chosen No during the split, the Invoice is now completely under your name, and the fact it originated as a Web Order will be lost.
If your customer has paid online using Axia, Merchantware, Authorize.net, WorldPay, PayPal, Beanstream, or eWAY, a credit will be created in their Customer card the next time you download Web Orders. Because Web Order fulfillment involves the conversion of the Order to an Invoice, any credit card payments the shopper has processed online must be applied to the Invoice as a credit.
For example, Chin Lee submits a Web Order for a woman’s shirt, worth $100, and have processed an online credit card payment using Authorize.net. When the Web Order is downloaded into LightSpeed, a credit card payment will appear on the Order and Chin Lee’s Customer card will contain a credit for $100. You convert the Order into an Invoice, and then click Apply Credit to apply the $100 credit to the fulfillment Invoice to pay its balance. More information can be found in the Quotes and Invoices PDF document on the Training page at www.lightspeedretail.com.
Credit Card - a credit card payment appears on the downloaded Web Order which is converted into an applied credit on the Invoice.
Purchase Order - the Web Order is converted to an Invoice with an a balance that remains outstanding until the Customer sends you payment, at which point the payment is applied directly to the Invoice.
Cheque, Phone Order - when you secure payment from your Customer, you convert the Web Order to an Invoice and apply the appropriate Payment Method as you would normally in LightSpeed.
Cash On Delivery - you convert the Web Order to an Invoice, leaving the balance outstanding until you confirm payment from your Customer upon receipt of the Products. You then apply a payment to the Invoice using the Payment Method used by the Customer.
