The order record

This page describes every field of an order, card by card, and how its amounts add up. The New order form, the edit form and the order page show the same record, so this page applies to all three.

Where to find it: Sales → Orders → New order for an empty form, or open any order from Sales → Orders → Order list and click Edit

When you'll use it

• You fill in an order and want to know what a field is for.
• A customer asks why the total is what it is.
• An order shows as partially paid or overpaid, and you want to know why.
• You want to know how much the carrier will collect on a cash-on-delivery order.

Key concepts

The order keeps its own copy of the customer. The name, tax numbers and addresses are saved on the order as they were at that moment. Later changes to the entity in Entities (customers & suppliers) do not change orders that already exist.

Each item has a net price, a VAT rate and a gross price. You can type either price, and Complaia works out the other one. See net and gross in the glossary.

Delivery is a gross amount. The delivery cost you type is what the customer pays, VAT included.

One currency per order. You choose the currency once, at the top of Order items. It applies to every line. A new order starts in your system base currency. Changing the currency later changes only the currency shown next to the amounts. Nothing is converted.

Payment and status are separate. Recording a payment never changes the status. Changing the status never changes the money.

Amounts follow your interface language. The order screens write money the way your interface language does, for example with a decimal comma or a decimal point.

The screen

Basics

Field	What it does
Order source	Where the order came from. A new order starts on Manual. See Order sources.
External no. (on the edit form: External number)	The order's number in another system, for example your online shop. Optional. At most 128 characters. Two orders from the same source cannot have the same external number.
Order date	When the order was placed, with the time. Required.
Payment method	How the customer pays. It starts on your default method. See Payment methods.
Cash on delivery	Switch it to Yes when the carrier is to collect the payment on delivery. Choosing a payment method does not switch it on for you. See Cash on delivery.

The order number (for example ORD-1042) is given automatically when the order is created.

Customer

Field	Notes
Search for a customer	On the New order form only. Choose an existing entity. The fields below fill in and are locked. Open record opens the entity in a new browser tab, so the order you are typing is not lost. Clear the selection to type the details yourself.
Customer type	Company or Individual. It decides which fields appear. A new order starts on Company.
Tax ID (company only)	The 10-digit tax ID without a country prefix. When it is a valid Polish tax ID (NIP), a GUS button appears. It fetches the company name, REGON and KRS from the Polish company register (GUS), and the EU VAT number for active VAT payers.
Company name / Full name	Required.
Select a contact person	Shown when the chosen company has more than one active contact person with an e-mail address or phone. The first one is chosen for you. The person's e-mail address and phone are copied to the order. With exactly one such person, their details are copied without asking.
Email, Phone	Optional. An e-mail address, when given, must be valid.
EU VAT (company only)	Optional. It must start with an EU country code, for example DE123456789. Greece uses EL.
REGON, KRS (company only)	Optional Polish registry numbers.
Save the customer to the entity list	Shown when you typed the customer yourself and you have the Entities (B2B/B2C): Create permission. When you save the order, the customer is added to the entity list, or linked to an entity that already has the same details.

When you choose a customer from the list:

• The entity's delivery address goes into Shipping details. If the entity has no delivery address, its billing address is used.
• If the entity's billing address is different, it goes into Billing details, and Same as shipping switches off.

Clearing the customer removes those addresses again, unless you have already changed them.

A customer you type in is not added to the entity list unless you tick Save the customer to the entity list. Complaia can still create the entity later, when the first shipment is made for the order. See Entities created from orders.

Without an e-mail address, a notice under the customer says that Complaia will not connect this order with the same customer's other orders. This matters, for example, when you choose orders for one invoice. For a company, the notice appears only when the tax ID is missing too. The order itself is saved with all the details.

Shipping details

This card says who receives the parcel and where.

• Recipient name, Street, City, Postal code and Country are required.
• Email, Phone and the region are optional. For countries with defined regions, you choose the region from a list.
• The country starts on the one set in Company details.

Copy from customer (New order form) copies the customer's name, e-mail address and phone into this card. While it is on, these fields follow every change you make to the customer.

Pickup point ID — fill it in when the customer chose a parcel locker or another pickup point. Leave it empty for delivery to the address. Complaia checks the code with the carrier when the shipment is created.

Billing details

The address for the invoice. Same as shipping is on by default. Switch it off to type a separate address. It has the same fields, with Buyer name instead of Recipient name.

Order items

You choose the currency at the top of this card. To add an item, use Add a product from the catalog and search by name, stock keeping unit (SKU) or EAN (European Article Number, the barcode).

Field	What it does
Product name, EAN	Filled from the product and locked. You can change them only on lines without a linked product. This happens on imported orders. See matching.
Quantity	At least 1. Up to three decimal places, for example 2.5.
Net price	The unit price before VAT. Changing it recalculates the gross price.
VAT rate (%) (on the edit form: VAT (%))	The line's own rate, from 0 to 100, with at most two decimal places. A comma and a dot both work. It starts on the product's default rate. When the product has none, it starts on your company's default rate, which is the standard rate of your sales entity's country. The same typing rules apply as on invoices. See What the VAT (%) field accepts.
Gross price	The unit price with VAT. Changing it recalculates the net price.
Discount	A discount on this line, as an amount in the order's currency.

Under each line you see Item net total and Item gross total, both after the line discount.

The price comes from the product:

• When the order is in the product's own currency, the line gets the product's standard price.
• Otherwise, the line gets the price set on the product for the order's currency.
• If the product has no price in that currency, the line shows No price in … and 0.00. Type the price yourself.

The line keeps the kind of price the product has in the catalog. For a product priced gross, the gross price is exact, and the net price is worked out from it. For a product priced net, the net price is exact, and VAT is added to it. Changing the VAT rate therefore keeps the gross price of a gross-priced product and the net price of a net-priced product. Each line value is rounded to a whole cent, as on an invoice.

Lines that came from a shop

On an imported order, the lines are the shop's own. Complaia links each line to one of your products. It tries the barcode (EAN, then UPC, the Universal Product Code), then the product code, then a name that you matched by hand before. It never searches your catalog by name, and it never links a line to a product with variants, only to a specific variant.

• A line without a link shows Match product on the order page.
• A linked line shows the product's name, with Change match and an option to remove the match.

The steps are in Match a line item to a product. The saved matches are managed on the product. See Order product mappings.

Delivery

On the edit form this card is called Shipping cost.

Field	What it does
Delivery method	How the customer wants to receive the goods. Choose a carrier or type your own text. On imported orders it comes from the shop. When you create the shipment, Complaia suggests the matching transport. It never changes shipments on its own.
Gross delivery cost	What the customer pays for delivery, VAT included.
Delivery VAT rate	Leave it empty, and the delivery cost is split between the VAT rates of the goods, in proportion to their net value after line discounts. Type a rate only when the whole delivery is taxed at that one rate.

Under the fields you see how the delivery cost splits, for example 23%: net … + VAT … for each rate.

If you type a rate that differs from the goods' rates, Complaia keeps your rate and suggests the goods' rates under the field. Use goods' rates empties the field so that delivery follows the goods again.

The carrier is not chosen here. You choose it when you create the shipment. A transport cost typed there is saved back to this field.

Payment and discount

On the New order form, the Initial payment and discount card holds:

• Amount paid — Unpaid, Paid or Other amount. Paid means the full total, and it follows the total while you change the order.
• Transaction ID — optional.
• Order discount — as an amount or as a percentage (%).

On the edit form, the same things are in two cards: Payments and refunds (see Payments) and a card for the order discount.

Order status

The Order status panel works differently in each place:

• On the New order form, you choose the starting status. The panel starts on the first status of the New group.
• On the edit form, you click a status and save. This stops the automatic status changes for this order. See Changing the status by hand.
• On the order page, the panel only shows the current status and the date of the last change.

Status changes made by people are listed on the order's History tab. Changes made automatically by the warehouse are not. See Order statuses.

Comments

• Customer comment — one note from the customer. You edit it on the order page, not on the forms.
• Internal comments — notes for your team, added on the order page. The customer never sees them.

The money model

  Net value            the net amounts of the lines, added up
+ VAT                  the VAT of each line, at that line's own rate
+ Delivery             the gross delivery cost
− Item discounts       the per-line discounts
− Order discount       after the limit described below
──────────────────────
= Total                never below zero

The total is what the customer owes. The forms show it as Total gross and the order page as Total due. It is also the Amount due that payments are counted against.

A worked example: two pieces at 100.00 net with 23% VAT, delivery 20.00, no discounts. Net value 200.00 + VAT 46.00 + Delivery 20.00 = 266.00.

Delivery is in the total

The delivery cost is part of the order's total from the moment the order is created. Because you type it gross, the screens show its VAT in different places:

• On the order page and the forms, the Net value and VAT rows cover the items only. The delivery row shows the gross delivery cost with its VAT rates next to it.
• On the order list, the net amount and the VAT chip cover the whole order, delivery included, split the way an invoice splits it. Net plus VAT then equals the gross total.

An invoice created from the order splits the delivery by the same rule. See Invoicing.

VAT and empty rates

An empty VAT field means the rate is not known. It is not the same as 0.

What you enter	What it means	Effect on the VAT
0	A declared zero rate	The line adds zero VAT
Nothing (the field is empty)	Nobody has said what the rate is	The line is left out of the VAT sum

When no line on the order has a rate, the order has no VAT figure. The order list shows no VAT, and the order page leaves out the VAT row instead of showing 0.00.

If you mean "no tax", type 0. When an invoice is built from the order, a line without a rate gets the seller's fallback rate. See The fallback rate.

The order discount

You type the order discount as an amount or as a percentage.

• Percentage is taken from the gross value of the items (net plus VAT). Delivery is not included. For example, 10% of an order with 500.00 in goods and 50.00 delivery is 50.00, not 55.00. Complaia remembers the percentage, so the amount is recalculated whenever the items change.
• Amount stays as you typed it.

Either way, the discount cannot be larger than the order. The limit is the gross value of the items plus delivery, less the item discounts. If the discount is above that limit, the summary shows the limited figure, and that figure is saved. The reduction is recorded in the order's history.

An amount discount that was cut down stays cut down

If you remove so many items that an amount discount no longer fits, the smaller figure is saved. Adding the items back does not restore the original amount. Type the discount again, or use a percentage, which always follows the items.

Imported discounts

Some shops send prices that already contain a discount. The order page then shows Discount included in prices under Total due. This row is information only. The amount is already inside the item prices, so it is not taken off the total a second time.

What the payment status is worked out from

Status	When
Pending	Nothing is paid and something is due
Partially paid	Something is paid, but less than is due
Paid	Exactly what is due is paid, or nothing is due and nothing was paid
Overpaid	More than is due is paid, or anything is paid on an order worth zero

Three more statuses exist:

• Partially refunded and Refunded — set when a refund is recorded from a claim or return, or when a marketplace reports a refund.
• Cancelled — arrives only with an imported order.

See Payments.

Cash on delivery

With Cash on delivery set to Yes, a shipment created from the order is sent as cash on delivery (COD).

• The carrier collects what is still unpaid: the amount due less what is already paid. Delivery is therefore included.
• If the order is already paid in full, the shipment goes without COD.
• When only part of the order is shipped, the amount for that shipment is the share of the items in it.
• Some carriers accept COD only in certain currencies or countries. The shipment window tells you when a carrier will refuse it.
• Once the shipment is delivered, Complaia records the collected amount on the order as a payment. See Payments.

Details of sending are on the Shipments page.

When it doesn't work

What you see	Why	What to do
An order with this external number already exists for this source. Enter a different number or choose another source.	Another order from the same source already has this external number	Use a different number or leave the field empty
The external order number is too long. It can be at most 128 characters.	The number is longer than 128 characters	Shorten it
This order source does not exist. Choose an existing source or create a new one in the order source settings.	The source was deactivated in the meantime	Choose an active source, or reactivate it on Order sources
This payment method does not exist. Choose an existing method or create a new one in the payment method settings.	The payment method was deactivated in the meantime	Choose an active method
The delivery VAT rate must be between 0 and 100 or left empty.	The delivery rate is out of range	Correct it or clear the field
The EU VAT field turns red	The number does not start with an EU country code	Add the country code, for example DE before the number
The VAT row is missing on the order page	No line has a VAT rate	Edit the order and set a rate on the lines
The VAT on the order list is higher than the VAT row on the order page	The list includes the VAT inside the delivery cost. The order page shows it on the delivery row	Nothing to do
The percentage discount is smaller than that percentage of the total	The percentage is taken from the items only, and the total also contains delivery	Compare it with the gross value of the items
The discount applied is smaller than the one typed	It was above the limit and was cut down	Accept it, or add items and type the discount again
A zero-value order shows Paid	Nothing is due, so nothing is outstanding	Nothing to do
The currency was changed and the amounts did not move	Changing the currency does not convert anything	Type the prices in the new currency
The carrier collected more than the goods are worth	Cash on delivery collects the unpaid total, which includes delivery	Compare the carrier's settlements with the order total, not with the value of the items

Permissions

To do this	You need
Read an order	Orders: View
Fill in the New order form	Orders: Create
Save a typed customer to the entity list	Entities (B2B/B2C): Create
Use the edit form	Orders: Edit
Change the lists the fields choose from (sources, payment methods, statuses)	Orders: Statuses

Related

• Orders — the list, creating and editing step by step
• Payments — recording payments and refunds against the amount due
• Order statuses · Order sources · Payment methods
• Fulfilment & shipments — shipping the order and the automatic status
• Entities (customers & suppliers) — where the customer search reads from
• Invoicing · VAT — what these figures become on a document
• Pricing — where item prices and default VAT rates come from