[Coming Soon] Merge Orders｜Order Management

When your customer creates multiple orders at different times, you can use SHOPLINE's "Order Merger" app to auto-pair and merge multiple orders into one. Not only can you save on packaging costs and simplify the shipping process, but you can also have better communication with your customers.

This article will cover the following:

• Install Order Merger
• Set up permissions
• Order pairing rules
• Rules for promotions, credits, and member points
• Pairing rules for merging orders
• Steps to merge orders
• Manually update order information
• View merged orders
• Notes

 

1. Install Order Merger 

Step 1

In SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Apps] > [Apps Store]. Click on the "Order Merger" box to open its app detail page.

 

Step 2

Click Install Now in the upper right corner.

 

Step 3

You have to authorize Order Merger before installing the app in SHOPLINE Admin. Check the box to agree to the privacy terms and terms of service, and click Install & authorize.

 

Step 4

You will be redirected to the app detail page. When the upper right corner shows "Installed", Order Merger is installed successfully. To learn how to merge orders, please go to 5. Steps to merge orders.

 

2. Set up permissions

Step 1

In SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Settings] > [Permission & Security]. Click Edit on the staff member you would like to grant permissions.

 

Step 2

In the "Admin Access Rights" tab, scroll down to the "Order management" section, and check "View" and "Edit".

By checking "View", the staff will have permission to view the details of merged orders but cannot perform the order merger feature. By checking "Edit", the staff will also have permission to merge orders.

*Note: By checking "View" and "Edit," the staff will also have permission to view and edit general orders.

 

Step 3

Scroll down to the end of the page, click Update at the bottom right corner, and you can grant permission for the staff.

 

3. Order pairing rules

When the system pairs orders, it will check the following conditions to ensure a successful order merging.

i. Required conditions for order pairing

• Same customer information (buyer information)
• Same payment method: cash on delivery (COD) or non-cash on delivery (non-COD)
• Same payment status
  • To merge COD orders, their payment statuses must be "Unpaid".
  • To merge non-COD orders, their payment statuses must be "Paid".
• If the orders to be merged have any payment method of "Buy Online, Pick Up in Store," all products in the orders will be deducted from the same warehouse.
• Same delivery status: all delivery statuses must be "Preparing."
• The quantity of the orders (of the same customer) to be merged must be between 2 to 50.

 

ii. Failed order pairing

If any of the following situations occur, the selected orders will fail to be paired and cannot be merged.

• The delivery status is "Failed".
• The order status is "Cancelled" or "Completed".
• The order is a merged order, original order of a merged order, or split order.
• The payment status is "Refunding", "Refunded" and "Partially Refunded".
• There is already another order merging task in progress. Please wait until the completion of the existing task to proceed with a new order merging.

 

4. Rules for promotions, credits, and member points

• Promotion usage counts:
  The promotion usage counts are based on the usage counts recorded in the original orders before the merging.
  
  
• Free shipping promotion: The free shipping promotion is determined by the earliest created original order. The merged order will have free shipping if the original order has one.
  
  
• Credit/ member point redemption rules:
• Reverts credits/ member points to the original order A and B, and deducts the credits/ member points on the merged order C.
• Unexpired credits/ member points will be reverted with the original expiration date, while expired credits/ member points will be reverted with an extended expiration date of "current date + 1 day".
• If the customer places a new order and redeems the reverted credits/ member points during order merging, the remaining credits/ member points will be deducted from the merged order C.
  
  
• Reward credit/member point redemption rules:
• Please do not first change the order status of either Original Order A or B to "Completed." This may result in the failure of the merging of the two orders and the failure of sending store credits/ member points for the newly merged order C.
• Reward credits are sent when the order status changes to "Completed". Therefore, after merging, the reward credits are sent depending on the merged order C.
• The earned member points are sent when the order status changes to "Completed". Therefore, after merging, the earned member points are sent depending on the merged order C.
• The sending of reward credits and earned member points are subject to the rules on the latest created original order.
  For example, Original Order A was created on 25 Sept., and Original Order B was created on 30 Sept. After the merging, the reward credits and earned member points will be sent according to the rules set on Original Order B, which is the latest created order.

 

5. Pairing rules for merging orders 

In the SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Order Management] > [Merge orders] and click Advanced Rule Settings. Then, select the pairing rules for merging orders.

• Merge orders with the same recipient address and delivery method (default): Orders with the same purchaser, recipient address, and delivery method can be merged.
• Merge orders with different recipient addresses: Orders with different recipient addresses but the same purchaser and delivery method can be merged. Please confirm the delivery address before merging.

 

6. Steps to merge orders

Step 1

In SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Order Management] > [Orders], and check the orders you want to merge.

You can select all orders on the page or use the "Select all orders across pages" feature to select all orders that meet the conditions in your online store.

 

Step 2

After selecting, click the "Bulk Actions" drop-down list and select Merge orders. The system will then automatically pair the orders.

 

Step 3. Pairing

You can continue to check other orders you want to merge or go to [Order Management] > [Orders] to view the recent pairing results.

 

Pairing results

The "Status" field will display the pairing status:

Merge Status	Description	Action
Pairing successful	There are orders available for merging. The pairing is successful.	Merge orders; Pair again
Pairing failed	There are no orders available for merging. The pairing is not successful.	Pair again
Pairing	The orders are being paired, please wait patiently.	N/A
Task failed	The pairing failed due to potential system errors.	N/A
Partial merging exception	The pairing is partially completed. Some orders have not been paired due to potential system errors.	Merge orders; Pair again

 

 

Hover the cursor to the "Task Title" or "Remark" field and the "pencil" icon will appear. You can enter a text for future reference.

 

Click View details and it will display the following:

i. Basic information

• Task Title
• Creation time
• Pairing Rule
• Status
• Order statistics: The total number of orders that are merged, available for merging, and not available for merging.
  *Note: The number of merged orders will be displayed after merging.

 

ii. Orders

If you choose the pairing rule "Merge orders with the same recipient address and delivery method", the system will group orders with the same "purchaser, recipient address, and delivery method" for merging.

If you choose the pairing rule "Merge orders with different recipient addresses", the system will group orders with the same "purchaser and delivery method" for merging.

⭢ The system will then indicate whether each group of orders is available for merging.

 

Step 4 

If you choose the pairing rule "Merge orders with different recipient addresses", it will display the status as "Mergeable - Pending confirmation". Click the Confirm information button on the right and select one recipient address as the merged order address in the pop-up window.

*Reminder: Please confirm with the customer before changing the recipient address.

 

Upon completion, click Confirm. The status will be updated to "Mergeable - Pending merge".

*Note: Before the orders are merged, you can still modify the recipient address.

 

Step 5. Merge orders

When the status is "Mergeable - Pending merge", you can click the Merge Orders button. A pop-up confirmation window will appear, and you can choose to notify customers via email after merging.

 

Merging Results

The "Status" field will display the pairing status:

Merging Status	Description	Action
Merge completed	The orders are merged successfully. No more orders available to merge.	Pair again
Merging	The merging task is still in progress, please wait patiently.	N/A
Merged partially	The orders are merged successfully. There are still orders available to merge.	Merge order; Pair again
Partial merging exception	The merging is partially completed. Some orders have not been merged due to potential system errors.	Merge again

 

Similar to the steps above, the basic information will display the following:

• Task Title
• Creation time
• Pairing Rule
• Status
• Order statistics: The total number of orders that are merged, available for merging, and not available for merging.

 

The "Order" section will list the merging status of each order group:

1. Merged: The orders are merged, and the order number of the merged order will be displayed below. Clicking the order number will lead to the order detail page.
2. Unavailable for merging: The orders cannot be merged. The original orders will be displayed below. The reasons for unsuccessful merging will be displayed in the "Reason" field.

 

7. Manually update order information

If you have edited the order information on the "Orginal Order" page, you can update the information on the "Merged Orders" page.

For example:

1. Merging is not available due to the different delivery methods of the original order.
   
   
   
2. Once you have updated the delivery method of the original order, click Update.
   
   
   
3. Once the delivery methods are similar, click Pair again.
   
   
   
4. The status will be updated to "Mergeable - Pending merge".

 

8. View merged orders 

i. Merged orders 

In SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Order Management] > [Orders]. Click on Additional Filters and select the following conditions.

• Add Filters: Order Created From
• Select a value: Admin - Merge Order 

With the above conditions applied, you can filter the merged orders. Click the order numbers to enter the order detail page for further information and actions.

The order detail page of a merged order is mostly the same as that of a general one. However, please pay attention to the following differences. 

1. Order details:
   The order remarks of the original orders will be copied onto the merged order. Remarks will be separated by commas (,).
2. Product details:
• The promotions, credit redemption, and member point redemption will be copied onto the merged order. If the merged order is cancelled, the reverted inventories, credits, and member points will also be recorded on the merged order.
• The system will input the shipping fee of the earliest created original order. You can edit the shipping fee on the order detail page.

3. Payment details:
   If the payment method of the original orders is a non-COD option, the payment type of the merged order will display "Merged order payment".
4. Delivery details:
   The system will input the delivery method and other recipient information of the earliest created original order.
5. Invoice details:
   The system will input the invoice information, including the donation unit and member carrier of the earliest created original order.

 

ii. Original orders before merging

On the order detail page of a merged order, you can find its original orders before the merging. You can click on their order numbers to view the original order details. The order detail page of the original orders cannot be edited. You can only void the issued invoices.

 

iii. View merged orders at the storefront

Customers can view and track their merged orders in the member center at the storefront. In the storefront, go to [Member Center] > [Orders]. Click the new merged orders to view its order details.

 

9. Notes

• The order merging's invoice feature currently does not support multiple taxes and multiple product attributes.
• Upon order merging, if the merged order's order status is "Open" and payment status is "Paid", a transaction service fee (monthly maintenance fee) will be incurred.
• For original orders using "affiliate campaigns", after the order merging, the commission will no longer be generated for your affiliate partners as the original order statuses have been changed to "Cancelled".
• After order merging, statistics on the original orders are still calculated as staff's performance (as the reason for cancellation is "Order merged"). 
• For original orders using SHOPLINE Payments as the payment method, after the order merging, please go to the original order detail pages for refunds.

 

 

 

Read more

• Order Management Overview | Order Management
• Edit Invoice Details