Some orders stop partway and wait for a decision from you. This article explains every reason an order lands in the Needs attention view, what the order looks like when it does, and what to do to move it on.
The Needs attention view
In the sidebar, open Orders and select Needs attention, the second view on the row. Its count is red while anything needs you.
An order is in this view when any one of these is true:
| Reason | The chip on the order | The next step |
|---|---|---|
| A card payment failed, or the customer left the payment page without paying | Payment failed | Resolve |
| A card order has been awaiting payment for two days | Payment expired | Resolve |
| A refund has not settled with the payment provider | Refund pending | Process |
| The order is past its fulfilment time and not yet picked up | Late fulfilment | The usual one: Prepare, Mark ready, Ship or Update |
| The latest delivery attempt failed | Delivery failed | Review |
| A paid parcel came back to you and is not refunded yet, or one parcel of an order sent in several came back | Returned to sender | Review |
| A return is open and its items are not back yet | Return requested | Process |
| The returned items are back, waiting for a refund or to be completed | None: the stage reads Return received | Process |
| The cash on delivery payment failed after delivery | COD collection failed | Resolve COD |
Open the order to see why. Its Order stage box reads Needs attention — "Something on this order needs a decision." — and the reason shows as a chip under the customer's name, red like every chip on the order page and in the order preview. Only the orders list on a narrow screen, such as a phone or tablet, colours the chips on each order's card by how serious they are: red for a problem such as Delivery failed, amber for something waiting on you such as Late fulfilment or Return requested. An order with an open return or a pending refund shows that instead in its stage: Return in progress, Return received or Refund pending.
An order can have more than one reason. The page shows up to four chips, the most serious first.
A card payment that failed, or an order left unpaid too long
Payment failed means the card payment did not go through: HyperPay declined it, or the customer left the payment page without paying. We ask HyperPay about every card order still awaiting payment, and a checkout nobody completes is marked Failed after about an hour. The order's stage is Needs attention, its payment box reads Failed, and the progress bar ends in a red Failed marker.
The customer was not charged, no stock was taken and nothing ships. Any gift card balance, loyalty points and discount code use the order was holding go back to the customer. There is nothing to cancel or refund. If the customer still wants the items, contact them: they can place the order again from your storefront. The Payment failed view on the row lists these orders.
Payment expired is rare now that unpaid checkouts fail after about an hour. It means a card order has been Awaiting payment for two days or more because we could not get an answer from HyperPay about its payment. Its status is still Awaiting payment (the stage reads Needs attention), and it holds no stock.
- Select Resolve. The order opens on its Operations tab.
- Check the payment in your HyperPay account, and contact the customer if you think they still want to buy.
- If they do not, select Cancel order in Manage order and give a reason. See Cancel an order.
Under the Resolve button the order says "Online payment handling is not available for this store yet. Contact the customer or record a manual payment." You cannot charge the card again from the console; the customer pays by ordering again. If card orders keep reaching Payment expired, check your HyperPay connection: see Connect HyperPay.
A refund still pending
Refund pending means a refund was sent to the payment provider and has not settled yet: "A refund has been started but not settled." The stage reads Refund pending and the progress bar ends in an amber marker.
You do not need to do anything. When the payment provider confirms the refund, the payment becomes Refunded and the order leaves the view. If it stays pending for several days, check the refund in your HyperPay account. See Refund an order in full or in part.
Fulfilment running late
Late fulfilment means the order's status is Confirmed, Preparing or Ready to ship, its fulfilment time has passed, and the delivery provider has not picked it up. Its stage reads Needs attention. You set the time in Settings (opens in a new tab) as Fulfilment SLA (hours); it is 48 hours unless you change it.
The next step stays the normal one, so just carry on: Prepare, Mark ready, Ship to create the shipment, or Update once the shipment exists and the provider collects it. In the list, the order's Created time is red.
The order leaves the view as soon as the parcel is picked up — when you update the shipment to Picked up, or create it with Mark order shipped ticked. See Ship an order with a tracking number. If you decide not to send the order, select Cancel order on its Operations tab.
To see orders before they run late, use Due soon under More views. To give yourself more time on future orders, change the hours: see Set your fulfilment SLA and stock alerts.
A delivery that failed
Delivery failed means you updated the shipment because the driver could not deliver — for example, nobody answered the door. The stage reads Needs attention, the shipment box Delivery failed, and the progress bar ends in a red Delivery failed marker. The next step is Review: "Delivery needs a look before it can move on."
- Call the customer on the number shown under their name, and agree a new attempt or the parcel's return.
- Select Review. The order opens on its Fulfilment tab.
- Update the shipment to what you agreed:
- Out for delivery, when the provider tries again with the same parcel;
- Returned to sender, when the parcel is coming back to you;
- Cancelled, when the order goes out again in a new shipment, or not at all. The order goes back to Ready to ship. If its fulfilment time has passed, as it usually has by then, it stays in this view as Late fulfilment until the new parcel is picked up or you cancel the order.
See When a delivery fails for each of them.
Refused at the door: returned to sender
Returned to sender means the parcel came back to you: the customer refused it, or the provider gave up. You record it by updating the shipment to Returned to sender; see Refused at the door: returned to sender. Its items go back in stock by themselves, and what happens next depends on the money.
Cash never collected. A cash on delivery order, or a card payment that was only authorised, has nothing to give back, so the order is cancelled at once. It never waits in Needs attention: its stage reads Cancelled, its payment Not collected, and its next action No action. Any gift card balance, points and discount code use on it are given back.
A paid order. When the customer paid by card, the order becomes Returned and stays in Needs attention, with the red Returned to sender chip and the next step Review, until you give the money back. The fulfilment box reads Returned and the payment Paid.
- Select Review, then open the Operations tab.
- Refund the customer from the Refund payment card. Refund everything, or keep the delivery fee and refund the rest: either takes the order out of the view. See Refund an order in full or in part.
The refund puts nothing back in stock a second time; the parcel already did. Once it is recorded, the stage reads Return completed and the chip goes.
An order sent in more than one shipment stays at its stage, with the Returned to sender chip, while another of its shipments is still on its way. It closes when the last one comes back or is cancelled: cancelled if it was unpaid, Returned if it was paid.
To see every order with a parcel that came back, use Returned to sender under More views.
A return request
Return requested means a customer asked to send items back, or you created a return for them, and the items are not back yet. The stage reads Return in progress. Once you mark the items received, the chip goes and the stage reads Return received — "The returned items are back. Refund or complete the return." — until you refund or complete the return. In both, the next step is Process: "A return is waiting on your decision."
Select Process to open the order's Operations tab, where you approve, receive, refund or reject the return. See Handle a return. Returns are on the Starter plan and up; see Plans and what each includes.
Cash that could not be collected
COD collection failed means the parcel of a cash on delivery order was delivered, but its payment is recorded as failed: the cash never reached you. The payment box reads Collection failed and the next step is Resolve COD: "Cash on delivery did not complete."
- Ask your delivery provider about the cash for this order.
- When the cash arrives, select Resolve COD. The order opens on its Operations tab.
- Record the cash in Mark manual payment paid. See Record cash collected on delivery.
Note
A cash on delivery order that is delivered and simply not recorded yet is not a problem: it shows COD to collect, with an Awaiting collection chip (red on the order page, like every chip there; amber on the orders list on a narrow screen), and appears in the COD orders view, not in Needs attention.
Warning chips: missing tracking and high-value orders
Two chips flag an order without putting it in Needs attention:
- Missing tracking — the order is ready to ship or in delivery, but its shipment has no tracking number. Every shipment you create in the console needs one, so you will rarely meet it. If you do, and the provider has not collected the parcel yet, replace the shipment: see Update a shipment's status.
- High value — the order is open and its total is 250 or more in your store's currency. Nothing is wrong; it is a reminder to check the address and the customer before you send it. The chip goes when the order is completed, cancelled, returned or refunded.
More flags under More views: Stalled orders, Due soon and High value
More views, at the end of the row of views, holds three more lists that help you get ahead of problems:
| View | Shows |
|---|---|
| Stalled orders | Card orders awaiting payment for two days, orders awaiting your confirmation for two days, and confirmed or preparing orders past their fulfilment time. |
| Due soon | Orders with less than 24 hours left to be picked up. |
| High value | Open orders of 250 or more. |
See Work through your orders list for every view.
How an order leaves the view
You never clear the flag by hand. An order leaves Needs attention when the reason behind it is gone:
| Reason | It leaves the view when |
|---|---|
| Payment expired | The customer pays, or you cancel the order. If HyperPay reports the payment failed, the order moves to Payment failed and stays in the view. |
| Refund pending | The payment provider confirms the refund. |
| Late fulfilment | The delivery provider picks the parcel up, or you cancel the order. |
| Delivery failed | You update the shipment. If it becomes Returned to sender on a paid order, the order stays for that reason. If you cancel the shipment to send the order again, it can come back as Late fulfilment until the new parcel is picked up. |
| Returned to sender | You refund the order, in full or in part. An order with another shipment still out stays until that one comes back or is cancelled too. |
| Return requested, Return received | You refund, complete, reject or cancel the return. |
| COD collection failed | You record the cash. |
A card order whose payment failed stays in the view and in Payment failed: it holds no money and no stock, and needs nothing more once you have spoken to the customer.
The list does not update by itself: after you fix an order, select Refresh to see the counts change.
Next, see how order stages work, or update a shipment's status.