Magento

Looks great....I’m not sure I understand the difference between an order and an invoice to the customer though?

An order is basically a hold or commitment to fulfill the request from the customer. An invoice is when the customer is actually charged for the goods. For instance if Magento is setup with PayPal Direct… it will first create an authorization transaction when the order is placed… where it just basically places a hold or commitment that the customer can pay for the goods, then when an invoice is processed from Magento there is an option to “capture” the funds, where the processor then actually charges the customer and deposits the money into your account.

I don’t remember exactly what is required and by who, but I believe some credit card companies or banks require or suggest that you only charge the customer when a product is being shipped. That way if an order is placed Friday night, and you’re not open until Tuesday to ship the goods, everything is in place to reserver the money for the merchant, and reserve the goods for the consumer, but the actual transactions, both of goods an monetary exchange don’t happen until Tuesday when the goods are shipped and the invoice is issued.

Some companies, and shopping cart software bundle the order step and invoice step together as one step, which can be troublesome under some circumstances. This is a very awesome feature!

Holy doly,

You see, that is why i love magento!! Tell me one other Open Source commerce who even makes videos in this way and show those incredible stuffs?

Great job magento team! I really love it/you. And appreciate your work so freakin much. It’s though to sad that there is less swedish stuff for the engine But i’ll probaly will work with it as fast as we get an stable ver.

Once again, unbelievble work guys & girls. Much love from Sweden!

Maybe a little too much too soon, but will the final version have the option to email invoices to the customer?

Thanks for the explanation...makes sense, and would be great for backorder type stuff...although I still don’t see that much more benefit over just an order status on an order.  This seems like it would be an extra step.  Also, what about order statuses?  For example my setup now has a few different steps that are pretty important for a customer to see (like painting..which can take a couple weeks), etc.

I also hope the final version doesn’t make you put 0 in each box when updating, I’m sure there is a better way to handle that...considering all the great things the Magento team has already done with the interface!

@redegifts:  Yes, it can do this.  In fact you’ll notice in the video that there’s a check box at the bottom next to the “create invoice” or “create shipment” buttons which reads something like “Email to customer”

@Davepit.com:  It is an extra step, but you can skip it - I could have included this example in the video as well, but Magento can create a shipment automatically while invoicing the customer.  Under the “Shipping Information” section (when creating the invoice) is a check box called “create shipment”, which will open the interface for entering tracking numbers.  If you do this and then submit the invoice, a corresponding shipment will be created for the items invoiced.

@Joley - Tack för komplimangerna!  Kul att se att det finns intresse i Sverige för Magento!

Absolutely fabulous guys!  Keep up the good work.  I’m going to take your team out for lunch next time I’m up in LA (I’m in OC).

I love the flexibility and thought that went into the details of this - like all features in magento.

*can you hear the ‘but’ coming?’

...but, it seems like a lot of clicking if you had a busy store. I personally do not use any tracking because my items are under $20. All I would need to do is go in and batch print orders for that day and get out. For my particular scenario, this method would be time consuming.

That said, I would not change anything. I think all that functionality needs to be there and is very important. I just wish there was a way to process orders in bulk.

@Mootrealm - Yes, ability to batch process orders is definitely something we’re thinking about as it is a serious time-saver for any higher-volume operation.

I figured you would be . You guys and gals think of everything.

These videos are very helpful, but I much prefer the screencasts.  It’s really nice having someone explain what’s going on while they are doing it.

Nice work. In the customer views (Sales Module from the Front End), how about a small addition to the order navigation line to show how many (if any) of each document type exists related to the order. For example, instead of:

Order Invoices Shipments Refunds

Show:

Order Invoices (2) Shipments (2) Refunds (0)

(I hate navigating to pages only to find that nothing exists under that option!)