Shop confirms the order first — check stock and address before the customer pays

Customers send an order request, nothing is charged and the items are kept aside. You check the stock and the address, add the delivery charge and the date, and confirm — then they pay online or choose cash on delivery.

8 min readUpdated 6 Oct 2026

In this guide

Some shops cannot say yes to an order the moment it arrives — you need to look in the godown, check that you can reach the address, work out the delivery charge and say when it will come. Turn on Shop confirms the order first and choose The whole order. Customers then send an order request instead of placing an order: nothing is charged and the items are kept aside for them. You check it, add the delivery charge and the date, and press Confirm order. The customer's screen changes at once to the final bill, and they pay online or choose cash on delivery. Only then does it become a real order.

1Customer sends a requestnothing charged, items kept aside
2You check itstock, address, delivery charge, date
3You confirmtheir screen shows the final bill
4Customer acceptspays online or chooses COD
5A normal orderinvoice, packing, delivery

An order request becomes an order only when the customer accepts your final bill.

Two ways to use it

The setting has two levels. Pick the one that matches what you need to check before the customer pays.

Only the delivery charge

Customers place the order and pay as usual
Only the delivery charge waits — you add it on the order
Good when the items are always in stock but delivery varies

The whole order

Customers send an order request — nothing is paid at checkout
You check stock and the address, add the charge and the date
They pay (or choose COD) only after you confirm

This guide is about The whole order. For the first level, see Delivery charge after the order.

The first level is explained in Delivery charge after the order.

Is it right for my shop?

Your stock count is not always right (a godown, several branches, items that get damaged)Use The whole order — you check before anyone pays.

Delivery depends on the address, the weight or how far it is (furniture, building material, bulk orders)Use The whole order, or Only the delivery charge if stock is never a doubt.

You make or arrange items to order (cakes, gift hampers, fresh produce)Use The whole order and switch on store pickup orders too, so you can say when it will be ready.

You can always say yes straight away and your delivery charge is fixed by areaLeave it off — orders are placed and paid at checkout, the fastest way to sell.

Turn it on

Open Shipping & Delivery

In the dashboard menu open Delivery → Shipping. The card Shop confirms the order first is near the top. Switch it on.

Choose The whole order

Under What do you check before the customer pays? pick The whole order.

Choose which orders

Every delivery order, or only orders with products I choose. For the second one, open each product → Shipping Override and tick Orders with this product wait for your confirmation. If an order has any of those products, the whole order waits for you.

Switch on Check store pickup orders too if pickup orders should also wait — you confirm the items and say when they will be ready. When it is off, pickup orders are placed as usual.

Choose how customers can pay after you confirm

Pay online from the final bill — by your payment gateway or UPI. Paying accepts the order.
Cash on delivery — they confirm the bill and pay when it arrives (or at your shop for pickup). If you charge a COD fee, it is added when they choose cash on delivery — never before, and never on a pickup order.

Tick one or both. Online needs a payment gateway or your UPI ID in Settings → Payments; cash on delivery needs Cash on Delivery switched on there (see Payments setup).

Promise a reply time and write your message

How soon do you reply? — within 30 minutes, an hour, 2 hours, the same day or by the next day. Customers see it when they send a request, and the order page turns red when you are past it. Pick a promise you can keep.

Message customers see at checkout — say what you check, for example “We check every mattress in our godown before confirming.” Press Save. Your website changes within a minute.

Part payment (Partial COD) and UPI-screenshot payments are not offered for requests — nobody pays at checkout, and the amount is not final until you confirm. Digital-only orders and the orders you create yourself are never sent as requests.

What the customer sees

At checkout

The payment section is replaced by a card How your order request works: nothing is charged now, the shop checks it, and the final bill comes here and on WhatsApp. The button reads Send order request.

Right after sending

The thank-you page becomes a live screen: Order request sent → Shop is checking → Shop confirmed. It lists what you check — the items, the address, the delivery charge and the date — and your reply promise. They also get a WhatsApp message saying the request was received and nothing has been charged.

When you confirm

The same screen changes by itself to Your order is confirmed — ready to pay, with the final bill: the items (a changed quantity is shown), the delivery charge, the date, your note and the total, and the buttons to pay online or Confirm — pay on delivery. If they closed the page, the bill reaches them on WhatsApp with a link.

Any time later

Track Order and My Account → Orders show where the request is — Shop checking, Ready to pay (with See the final bill) or Not accepted.

Check a request and confirm it

New requests carry a Confirm order tag in your Orders list, and the quick view Requests to confirm shows only those. The dashboard tells you how many are waiting, and if you installed the dashboard app on your phone it alerts you within a few minutes. Open the order — the card Order request — check it, then confirm sits at the top and walks you through four steps.

Items and stock

Each item shows how many you have in stock right now. Change a quantity or remove an item you don't have — the customer sees the change on the bill. A removed item goes back to your stock when you confirm. If you have none of the items, use Can't accept instead.

Delivery address

You see the address with a chip: In your delivery area (with the area's name) or Outside your delivery areas. If the customer marked their spot on the map, Customer's map spot opens it in Google Maps. Call the customer if anything is unclear.

Delivery charge

Type what this delivery costs. When the address falls in one of your delivery areas, a Your rate chip fills in that area's charge in one tap; Free delivery makes it ₹0. A free-delivery coupon the customer used makes it ₹0 by itself.

When it will reach the customer

Tap a day (today and the next six) or pick another date, and add a time if you like. If the customer picked a day at checkout, the card says so — Use that day picks it. The customer sees the day on the bill and in Track Order. Add a Note to the customer if something changed — “Only 1 cushion left, so we sent 1.”

Under the steps, The customer's final bill shows the exact total they will see, worked out by the same server that saves it. Press Confirm order. If two people in your team confirm the same request at the same moment, it is confirmed once and the other is asked to reload.

After you confirm — send the bill

The customer's screen has already changed and a WhatsApp message with the bill link has gone to them. You can also send it yourself — a message from your own number is the one customers trust most:

Send bill on WhatsApp — from your business WhatsApp number, when it is connected in WhatsApp. Switch on the automation Final bill — delivery charge added and it goes by itself every time you confirm.
Open WhatsApp — opens WhatsApp on your phone with the bill already written. You just press send.
E-mail — opens your e-mail app with the bill written, when the customer gave an e-mail address.
Copy bill link — paste it into an SMS, Instagram or anywhere else.

The card then keeps score: You confirmed the order, Bill sent, whether the customer accepted, and what is still to pay. The quick view Waiting for the customer lists every request you confirmed that the customer has not answered yet.

While you wait you can also:

Customer said yes on the phone — when they agreed on a call. The order is confirmed now; they can still pay from the link, or you mark it paid when they pay you.
Change the bill — change items, the charge, the date or the note, then Save & send the new bill. Their screen and the link show the new bill.
Can't accept — see below.

When the customer accepts

The request becomes a real order — confirmed — the moment the customer pays online, taps Confirm — pay on delivery, or you record their yes (Customer said yes on the phone, or Mark paid when they pay you). From then on it is an ordinary order: the invoice is made (if you create invoices automatically), the customer gets the order-confirmed message, and you pack and ship it as usual. If you run reward points, the customer earns them now, on the final bill — a request earns nothing while it waits.

An order request is not an order until the customer accepts: marking it packed, booking a courier, giving it to a delivery boy and marking it shipped or delivered all wait until then. This stops a parcel going out at a price the customer never agreed to. You can of course keep the goods ready on your shelf.

When you can't accept

Tap Can't accept and choose why — Items not in stock, We don't deliver to this address or Another reason — and write a short line for the customer if you like. Then Decline the order request.

The request is cancelled and nothing is charged.
The items go back to your stock.
A coupon the customer used can be used again, and any reward points they used go back to them.
The customer is told on WhatsApp, on their live screen, in Track Order and in My Account — with your reason and your line.

Money, stock and GST

Do this

The items are kept aside the moment the request is sent, so nobody else buys them while you check
The invoice is made when the customer accepts, with the final amount
The delivery charge and any COD fee are on the invoice, taxed the same way as the goods

Not this

No invoice is made for a request — so a declined request never needs a credit note
Nothing is charged at checkout, and the order is never cancelled by itself
A request is not reported to your ad accounts as a sale while it is only a request

GST — a worked example

Example · Sharma Furniture, Pune (prices include GST)

Priya sends a request for a sofa at ₹12,000 (furniture, GST 18%). Mr Sharma checks the godown, sees her address is 18 km away, adds ₹600 delivery and confirms. Priya chooses cash on delivery.

Priya's tax invoice (made when she accepts)

Sofa — includes CGST ₹915.25 + SGST ₹915.25: ₹12,000
Delivery charge — includes CGST ₹45.76 + SGST ₹45.76: ₹600
Total — GST on the invoice ₹1,922.02: ₹12,600

Your own delivery charge goes with the goods it delivers, so it takes the same 18%. The customer pays ₹12,600 either way — the invoice only shows the tax inside it. A customer outside your state sees IGST instead of CGST + SGST.

If your prices are set to exclude GST, the delivery charge is billed without GST for now. If you charge a COD fee, it is added when the customer chooses cash on delivery and appears on the invoice the same way. The date on the invoice is the day the customer accepted. See GST invoices for the rest.

Your platform fee on the order is worked out only when the customer accepts — never for a request you decline, and never on the delivery charge.

Five real ways shops use it

Example · Fresh Basket Grocery, Chennai — a quantity you don't have

Meena asks for 3 packets of 5 kg atta, rice and oil. Only 2 atta packets are left. Arjun lowers atta to 2, taps Your rate ₹40 (her area), picks Today · 5–7 pm and writes “Only 2 atta left — the rest is packed.” Meena sees the changed line on her screen and pays online.

Example · Galaxy Mobiles, Kochi — the colour is sold out

Rahul asks for a phone in blue; the only blue one left is the shop's display piece. Anil taps Can't accept → Items not in stock and writes “Black is in stock at the same price — reply on WhatsApp and we'll keep it for you.” Rahul is told at once and nothing was charged. Anil also sets the blue phone's stock to 0 so nobody else asks for it.

Example · Patel Traders, Ahmedabad — a wholesale order

A kirana store asks for 40 cartons of tea. The godown has 32. Hitesh changes it to 32, types ₹1,200 for the tempo, picks Thursday and writes “8 cartons next week.” The buyer opens the bill link, sees 32 cartons plus ₹1,200 transport, and pays online; the invoice — 32 cartons, the transport and the GST — is made the day he pays.

Example · Lakshmi Silks, Madurai — an address far outside town

A customer in a village 60 km away sends a request for two sarees. Her PIN falls in Lakshmi's wide Rest of Tamil Nadu area, whose usual rate is far too low for that road. Lakshmi calls her, agrees to send it by bus parcel for ₹350 on Saturday, types ₹350 instead of the suggested rate, and confirms. The customer taps Confirm — pay on delivery; the COD fee is added then, and the order is ready to pack.

Example · Sweet Tooth Bakery, Indore — a pickup cake

With Check store pickup orders too on, Farhan's order for a 2 kg chocolate cake waits for the bakery. Nisha confirms the cake, picks Tomorrow · 5–6 pm as the ready time and notes “Name on the cake: Ayaan.” Farhan confirms and pays at the shop when he collects it.

Questions

The customer left the website before I confirmed. Will they know?

Yes. When you confirm, a WhatsApp message with the final bill and its link goes to them, and you can send it again from your own WhatsApp, by e-mail or as a copied link. The bill link also shows in Track Order and in My Account.

What if the customer never pays or never answers?

Nothing happens by itself — a request waits for you, and a confirmed request waits for the customer, with the items kept aside. Find them under Waiting for the customer, message or call them with Open WhatsApp, or cancel the order yourself when you decide to; the items then go back to your stock.

The customer changed their mind. How do they cancel?

They contact you, and you cancel it — Can't accept before they accept, or cancel the order as usual after. Nothing was charged for a request, and the items go back to your stock.

Can I change the bill after I confirmed it?

Yes, until the customer accepts: tap Change the bill, make your change and press Save & send the new bill. Their screen and the link show the new bill. After they accept, it is an ordinary order and you edit it like any other.

Prices changed after the customer sent the request. Which price is used?

The price they saw when they sent it — a request keeps its prices, just like an order. You can still change quantities or remove items when you check it.

What if I don't count stock for an item?

The card says You don't count stock for this item — check it on your shelf yourself. Everything else works the same.

Can I mark a request paid before confirming it?

No — until you confirm, the total is not final, so Mark paid and payment links wait. Confirm it first. After you confirm, marking it paid also accepts it.

My checkout asks for a delivery day, and customers have wallet balance. What happens on a request?

The customer can still pick a delivery day — it is their wish, and you set the real day when you confirm. A request never adds the extra charge for a sooner day; if you want to charge it, add it to your delivery charge. Wallet balance can't be used on a request: the wallet card is hidden at checkout, and the customer pays the final bill after you confirm.

Does it work for every kind of website?

It works on online-store websites. Restaurants, pharmacies and catalogue websites have their own way of confirming orders, and a shop that charges delivery by distance already shows the exact charge at checkout, so the setting is not offered there.