# How orders work on Wholesale Handler **Author** Dan Edwards, Founder **Published** 04-05-2026 **Metadescription** How orders work on Wholesale Handler - placing orders, delivery cutoffs, lead times, statuses, edits, cancellations and invoicing. **Display description** Customers place orders themselves through the Orders page, picking from the products, prices and delivery dates you've set up. Each order is editable while pending, locks at the cutoff, then moves to processed once you've prepared it. Processed orders are ready to invoice. Orders flow through one place - your [Orders](/orders) list - whether the customer placed them themselves or you placed them on their behalf. Each order is editable while pending, locks at the cutoff, then moves to processed once you've prepared it. Processed orders are ready to invoice. ## How does a customer place an order? The customer signs in, opens [Orders](/orders) and clicks Place order.... They pick a delivery date, add quantities for the products you've made available, and complete by clicking Place order. Wholesale Handler shows them their personalised price list, hides products that aren't available on their chosen delivery date, and prevents them from picking a delivery date outside your cutoff and lead time settings. If you've set a minimum order amount, Wholesale Handler blocks orders that don't meet it. You can also charge a flat delivery fee, with an option to waive it for orders that meet the minimum spend. ## How do I place an order on behalf of a customer? You can start a new order from a few places: - The [Orders](/orders) page - click New order... - The [Customers](/customers) page - either from a customer's row, or from the menu at the top of the page - The dashboard - in the menu at the top of the page Pick a customer, choose a delivery date, add line items, and place the order. The same cutoff, lead-time and accepted-day rules apply. The order shows up in your list as a normal pending order, except you can mark it as processed straight away - there's no customer-editing window to wait for. ## How do cutoffs and lead times work together? Two settings control which delivery dates a customer can pick: the **cutoff time** and the **minimum and maximum lead days**. The cutoff is a time of day - it decides whether "today" still counts for ordering. Lead days set how soon and how far ahead a customer can request delivery. A common setup is a 5pm cutoff with a 1-day minimum and a 14-day maximum lead. Order at 4pm Monday and the picker shows Tuesday through to two weeks out. Order at 5:01pm Monday and Tuesday drops off - earliest is Wednesday. ## What's a delivery cutoff? The cutoff is the time of day after which "today" stops counting for ordering purposes. Order before the cutoff and lead time starts counting from today; order after, and it starts from tomorrow. Pick a cutoff that gives you enough time to prep what's been ordered without making customers plan further ahead than they need to. Most wholesalers set it somewhere between 3pm and 8pm. ## What are minimum and maximum lead days? **Minimum lead days** is how soon a customer can request delivery once their lead time starts. **Zero (same-day delivery)** - the customer can order today for today's delivery, as long as they order before the cutoff. With a 5pm cutoff: - Order at 4pm Monday for Monday delivery ✅ - Order at 5:01pm Monday for Monday delivery ❌ (earliest is Tuesday) Useful for collect-on-the-day businesses where prep is fast. **One** - the most common setup. At least a full day between order and delivery. With a 5pm cutoff: - Order at 4pm Monday for Tuesday delivery ✅ - Order at 5:01pm Monday for Tuesday delivery ❌ (earliest is Wednesday) **Two or more** - useful when you need to source ingredients or batch production before delivery. **Maximum lead days** is how far ahead a customer can plan. With a customer ordering on Monday 1 January: - Max = 7 - can pick any date up to Monday 8 January - Max = 14 - can pick up to Monday 15 January - Max = 30 - can pick up to Wednesday 31 January Lower values keep planning manageable and suit fresh produce. Set higher for seasonal businesses like christmas trees or pumpkins where customers commit weeks or months in advance. ## Can I take orders for a specific day or for a whole week? Both. In Settings, choose **delivery precision**: - **Daily precision** - customers pick an exact delivery date. For example, if a bakery chooses daily precision, a customer can pick a particular Thursday, and that's the day their bread arrives. - **Weekly precision** - customers pick a Monday that represents the whole Mon-Sun week. For example, if a Christmas tree farm chooses weekly precision, a customer can order for the week commencing Monday 27 November, and the trees arrive at some point during that week. Week precision is mainly for seasonal businesses like christmas trees and pumpkins, where customers might order months in advance. Most industries - bakeries, florists, egg suppliers - use daily precision. ## Which days of the week can I deliver on? In Settings, pick the days of the week you accept deliveries on - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and so on. This is a recurring weekly pattern, not specific dates. Customers can only pick a delivery date that falls on one of your accepted weekdays. Customers can still _place_ orders at any time of day, on any day of the week. If a bakery doesn't work on Mondays, a customer can still place an order on a Monday - they just can't pick Monday as the delivery day. Wholesale Handler keeps taking orders even when you're not working. For example: - A bakery delivering to local cafes might accept **Mon-Fri**. - An egg supplier doing one big drop a week might accept **Thursday only**. - A florist preparing for weekend events might accept **Wed-Sat**. ## How do holidays work? Add a holiday in Settings and Wholesale Handler hides that date from the delivery date picker. Holidays support single dates and ranges: - **Single date** - a bank holiday like 1 January - **Short range** - a long weekend or trade show (e.g. 26-28 March) - **Long range** - an extended closure like Christmas (24 December - 2 January) **With weekly precision**, a week is only blocked if every accepted day in it is a holiday. If even one accepted day remains, customers can still book that week. For a wholesaler accepting Mon-Fri deliveries: - Holiday **Monday 1 - Sunday 7 January** - w/c Monday 1 January ❌ (every accepted day is in the holiday) - Holiday **Tuesday 2 - Sunday 7 January** - w/c Monday 1 January ✅ (Monday is still accepted) ## What are the order statuses? pending The customer has placed it but you haven't prepared it yet. They can still cancel it. Whether they can still _update_ it depends on whether the cutoff has passed. processed You've prepared it. The customer can no longer change or cancel it. Ready to invoice. Cancelled orders are removed entirely - there's no "cancelled" status. ## When does an order become locked? An order locks automatically once the cutoff for its delivery date has passed. For a Tuesday delivery with a 5pm Monday cutoff, the order locks at 5pm Monday. Locked means the customer can no longer change it. A padlock icon shows up next to pending orders so you can see which ones are still editable and which are locked. ## When can I mark an order as processed? For orders the customer placed, once they're locked. Until the cutoff has passed, the action is disabled - the customer might still be making changes. For orders **you** placed on the customer's behalf, you can mark them as processed straight away. There's no customer-editing window to wait for, so the lock gate doesn't apply. Either way, you can mark orders as processed individually from each order's actions menu, or in bulk by selecting multiple eligible orders at once. ## Can I revert a processed order back to pending? Yes, as long as it hasn't been invoiced. Once an invoice exists, the order's status is fixed. ## Can a customer change their order after placing it? Yes - up until the cutoff passes. They can change quantities, add or remove products, or change the delivery date. Wholesale Handler revalidates everything on update - stock, prices, minimum spend and delivery date validity. The updated order uses today's prices, not the prices that applied when they originally placed the order. Once the cutoff passes the order locks. The customer can no longer update it - but they can still cancel until you mark it as processed. ## Can a customer cancel their order? Yes, while it's still pending and not invoiced - even if it's already locked. Cancelling removes the order entirely and returns any finite-stock items back to your inventory. If you've already started preparing an order, mark it as processed first so the customer can no longer cancel. ## How is the order reference generated? Each order gets a reference like `ORD-2026-001`. The year is when the order was placed; the number is a running sequence across all your orders that doesn't reset each year. Numbers are padded to at least three digits. Both you and your customer see the reference, it appears on invoices, and you can search for orders by reference on the orders list. ## What happens when a product runs out of stock? Stock tracking is optional - leave the quantity unset and Wholesale Handler treats the product as infinite (the default for bakeries and similar). For products with a finite stock level, Wholesale Handler tracks the remaining quantity and prevents customers from ordering more than is left. When stock hits zero, the product moves to a **Sold out** section at the bottom of the customer's product list. They can still see it but can't add it to their order. There's a button to subscribe for a one-time email when you restock. You can restock manually, or stock returns automatically when an order is cancelled. Either way, subscribed customers get an email and the product becomes orderable again. Subscriptions clear once the notification fires - if the product sells out again, customers subscribe again. ## How do I get notified about orders? Turn on order activity emails in Settings and you'll get an email whenever a customer places, updates or cancels an order. If a customer makes several changes in quick succession, you'll get one update email rather than several. Customers don't get order emails from Wholesale Handler. The order is visible in their account whenever they sign in, and you'll communicate confirmation or changes however you normally do. ## Are there any limits on how many orders I can take? No - there are no order count limits. Wholesale Handler caps how many customers (50) and products (100) you can have, but orders themselves are unlimited. ## How Wholesale Handler handles orders The orders list shows every order in one place, whether the customer placed it themselves or you placed it on their behalf. A status badge tells you whether each order is pending or processed, the padlock icon picks out the pending orders that are still editable by the customer, and the search bar finds orders by reference, customer name or contact name. Bulk actions sit at the bottom of the list once you've selected one or more rows: mark several eligible orders as processed in one click, or generate packing slips for a whole day's deliveries together. Once orders are processed, they show up in the **uninvoiced** drawer ready to be turned into invoices in a single batch. ## FAQs **Q: How does a customer place an order?** A: They sign in, open Orders, click "Place order...", pick a delivery date, add quantities for the products you have made available, and submit. They see their personalised price list and only the delivery dates allowed by your cutoff and lead time settings. **Q: Can I place an order on behalf of a customer?** A: Yes. Pick a customer, choose a delivery date, add line items, and place the order. It appears in your orders list as a normal pending order, except you can mark it as processed straight away - there is no need to wait for the cutoff, since you are the one placing it. **Q: What is a delivery cutoff?** A: The time of day after which "today" stops counting for ordering. Order before the cutoff and lead time starts counting from today; order after, and it starts from tomorrow. Most wholesalers set it between 3pm and 8pm. **Q: What are the order statuses?** A: Pending - the customer has placed it, you have not prepared it yet. Processed - you have prepared it, the customer can no longer change or cancel it, and it is ready to invoice. Cancelled orders are removed entirely - there is no separate "cancelled" status. **Q: Can a customer change their order after placing it?** A: Yes, until the cutoff for the delivery date passes. They can change quantities, add or remove products, or change the delivery date. The updated order uses today's prices, not the prices that applied when it was originally placed. Once the cutoff passes the order locks. **Q: Can a customer cancel their order?** A: Yes, while it is still pending and not invoiced - even if the cutoff has passed. Cancelling removes the order entirely and returns any finite-stock items back to your inventory.