Hello, X-Carters!
I want to share upcoming changes in X-Cart 5.1. X-Cart 5.1.0 is under development now and its beta will be available very soon.
One of the main important changes is the Fulfillment statuses for orders. Here are details.
In X-Cart 5.1 every order will have two statuses: one for payment and the other one - for shipping. Sometimes, it is inconvenient for a merchant to decide which of the statuses - “Paid” or “Shipped” - is the best for an order, as an order can be “Paid” and “Shipped” at the same time.
Payment statuses in 5.1.x
So, here are statuses of payments:
- Awaiting Payments
- Authorized
- Partially Paid
- Paid
- Declined
- Cancelled
- Refunded
1.
Awaiting Payments. This status is also known as “Queued” in X-Cart 4-5. We believe that “Awaiting Payments” is more understandable than Queued (even in the code we always use Queued varnames).
2.
Authorized. This status can be set only by payment gateways and means that there is authorization hold on a customer’s card.
3.
Paid. This status means that the merchant got the money ). By online payment, by cash or by any other means. The money is in the merchant's pocket.
4.
Partially Paid. The same as previous but means that the merchant hasn’t got a full amount. It can also be used as an alternative for Partially Refunded.
5.
Declined. This status is need to show that an order is declined or failed. It can be set by the merchant or payment gateway. To make it more convenient, we have moved History from the separate tab to the same page where the status is changed. The merchant can quickly review the history of order statuses.
6.
Cancelled. We keep this status separated to show that an order was approved (but not paid) at the first stage, but then had to be cancelled for some reason.
7.
Refunded. I believe this status does not require clarification )
As I already wrote, we have moved the History section to the main tab. As a result, a merchant can get history details by one click and stay on the same page. Also there is still an Order note field there, which is shown only to the merchant.
Shipping Statuses
Here are they:
- New
- Processing
- Shipped
- Delivered
- Will Not Deliver
- Returned
I am sure that the names of the statuses describe their essence. However, only the first status may need clarification: “New” means that there is a new order and merchant needs to take necessary actions.
Every status has a separate label for storefront, so even if a status is called “Will not Deliver” in the admin-backend, customers will see what you want.
Stock changes
Here is a matrix showing how stock will change
One-state status 5.0.x to two-state statuses 5.1.x
And here is a workflow of transition of the current 5.0.x order statuses to 5.1.x statuses:
Custom Statuses
We have thought of custom statuses and developed a system which allows adding different statuses very quickly. In the first version it requires importing a YML file via console.
Later we will implement a special interface in the admin area.
Feedback
We are eager to get your feedback about these upcoming changes, you are welcome to share your opinion here.