Orders in PrestaShop flow through states: Awaiting payment, Payment accepted, Processing in progress, Shipped, Delivered, Cancelled, Refunded. This guide covers the daily workflow — from reviewing the overnight queue to generating invoices, delivery slips, adding carrier tracking and issuing refunds — plus the UK consumer-rights handling that every merchant must support.
The Orders grid • Order statuses and the lifecycle • Invoices and delivery slips • Adding tracking to shipments • Refunds and credit slips • Creating a back-office order • UK consumer rights and returns • FAQ
Open Sell › Orders › Orders. The grid shows every order with columns: reference, new client, delivery, customer, total paid, payment, status, date. Filter by status (most common filter: “Payment accepted” for today). Save filter presets under the star icon for one-click access.
Default statuses in PrestaShop 9:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Awaiting payment | Placed, payment not yet confirmed (bank transfer, etc.). |
| Payment accepted | Card/PayPal payment confirmed. Ready to process. |
| Processing in progress | Staff have started packing/prepping. Optional middle state. |
| Shipped | Dispatched. Triggers shipment email. |
| Delivered | Carrier confirmed delivery (requires carrier integration). |
| Cancelled | Void before payment or by staff. |
| Refunded | Returned. Closes the loop. |
Custom statuses: create under Shop Parameters › Order Settings › Statuses to add UK-specific states like “Awaiting Stock” or “Out for Royal Mail Collection”.
On an order detail screen, click Generate invoice (if not already done). PrestaShop produces a PDF conforming to UK VAT invoice requirements when company details are set under Shop Parameters › General › Contact.
Delivery slips: click Generate delivery slip. Use as packing-list paperwork or to reference when fulfilling.
Bulk PDF: Orders grid › filter › Bulk Actions › Print invoices or Print delivery slips. Batched PDF for end-of-day printing.
On the order detail, under Carrier:
Carrier-integrated modules (Royal Mail Click & Drop, Shiptheory, Starshipit) auto-populate tracking numbers when labels are printed, removing the manual paste step.
PrestaShop calls the refund document a “credit slip”. On an order with Payment accepted status, click Partial refund or Standard refund:
Generate credit slip tick-box creates the PDF. Tick “Repay shipping costs” for full cancellation. The refund itself goes through the payment gateway automatically for Stripe and PayPal; for bank-transfer orders, handle the bank refund manually and mark the credit slip as offline.
UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013: process refunds within 14 days of the customer’s return notification. Establish a same-day credit-slip workflow.
For phone orders or trade accounts paying by bank transfer: Sell › Orders › Add new order:
PrestaShop creates the order as if the customer had placed it themselves. Invoice, deliver and refund normally.
Three obligations under UK law:
Configure the PrestaShop returns module under Sell › Customer Service › Merchandise Returns to give customers a self-service return-request interface. Approve or reject via admin.
PrestaShop hosting for fast order admin
Redis caching keeps Orders grid snappy at 100,000+ records. SmartXHosting UK support for payment-gateway and carrier-integration questions.
See PrestaShop plansQ: Can I edit an order after payment?
A: Limited. You can add or remove products, change addresses and adjust shipping from the order detail screen, but price adjustments trigger a re-charge or credit slip depending on direction.
Q: How do I handle partial shipments?
A: Generate a delivery slip for the partial shipment, change status to “Partially shipped” (custom status). When the remaining items arrive, ship and move to “Shipped”.
Q: Can I cancel an order without refunding?
A: Yes — set status to Cancelled. No credit slip is created (payment was never captured). Customer sees the cancellation in their account.
Q: My payment gateway shows the order but PrestaShop does not.
A: Webhook delivery failure. Check gateway dashboard for webhook errors and verify the URL matches PrestaShop’s payment return endpoint.
Q: How do I print multiple invoices at once?
A: Orders grid › filter › select rows › Bulk Actions › Print invoices. Single PDF with all selected invoices.
Q: The order email template does not match my brand. Can I customise?
A: Yes — Design › Email Theme lets you customise templates. Translations live under International › Translations.
Q: How do I refund via bank transfer?
A: Create the credit slip with “Generate credit slip”. Mark as “Processed” after the bank transfer completes. Customer receives PDF credit slip automatically.