Admin Simple Create Order [Support Thread]

[DML73]

Ok, I understand. I am already using Edit Orders and Super Orders. I guess the main problem is that I want to place an order without using a payment method, or at least without charging the customer's credit card/PayPal again, (since the customer already paid long time ago). I don't see how that is possible with this method. You mention that I can "process a credit against the order". How can that be done?? I guess that's exactly what I need to do.

[gilby]

Ok, I understand. I am already using Edit Orders and Super Orders. I guess the main problem is that I want to place an order without using a payment method, or at least without charging the customer's credit card/PayPal again, (since the customer already paid long time ago). I don't see how that is possible with this method.

Easy...
Take the Credit Card by Phone or Fax module.
Clone it.
Rename it to "Pre-Paid" or"Exchange" or"Anything you like"
Make it ONLY visible to the Admin
Edit any text to suit your needs.
Select this method when creating orders from the admin
It will show the payment method as "Pre-Paid" or "Exchange", etc on the email to the customer and in the admin.

btw: There is nothing to collect or pay using any of the 4 previously suggested payment methods.

[DML73]

Easy...
Take the Credit Card by Phone or Fax module.
Clone it.
Rename it to "Pre-Paid" or"Exchange" or"Anything you like"
Make it ONLY visible to the Admin
Edit any text to suit your needs.
Select this method when creating orders from the admin
It will show the payment method as "Pre-Paid" or "Exchange", etc on the email to the customer and in the admin.

btw: There is nothing to collect or pay using any of the 4 previously suggested payment methods.

Great, thanks, that sounds like it could work for me. Two questions:
1. You mention: "Make it ONLY visible to the Admin", how can I do that?
2. You also mention: "Select this method when creating orders from the admin", do you mean from the store-front? since one of the problems is that orders can't be created from the admin.

Regarding the previously suggested payment methods, the reason Im reluctant to install these is because I don't want to offer these to my customers; but if they can be visible only to the Admin then it could work.

[gilby]

Great, thanks, that sounds like it could work for me. Two questions:
1. You mention: "Make it ONLY visible to the Admin", how can I do that?
2. You also mention: "Select this method when creating orders from the admin", do you mean from the store-front? since one of the problems is that orders can't be created from the admin.

Regarding the previously suggested payment methods, the reason Im reluctant to install these is because I don't want to offer these to my customers; but if they can be visible only to the Admin then it could work.

1. I meant to say, visible only from your Admin IP address
A bit of coding is required to enable it, if its your own IP address.

2. Yes it is done from the storefront.
Only you would be able to see that payment method

[DivaVocals]

1. I meant to say, visible only from your Admin IP address
A bit of coding is required to enable it, if its your own IP address.

2. Yes it is done from the storefront.
Only you would be able to see that payment method

in my long post I provide a link to a method to display a payment method to only the store owner.. DrByte also provided a link to another way to do this too.. the information needed to do this is all posted in this thread..

[DivaVocals]

I guess the main problem is that I want to place an order without using a payment method, or at least without charging the customer's credit card/PayPal again, (since the customer already paid long time ago). I don't see how that is possible with this method.

You are getting hung up on something you need to stop getting hung up on. In the case of a manual you cannot of course use an active payment method (like PayPal or Authorize.net) you need a MANUAL payument method (hence the four manual payment methods that I suggest in my long post) the point is that you CANNOT create ANY order in Zen Cart without these three elements:

1. Product
2. Shipping method
3. Payment method

You simply CANNOT create an order that doesn't have some payment method. You are hung up on the fact that the order was already paid.. You are missing the point because you can't get past that.. A payment method is NOT about collecting a payment from your customer by processing a credit card. It is about recording a payment against the order so it shows as a PAID order. You wouldn't ship something to a customer that wasn't paid would you?? A payment method can indicate a payment to be collected from a customer (like check/money order or a manual credit processing), or to record a future payment that will be made by a customer (the P.O. payment module that comes with Super Orders is an example of this kind of payment method), or you can use a payment method to record a payment that was ALREADY RECEIVED.

Does this make sense now??

Ok, I understand. I am already using Edit Orders and Super Orders.

You mention that I can "process a credit against the order". How can that be done?? I guess that's exactly what I need to do.

You say you use Super Orders and Edit Orders.. But it doesn't sound like you've really used the features of these modules. Have you reviewed the readme for both of these modules?? They explain the features of these modules which will help you achieve what you want..

Hint:

• Split Orders
• Adding product to orders
• Super payments/credits

PLEASE read the readme documents for both modules. They do provide EXCELLENT details on the features of both modules. If after reading the readme files you have questions on how to use the features they offer, I will be happy to help explain.

Easy...
Take the Credit Card by Phone or Fax module.
Clone it.
Rename it to "Pre-Paid" or"Exchange" or"Anything you like"
Make it ONLY visible to the Admin
Edit any text to suit your needs.
Select this method when creating orders from the admin
It will show the payment method as "Pre-Paid" or "Exchange", etc on the email to the customer and in the admin.

btw: There is nothing to collect or pay using any of the 4 previously suggested payment methods.

And I need to add to this.. for a manual order process ANY MANUAL payment method will work..

[DML73]

Thanks for the explanation. I do understand what you mean, I do need to record the order in Zencart as a paid order regardless of if I collect payment or not. I do now understand that I can use any of the payment modules you mention for this. I think the problem was that I didn’t understand how to do that through the storefront without offering one of the payment methods to my customers.
I do not wish to have any of these payment methods available for customers to use. So as suggested earlier I can hide the payment method by IP address. It might not be the perfect solution but indeed it will get the job done. When I travel and use other IP’s I will need to also change the hardcoded IP address before I can place a manual order.

Regarding shipping something to a customer that wasn’t paid; yes I do actually send free product samples/gifts to my customers sometimes. I guess I will have to charge $0.00 for these orders to be able to record them.

Super Orders and Edit orders are definitely great and very useful modules, I do see now that I can add Payment and Refund charges, I guess that is what you call processing a credit against the order.
One thing about Super Orders: I can’t split an order that consists of only one part number, for example I can’t split one order of 4 green T-shirts into two orders of 2 green shirts each. Not a big deal, I will just have to place a new order through the store-front instead of splitting it.

Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate your help. I can’t say that this is the perfect way of creating manual orders but I guess currently it is the best and only way to do it.

[DivaVocals]

Super Orders and Edit orders are definitely great and very useful modules, I do see now that I can add Payment and Refund charges, I guess that is what you call processing a credit against the order.

credit/refund it all means a negative payment.. as my husband says "same thing is the same thing"

One thing about Super Orders: I can’t split an order that consists of only one part number, for example I can’t split one order of 4 green T-shirts into two orders of 2 green shirts each. Not a big deal, I will just have to place a new order through the store-front instead of splitting it.

Why can't you?? You could edit the order and add another product. Edit Orders doesn't care that they are the same part number.. Once there are two distinct product lines in an order, then Super Orders will allow you to split the order..

Honestly I strongly suggest you not limit yourself and think a lot more out the box.. Don't ask "Can I?" TRY IT! If it doesn't work then you can come back and say "I tried this, and it didn't work.. so how do I??"

[DML73]

Why can't you?? You could edit the order and add another product. Edit Orders doesn't care that they are the same part number.. Once there are two distinct product lines in an order, then Super Orders will allow you to split the order..

Great! I just tried that and it works, I was not aware that I could do that (I have mainly been using an old version of Super Orders and Edit orders (with Zencart 1.3.8a) which I see now is a lot different from the new version). This simple edit will actually save me a lot of time fiddling with placing orders through the storefront.

Honestly I strongly suggest you not limit yourself and think a lot more out the box.. Don't ask "Can I?" TRY IT! If it doesn't work then you can come back and say "I tried this, and it didn't work.. so how do I??"

You are probably right, I just want to try and avoid spending time on something if it is doomed from the start. At least now I know it can de done.

[DivaVocals]

Great! I just tried that and it works, I was not aware that I could do that (I have mainly been using an old version of Super Orders and Edit orders (with Zencart 1.3.8a) which I see now is a lot different from the new version). This simple edit will actually save me a lot of time fiddling with placing orders through the storefront.

Seriously if you review the readme, you will get plenty of ideas on your own how you can exploit these modules.. I get flack for telling people to read the docs, but in the case of the Edit/Super Orders docs I KNOW what information I included, and I KNOW that the answers really are in these docs as I tried to write it from the end user POV..

You are probably right, I just want to try and avoid spending time on something if it is doomed from the start. At least now I know it can de done.

But my point is you WON'T KNOW until you TRY.. None of us knows anything special.. We've learne by TRYING things out, and sharing the results.. We've experimented to figure things out.. You are going to have to SPEND (not waste) some time too trying things to see if they work..

Good luck.. sounds like you are on your way..