that's the easiest way, agreed,
it does not matter what order number is finally given to the customer,
I just did not want there to be any unnecessary confusion, e.g. one customer takes 4mins to complete and the second customer starting 1min later taking 2mins to complete.
my logic was suggesting their order numbers would swop when the customer is returned to the store and their order was finalised and saved to db...
therefore possibly complicating things if down the line if a request to the payment processor to administer a refund etc.
the payment processors might be perturbed by the original posted order number not matching the refund order number
~ life's too short!!
i will give your way a go, as you say it is a much simpler approach.
once ready, i'll test for the above scenario too and report the results

many thanks DrByte =:)