Draft Orders
Create Orders for Shoppers, Send a Payment Link, and Edit Orders Before They Ship
Not every order starts on your website. A shopper calls, sends a WhatsApp message or walks in; you build the order in the admin, priced exactly as your checkout would price it, and either take cash on delivery or send them a link to pay.
- In every plan
- Free for 14 days
Kosha is a demo store on Mercayo. Its products, orders and customers are sample data.
In short
What It Does
Drafts (under Orders in the admin) is where your team makes an order on a shopper's behalf. A draft is the shopper's bag, kept by your store: you add the items, the customer and the delivery address, choose how they pay, and press CREATE ORDER. From that moment it is an ordinary order, with its number, its GST invoice, its emails and its tracking page.
What a Draft Holds
| Part | What You Fill In |
|---|---|
| Items | Search products by name or SKU; up to 50 different items, 1 to 99 of each, with the stock left shown beside each |
| Customer | Find an existing customer by name, phone or email, or type a phone number (needed) and an email (optional) |
| Delivery address | Name, address, city and PIN code; the PIN code decides which delivery options appear |
| Delivery | The store's delivery options for that PIN code, with their prices and days |
| Payment | Cash on Delivery or Payment Link |
| Discount | Up to 3 of your discount codes, and one staff discount |
| Note | Up to 1,000 characters for your team, for example "Called on WhatsApp; wants it before Friday" |
Every change is saved as you go, so a draft can wait while you check something with the shopper. The draft says what is still needed ("Still needed: the delivery address") and lists itself under Open until it becomes an order, then under Made Into Orders.
Priced Exactly Like Your Checkout
The Payment Summary on a draft is worked out by the same engine as your checkout: product prices, automatic offers, quantity prices, buy X get Y, a free gift, delivery, the COD fee, GST and the round off. A code that does not apply says why ("The order is below this code's minimum", "Not for this PIN code"). When you press CREATE ORDER, the order is placed through the same steps as a shopper's order, so the stock is taken, the offer's use is counted, the invoice is made and your order alerts go out.
Staff Discount
ADD DISCOUNT gives a percentage or an amount off the items, with a Name on the Invoice (it starts as "Staff discount"; "Loyal customer" works too). It is capped by your store's Largest staff discount, 20% of the items' price unless you change it. GST is worked out on the price after the discount, and the invoice shows it by its name. It never appears among your discount codes.
Two Ways to Pay
- Cash on Delivery. The order is confirmed at once and the courier collects the cash. Your store's own COD rules still apply and the draft says when one stops it: COD switched off, a PIN code without COD, a delivery option without it, or an order above your COD limit. The person taking the order vouches for the phone number, so the shopper is not asked for a COD code, and no part-payment advance is asked.
- Payment Link. The order is made and waits for payment, its stock held. Mercayo asks your own Razorpay account for a payment link of exactly the total. Share it with COPY, WHATSAPP (opens WhatsApp on your phone or computer with the link and your store's words, ready to send to the customer's number) or EMAIL (Mercayo sends your store's payment link email). The order page shows the link as WAITING, PAID, EXPIRED or CLOSED, and when and how it was shared.
Editing an Order
EDIT ORDER on an order that has not shipped opens it as a draft: change the items, the address or the delivery, and the What Changes card shows the order now, what was paid online, the new total and what happens to the difference. SAVE CHANGES cancels the old order and places the edited one under a new order number in one step, the two orders linked by a banner on each page. The money follows:
- New total lower: the difference goes back to the shopper as a refund, the way they paid.
- New total higher: a payment link asks for the balance, or for a cash on delivery order the courier collects the extra.
- The same: nothing more to pay or refund.
Resend and Bulk Steps
RESEND EMAIL on an order sends any email the shopper already got for it (confirmation, updated, shipped, delivered, cancelled, returned) again, with the same words and figures, to the order's address or another one. In the orders list, choose up to 100 orders to ADD NOTE (one note on each order's timeline, optionally shown to the shopper on their order page) or CANCEL ORDERS with one reason; orders already shipped, cancelled or with a courier label are left out and named.
For your store
Why It Matters
In India a large share of orders never start on a website. A regular customer messages on WhatsApp, an aunt calls for a gift, someone visits your stall at a fair. Without a way to put those orders into the store, they live in a notebook or a chat: no invoice, no stock taken, no tracking link, and no record when the shopper asks "where is my parcel?" a week later.
A draft turns that conversation into a proper order in a couple of minutes:
- One set of books. The order gets its number, its GST invoice and its place in your reports, next to the website's orders.
- The right price, every time. The same engine prices it as your checkout, so a phone order never gets a different total from the one the website would give, unless you choose a staff discount, which is capped and named on the invoice.
- Paid before you pack. A payment link means the shopper pays by UPI, card or netbanking on Razorpay's page, and the order confirms itself when Razorpay says it is paid. Nobody has to check a screenshot of a UPI payment.
- Stock that stays right. A link order holds its stock while the link is open and gives it back if it is never paid.
Editing matters for the same reason. Shoppers change their minds: a different size, one more piece, a new address. An edit that keeps the books straight (the old invoice credited, a new one for what you will actually ship, the refund or balance worked out for you) is far better than cancelling and asking the shopper to order again.
Step by step
How It Works
Start a Draft
Press CREATE ORDER on the Orders or Drafts screen. A new draft opens with its own number, such as #D12.
Add the Items
Search by name or SKU and add each item with its quantity. The stock left shows beside each; an item that has gone out of stock or off sale is marked so you can remove it.
Add the Customer and Address
Find the customer by name, phone or email, or type a new phone number. Fill in the address; once the PIN code is in, the delivery options for it appear.
Choose Delivery, Payment and Any Discount
Pick the delivery option, then Cash on Delivery or Payment Link. Add a code your store already has, or a staff discount with its name for the invoice. The Payment Summary updates as you go.
Create the Order
Press CREATE ORDER and confirm. A cash on delivery order is confirmed at once. A link order waits for payment, and its link is ready to share.
Share the Payment Link
Use COPY, WHATSAPP or EMAIL. When Razorpay tells Mercayo the link is paid, the order confirms itself, exactly like a paid checkout order.
Edit It If Plans Change
Before the order ships, EDIT ORDER lets you change items, address or delivery. Check What Changes, then SAVE CHANGES: the edited order gets a new number and the shopper gets one "Order updated" email.
Your shoppers
What Your Shoppers See
A shopper who pays by link gets your store's email (or your WhatsApp message) with a PAY button. It opens Razorpay's page for exactly the order's total, where they pay by UPI, a card or netbanking, then come back to your store's page, which says the order is paid and links to its tracking. The email says how long the link works. After that, the usual order emails and tracking page follow, as for any order. When an order is edited they get one "Order updated: now #N" email naming the new number and any refund or balance.
Settings
Settings You Control
Each one is in your admin. A new store starts with the value shown.
Mercayo
Mercayo's Controls
Mercayo can set any of the four settings for a store from its console, and Mercayo's value then wins over the store's. A payment link is made in the store's own Razorpay account, so the money goes to the store, never through Mercayo. A link is believed paid only when Razorpay's signed notice or Razorpay's signed return says so. Drafts, links and edited-order records are kept apart for each store by the database itself.
Limits today
Good to Know Before You Start
- Payment links need online payments, which means your own Razorpay account connected.
- A draft cannot be created as paid outside Mercayo (UPI to your own ID, a bank transfer); a COD order paid another way is marked with MARK PAID on the orders list or its page.
- A draft cannot carry a gift message or gift wrap; an edit keeps the old order's message and GSTIN.
- Orders with gift wrap, personalised items, a refund, a return or exchange, or paid partly with store credit or a gift card cannot be edited.
- The tracking page of an edited order does not point to its new number; the email does.
- The payment link email and RESEND EMAIL each send at most five times an hour for an order.
Questions
About Draft Orders
Does Mercayo send the WhatsApp message for me?
No. WHATSAPP opens WhatsApp on your own phone or computer with the customer's number, the link and your store's words ready, and you press send. Your store's words are editable in Localization.
Is stock held while I am still building the draft?
No. A draft is like a bag: it holds nothing until you press CREATE ORDER. From then on a link order holds its stock until it is paid, or until the link's hours run out and the order is cancelled.
Can the shopper pay part of the amount?
No. A link asks for exactly the order's total, or for an edited order's balance.
Does a phone order get a GST invoice?
Yes, like any order: a cash on delivery order when it is confirmed, a link order when it is paid. A staff discount shows on the invoice by its name.
Why does an edited order get a new number?
An issued GST invoice must never change, and an order has one invoice. So the old order is cancelled and its invoice credited in full, and the edited order gets a new invoice for what you will ship. Both orders link to each other.
Can I edit a shipped order?
No. Editing is possible until the order has a courier label or has been handed to a courier.
Who on my team can make drafts?
Anyone whose role can change orders. Roles that can only see orders can read drafts but not make them.
Does a cash on delivery draft count against my COD limit?
Yes. Your store's COD rules apply as for a shopper's order, and the draft says which rule stops COD when one does.
Related
Related Features
- OrdersStatus tabs, saved views your team shares, search by number, phone or name, a money summary, bulk actions, and an order page with one clear next step.
- Online PaymentsShoppers pay by UPI, card, net banking or wallet through your own Razorpay account; Mercayo confirms every payment on its server and never holds your money.
- RazorpayPaste your Razorpay keys, test with test keys first, and Mercayo sets up the webhook secret; the money goes straight to your account.
- GST InvoicesEvery order gets the right GST document, a tax invoice or a bill of supply, numbered without gaps per financial year, as a PDF for you and your shopper.
- Cash on DeliveryOffer cash on delivery with your own fee, a limit on the cash a courier collects, and the PIN codes and delivery options where it is not offered.
More in Admin on Your Phone: Orders · Products · Inventory · Import and Export · Collections and Categories · Order Alerts · Customers · Admin on Your Phone · Search and Command Palette · Setup Guide and Launch · Sample Data · Contact Inbox · Notification Credits · Plans and Billing · Catalogue Tools · Media Library · Locations, Barcodes and Stock Counts · Installable Admin
Try It on Your Own Store
Every feature is in every plan, free for 14 days.