Similar Orders
Similar Orders: Check Before You Ship
Two orders can come from the same home with a different mobile and a different email. A person spots the same address at once; a busy packing table does not. Mercayo compares every new order with your recent orders and flags it when anything matches, so you look before the parcel leaves.
- No fee on your orders, on 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
Every new order is compared with your store's orders placed within your time window before it: the same day, the last 3, 7 (to start with), 15 or 30 days, or your own number of days. Any one match flags it:
| Match | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Same address | The same house and street at the same PIN code, however it is typed |
| Close address | A similar full address at the same PIN code, typed differently, where the house and flat numbers agree |
| Same mobile | The same mobile number, however it is typed |
| Same email | The same email; capitals, a +tag and the dots of a Gmail address do not count |
| Same name, same PIN | The same full name, in any order, delivered to the same PIN code |
| Same account | The same customer account, and the mobile and email on it |
| Same browser | The same browser on your store (a cookie of your store only) |
| Linked by other orders | Linked through the buyer's other orders, the same way Mercayo recognises one buyer for Blocked Buyers |
Cancelled, returned (RTO), refunded and unpaid orders never count, and an order's own edit is left out. You choose which earlier orders count: those not yet shipped and those on their way (to start with), and delivered ones if you want; and whether every new order is checked or only cash on delivery ones. Your settings read back as one plain sentence: "Flag a new order when the same buyer or family ordered in the last 7 days and that order is not cancelled, returned or delivered." Only your store's orders are ever compared. Neighbours are not flagged: "12 MG Road" and "14 MG Road" have different house numbers.
Flags That Clear Themselves
When the other order is cancelled, returned or refunded (or delivered, while delivered orders do not count), the flag clears by itself: the chip and the tag go, and the order's history says "Similar Order cleared: #KO-1021 was cancelled". A flag you have already marked checked stays checked.
Where It Shows
A flagged order carries an amber Similar Order chip on the Orders list (your own word if you choose one), and the word joins its tags. A Similar Orders filter with its count shows only the flagged orders not yet sent. The order page has one slim Similar Orders strip ("1 similar order | Close address") with MARK CHECKED on it; a tap opens each matched order with its date, name, city, stage, amount and the reasons in plain words, each a link. The bell names a new flagged order, and the Mercayo Admin App shows the chip and the same strip on the phone, its details in a sheet.
Checked, With a Record
MARK CHECKED on the strip (or for many orders at once from the list) closes the flag, says who checked it and when, writes it in the order's history and the activity log, and takes the word off the tags. UNDO puts it back. A checked order is flagged again only when a new matching order arrives.
Hold the Label If You Want
With Hold Labels Until Checked on, GENERATE LABELS (on the order, in bulk, in a shipping job, in the phone app) leaves a flagged order out with the reason "MARK CHECKED first"; the rest of the run goes ahead.
For your store
Why It Matters
Cash on delivery makes a second order cheap to place and expensive to send. A buyer who tries again with a new number, two family members ordering the same gift, or one person testing your COD each turn into two parcels to one door, and often one of them comes back as RTO: the trip out, the trip back and the stock held for days.
Nobody has time to compare every new order's address with last week's by eye. Similar Orders does it as the order arrives and puts one short word on the order, so the check happens in the one place it matters: before you print the label. Nothing is cancelled or refused on its own; you look, decide and mark it checked.
It uses the same buyer signals as Blocked Buyers and Order Limits, inside your store only, and never tells the buyer anything.
Step by step
How It Works
Choose What Counts
In Settings → COD and Order Limits → Similar Orders, every match kind is on to start with. Switch off what does not suit your store: for example Same Delivery Address where families or offices share addresses. Choose the Time Window, which earlier orders count and whether only cash on delivery orders are flagged; the sentence at the top of the card says your rule as you change it. The match kinds and Close Address Strictness are under Match Details.
See the Flagged Orders
On Orders, a flagged order carries the amber Similar Order chip. Press the Similar Orders chip beside the filters to see only the flagged orders not yet sent. The bell names each new one.
Compare on the Order Page
Open the order and press its Similar Orders strip: it opens each matched order with its date, name, city, stage, amount and why it matched. Open them, compare, call the buyer if it is unclear, and cancel the one that is a mistake (the other order's flag then clears by itself).
Mark It Checked
Press MARK CHECKED on the strip, or select many orders on the list and press MARK CHECKED in the bar. The word comes off the tags, the history records who and when, and UNDO puts it back.
Hold Labels Until Checked
To be sure nothing flagged is sent unchecked, switch on Hold Labels Until Checked. GENERATE LABELS then leaves a flagged order out with the reason, until someone marks it checked.
Settings
Settings You Control
All are under Settings → COD and Order Limits → Similar Orders.
Mercayo
Mercayo's Controls
Every setting here can be set or limited by Mercayo for one store, like any other setting, with a reason your admin shows: for example a longer time window for a store with many repeat RTOs, or the hold switched on. Each change is in Mercayo's audit log. Orders are compared only within your store; another store's orders are never part of a match.
Limits today
Good to Know Before You Start
- It flags, it never cancels or refuses an order: you decide what to do.
- Orders placed before the feature reached your store are not flagged by themselves; a new order is still compared with them.
- A close address needs the same PIN code: the same house typed with a wrong PIN code is matched only by another signal.
- A buyer with a new mobile, a new email, a new address, a new name and a new browser is a new buyer.
- A repeat customer within your time window is flagged by their mobile; choose a shorter window or switch Same Mobile Number off if you only want address matches.
- A change of the settings applies to the orders after it; flags already there are looked at again only when one of their orders moves (cancelled, returned, shipped, delivered).
Questions
About Similar Orders
Does it cancel or hold the order?
No. It only flags the order. With Hold Labels Until Checked on, only its label waits until someone marks it checked.
A family shares one address and orders often. Can I stop the flags?
Switch off Same Delivery Address and Close Delivery Address. Their orders are then flagged only by the other matches, such as the same mobile or the same name at the PIN code.
Are neighbours flagged?
No. A close address needs the house and flat numbers to agree, so 12 MG Road and 14 MG Road, or flat 302 and flat 303, never match by address.
My repeat customers are flagged by their mobile. Is that right?
Yes. A second order soon after the first is worth a look before you send it. Mark it checked, choose a shorter time window (such as the same day), or switch Same Mobile Number off.
The other order was cancelled. Does the flag stay?
No. When the other order is cancelled, returned or refunded, the flag clears by itself and the order's history says why. A flag you already marked checked stays checked.
Does the buyer see anything?
No. There is no message, no question at checkout and no change to their order page.
Can I rename Similar Order?
Yes. Word on the Order takes any short word, such as Check First or Same Buyer, and the chip, filter and bell show it.
Related
Related Features
- Buyer Limits and BlocksRecognise the same buyer by mobile, email, account, address and browser; limit how often they order, or block them from COD or from ordering at all.
- RTO ShieldEvery cash on delivery order gets a 0-100 risk score with plain reasons, and your store chooses what happens to risky ones: a call, a code or part payment.
- 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.
- Mercayo Admin AppA light phone app for today's sales, orders, COD calls, shipping, stock and messages, with alerts that sound like a till and edits that wait for the network.
More in Cash on Delivery: Cash on Delivery | COD Confirmation Code | Part Payment for COD | COD Confirmation Call | Order Clean-Up | RTO Shield | Buyer Limits and Blocks
