When a customer completes a purchase, an order is created in your CartOS admin. From there, you can view order details, process fulfillment, print shipping labels, issue refunds, and communicate with customers—all from one place.
Viewing your orders
To access your orders, go to Orders in your admin dashboard. You'll see a list of all orders with the most recent at the top. Each row shows the order number, customer name, date, payment status, fulfillment status, and total.
Use the search bar to find orders by order number, customer name, or email address. You can also filter orders by status, date range, or fulfillment state to narrow down what you're looking for.
Order statuses
Orders have two key statuses that help you track where things stand:
Payment status indicates whether the order has been paid. Common statuses include Paid, Pending, Partially Refunded, and Refunded.
Fulfillment status tracks whether the order has been shipped. Orders start as Unfulfilled, move to Partially Fulfilled if some items have shipped, and become Fulfilled once everything is on its way.
Viewing order details
Click any order to open its detail page. Here you'll find everything about the order: items purchased, quantities, prices, customer contact information, shipping address, billing address, payment method, and a timeline of all activity on the order.
The order detail page is also where you'll take action—fulfilling items, printing packing slips, issuing refunds, or adding internal notes.
Fulfilling orders
Fulfillment is the process of picking, packing, and shipping the items in an order. CartOS gives you two ways to handle this: manual fulfillment or using the Fulfillment Bolt for integrated shipping.
Manual fulfillment
For manual fulfillment, click Fulfill Items on the order detail page. Select the items you're shipping, enter a tracking number if you have one, and choose the carrier. Click Fulfill to mark those items as shipped. The customer will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking information.
Using the Fulfillment Bolt
The Fulfillment Bolt streamlines shipping by letting you purchase and print shipping labels directly from your order page. It connects to major carriers through EasyPost, giving you access to discounted rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and more.
To get started, install the Fulfillment Bolt from Bolts in your admin and connect your EasyPost account. You can also connect your own carrier accounts if you have negotiated rates.
Generating shipping labels
Once the Fulfillment Bolt is installed, you'll see a Create Shipping Label button on unfulfilled orders. Click it to open the shipping panel, which displays available rates from all connected carriers based on the package weight, dimensions, and destination.
Select the service you want, confirm the shipping details, and click Purchase Label. The label is generated instantly—print it directly or download the PDF. The order is automatically marked as fulfilled and the customer receives tracking information.
Setting package defaults
In the Fulfillment Bolt settings, you can configure default package dimensions and weights. This saves time when creating labels since you won't need to enter this information for every order. You can always override the defaults on individual orders when needed.
Partial fulfillment
Sometimes you can't ship everything at once—maybe an item is backordered or you're shipping from multiple locations. CartOS handles this with partial fulfillment.
When fulfilling an order, select only the items you're ready to ship. The order status will update to Partially Fulfilled. Come back later to fulfill the remaining items, and the customer will receive a separate tracking notification for each shipment.
Refunds and cancellations
To refund an order, open the order detail page and click Refund. You can refund the full amount or issue a partial refund for specific items. Choose whether to restock the items and add a reason for your records. The refund is processed through the original payment method.
To cancel an unfulfilled order, click Cancel Order. You'll be prompted to refund any payments and restock items. Cancelled orders remain in your order history for reference.
Order notes and timeline
Every order has a timeline showing its complete history—when it was placed, when payment was captured, when items were fulfilled, and any other activity. You can add internal notes to orders that are only visible to your team, useful for tracking special requests or issues.
Printing packing slips
Click Print Packing Slip on any order to generate a printable document listing the items in the order. Include these in your packages to help customers verify their order contents. You can customize the packing slip template in Settings › Documents.