Sales orders track what your customers are buying. You can create an order, add line items, choose lots for fulfillment, send an invoice, and accept payment from the customer order page.
How to Get There
Go to Sell > Sales Orders in the sidebar. You can also create orders from the home page using the Invoice Customer quick action button, or from a customer record.
Creating a New Order
- Click + New or use the Invoice Customer button on the home page.
- Select a customer — Choose an existing active customer from your customer list. If the customer is not there yet, type the name and choose Create customer from the picker.
- Click Continue. Peasy creates the order and opens it inside that customer's page.
- Add line items — Select products from your catalog, enter quantities and prices.
- Review the total. Most fields save automatically as you work.
If the sale belongs to a sales outlet such as a farmers market, storefront, or POS, use the optional Channel field in the new-order modal. Channel tags the order for reporting by outlet; it does not replace the customer on the order. If the channel is not there yet, type the name and choose Create channel from the picker.
For a channel-level sale with no separate customer, open the Channel from Sell > Channels and create the order there. Peasy uses that Channel as the buyer and keeps the order in the Channel's order history.
Tip: Need to apply a discount or credit? Add a line with a negative unit price (e.g. -$10.00). The negative line reduces the order subtotal.
Order Statuses
A sales order shows three independent things:
Order status — where the order is in its lifecycle:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared — not yet finalized |
| Open | Finalized and active |
| Cancelled | Order was cancelled — its stock was released |
Fulfillment — how much of the order has shipped. Peasy derives this automatically from the order's shipments, so it keeps itself up to date as you ship. There is no "Fulfilled" status to set by hand — you fulfill by recording shipments.
| Fulfillment | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unfulfilled | Nothing shipped yet |
| Partially fulfilled | Some, but not all, items have shipped |
| Fulfilled | Every item has shipped |
Payment status (tracked separately on the invoice):
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unpaid | No payment yet |
| Partially Paid | Some payment in |
| Paid | Fully paid |
| Overpaid | Excess collected |
Activate or cancel an order from its row menu (or the order header); fulfillment updates on its own as you record shipments.
Fulfilling the Order
A sales order is a promise — creating it commits stock but doesn't deduct inventory. Inventory moves only when you fulfill the order by recording a shipment:
- Ship it all at once — Choose Fulfill remaining on the order's clickable Status chip (on the Sales Orders list, the slide-out panel, or the order detail), and Peasy creates one shipment for everything not yet shipped, dated from the order's Order Date. The order's fulfillment then shows Fulfilled.
- Ship part of it — Open the order's Fulfill tab and click + Fulfill to ship specific quantities, pick the lot for each line, and add a ship date, carrier, and tracking number. The order shows Partially fulfilled until everything has shipped.
For the full walkthrough — partial shipments, over-shipping, editing or cancelling a shipment, and invoicing a single shipment — see Fulfilling and Shipping Orders.
Invoices
Invoices are created from the order's Invoice tab:
- Open the order from Sell > Sales Orders or from the customer page.
- Go to the Invoice tab and click Send.
- Choose which not-yet-invoiced line items to include, review the recipient and message, and send. Peasy creates the invoice and emails it in one step — one order can have multiple invoices.
Once an order has an issued invoice but still has items you haven't billed, the Invoice tab shows Update invoice so you can invoice the rest.
Invoices for each order are managed on the Sell > Invoices page — see Managing Invoices.
Editing Orders
Click on any order to open it. The detail is organized into three tabs — Order, Fulfill, and Invoice — that follow the order's lifecycle. From there you can:
- Add or remove line items
- Change quantities and prices
- Activate, cancel, or delete the order from the order header's ⋮ (Order options) menu
- Change the Channel reporting tag from the order detail panel
- Add notes
- Delete the order if it was created by mistake
Most fields save automatically.
The order URL includes the customer context, so shared links open back to the same customer order page.
The Order Date
Each sales order has an Order Date — the day the order was placed (its "order placed date"). It shows as the Order Date column on the Orders table and in the order detail panel, and it defaults to the day you create the order. Peasy shows the earlier of the day you created the order and any date you set, so a future date never reads as the placed date.
This date no longer deducts inventory on its own — inventory leaves stock when you record a shipment, dated by that shipment's ship date. The Order Date does two things:
- Seeds the ship date when you fulfill in one click. Marking an order Fulfilled creates a shipment whose ship date starts from the Order Date. So if you backdate the order before fulfilling it, the inventory deducts as of that earlier day — handy when you're entering an order after the fact and want it to land relative to a physical count you've already taken.
- Dates the order for the Orders table, date filters, and reorder timing.
Once a shipment exists, its ship date is what counts the sale against your on-hand — change it on the shipment itself in the Shipments section, not here. If you set a shipment's ship date in the future, those items won't come out of stock until that day arrives. For the full picture of how ship dates interact with counts, see Dating Inventory Movements.
The Order Date is the day the order was placed — it is not a fulfillment date. Fulfillment is dated by the shipment's ship date, which the Order Date only seeds for the one-click fulfill. (You may have seen this field briefly labeled "Fulfillment Date" in an earlier version.)
Showing Description and Lot ID Fields
The items section has a gear icon next to the card/row layout toggle. Click it to open Line fields, then turn on:
- Description — Shows a description field on every order line.
- Lot ID — Shows the lot picker on every order line.
These settings are saved for your company, so the same fields appear the next time you or a teammate opens the sales-order items section.
If you leave a field hidden, you can still use it from the line's hover actions or ⋮ menu when that line needs extra detail.
Choosing the Ship From Location
If your business has more than one location, each sales order has a Ship from field that picks the location the order ships from. The field appears in the order details panel above Tracking.
Peasy fills it in for you when the order is created:
- If the customer has a default ship-from location, the order uses that.
- Otherwise the order falls back to your entity's default location.
You can change the location on any order at any time — just click the field and pick a new one. The change saves automatically. Businesses with a single location won't see this field.
Picking Lots for Order Lines
If an item is lot-tracked, use the Lot cell on the order line to choose which batch should ship. Click the cell and pick from the dropdown. Regular sales orders use manual lot selection; Shopify orders can use automatic FIFO when that Shopify setting is enabled.
Adding Samples to Orders
You can add sample products directly to a sales order for tracking purposes. Samples are free line items that deduct inventory but don't affect the order total — perfect for tracking what you've sent to prospects without creating revenue.
Add a Sample Item
- Open the order on the customer page.
- Click Add Sample in the products section.
- Select the product you're sending as a sample.
- Optionally create a tracking thread in Tasks & Notes to follow up on the sample.
The sample appears on the order with a sample badge. Inventory is deducted when the sample ships (it goes out on the order's shipment like any other line), but the line item shows $0.
Mark an Existing Line Item as a Sample
If you've already added an item to an order and want to mark it as a sample:
- Click the ⋮ menu (three dots) on the line item row.
- Select Mark as Sample.
- A sample badge appears on the row. If the sample should be free, set the line's unit price to $0.
To remove the sample designation, click the ⋮ menu again and select Remove Sample.
Sample Badges and Tracking
Sample line items display a flask icon badge. Clicking the badge shows:
- Which tracking thread is linked (if you created one)
- Quick navigation to the thread to log follow-ups
Samples reduce your inventory just like regular sales, but they don't create revenue — so your reports stay accurate.
Uploading Order Documents
You can upload order documents (like customer POs or signed quotes) directly to an order using the upload button. Peasy processes PDFs and images and helps extract the details.
CSV, TSV, XLS, and XLSX files do not attach to a sales order — they always go through Data Imports so the column mapping can be saved and reused. Drop a spreadsheet on the Sales Orders upload area (or paste tabular text) and Peasy hands it off to the Data Imports wizard inside the same flow. Map the columns once, finalize, and the staged orders land in your Inbox for review. See Reusable Spreadsheet Data Imports.
QuickBooks Sync
If you've connected QuickBooks, you can sync invoices:
- Use the Sync to QuickBooks option from the invoice detail panel
- Keep your accounting records up to date automatically
Sample lines sync like other invoice lines. If an invoice includes a sample item with a $0 price, QuickBooks receives an invoice line for the mapped product or service with the quantity, Unit price of $0, and Amount of $0. If the sample's item is not linked to QuickBooks yet, the sync check asks you to link or create that QuickBooks item before sending the invoice.
Filtering Orders
- Status filter — Show only draft, open, paid, etc.
- Customer filter — See orders from a specific customer
- Date range — Filter by Order Date (the order's placed date)
- Quick filter — "New" shows recently created orders
If you use the same filters or table columns often, click Save View to save that setup. Saved view chips appear next to the built-in order filters at the top of the page.
Common Questions
What's the difference between a sales order and an invoice? A sales order tracks the full lifecycle of a customer order. An invoice is the payment request generated from that order. In Peasy, invoices are separate entities — one order can have multiple invoices. Manage invoices on the Sell > Invoices page.
Can I edit an order after it's been fulfilled? You can still edit pricing, add notes, or upload documents on a fulfilled order. However, changing line items or quantities after fulfillment may affect your inventory records, so it's best to make corrections before marking items as shipped.
Does Peasy support backorders? Yes. If you create a sales order for more than you have in stock, Peasy lets you proceed — it doesn't block the order. Other systems call this unshipped order demand a backorder; Peasy shows it as Unfulfilled demand, and the shortfall shows up as a red On-hand count. You'll see the stock status on the order, and you can ship it once inventory is available. You can also ship what you have now in one shipment and the rest in a later shipment — see Fulfilling and Shipping Orders.
How does sales order numbering work? Peasy auto-generates sequential order numbers (SO-0001, SO-0002, etc.). You can also add a customer PO number as a reference if your buyer provides one.
Can I add a new customer while creating an order? Yes. From Sell > Sales Orders > New Order and the home page Invoice Customer shortcut, type the new name in the customer picker and choose Create customer. Peasy creates and selects the customer, then you can continue into the order. The optional Channel picker works the same way for new channels.
Good to Know
- Orders are linked to inventory — when an order is created, the items are "pending" against your available inventory. See Understanding Availability.
- The red badge on Orders shows new, unreviewed orders (typically from incoming emails or Shopify).
- You can create orders from uploaded documents — PDF purchase orders from customers are processed automatically.
- An order has three separate invoicing-related states, and it helps to keep them apart:
- Invoice Status — the lifecycle of invoice documents on the order: Draft, Issued, or Canceled. The Orders list also includes Partially invoiced in this filter when issued invoices cover only part of the order's quantity.
- Payment Status — whether an invoice has been paid: Unpaid, Partially Paid, Paid, or Overpaid.
- Billing Status — the issued-invoice quantity coverage: Uninvoiced, Partially invoiced, or Invoiced. Peasy uses this behind the scenes for reporting and invoicing recommendations.
Related
- Managing Customers — Your customer list
- Fulfilling and Shipping Orders — Record shipments to fulfill an order
- Managing Your Catalog — Products and pricing
- Managing Invoices — View, send, and track all invoices
- Saving Views for Orders and Invoices — Save table filters and columns you use often
- Storefront — Let customers place orders directly
- Payments Overview — Accepting payments
- Dating Inventory Movements — How a shipment's ship date controls when inventory deducts