LL - Editing an order in pre-fulfillment status
A pre-fulfillment order edit is defined as an order that needs to have the contents changed while it is in the pre-fulfillment stage (it is either in ShipStation or has not reached a point in the warehouse system where it is too late to be changed).
First, it is important to be aware that order confirms are sent to the customer based on what the original order was. So if we edit an order that is pending shipment (waiting to be fulfilled) we need to be aware of the 2 things listed below. More importantly, even though we may edit the contents of the order prior to shipping, shipping confirms also currently show the original contents of the order (don’t reflect the changes).
Therefore:
#1 the order confirmation already went out showing the items that were originally ordered
#2 The shipping confirmation will also show those same items.
This may be confusing to a customer even though they asked to edit the shipment.
And that confusing information can potentially lead them to file a dispute/ chargeback.
Due to this, when you are handling an “order edit” request your follow-up email to the customer should very clearly describe that their original order was for ABC and per their request, you’ve changed it to XYZ and that “the shipping confirmation might still mention the original order”, this way, we’ve set the correct expectation and that line can be very helpful when we try to counter chargebacks.
Include this in your email:
“Per your request, I’ve changed your order (order id 12345) from 6 bottles of CeraLift to only 3 bottles of Ceralift and I’ve refunded you the difference. Additionally, please know that your order should ship soon and the shipping confirmation might still mention the original contents you ordered. However, rest assured that I’ve made the changes you asked for and you’ll only be receiving 3 bottles”.....
- Please add this to your saved replies sending a follow-up confirmation that an order has been changed during the pre-fulfillment phase.
- The good news about shipping confirmations - they will soon be moved to Shipstation and will reflect the actual contents of the order that is shipped - which is good for many reasons.
The above rules apply to orders of individual products (NOT pre-made bundles). Like 3 bottles of CeraLift, or 6 bottles of FloraThin, etc.
A "bundle" is a group of individual products that are processed and packaged together like our Beauty Box, Immunity Kit, or Youth Packages.
Editing BUNDLE orders - (we cannot edit a bundle order once it has been processed).
When a customer requests to edit a bundle order (beauty box, immunity kit, youth package) - we will no longer be able to edit the order after it processes.
- What the agent should do is cancel/refund the order the customer wants to change.
- Build a new customized order with the correct contents and price.
- If it is a subscription, cancel the subscription and rebuild it so that all future orders process correctly with no editing.