What happens to each order, the order numbers you'll see, and how to change, cancel or refund an order.
What happens to an order
- It arrives from the retailer’s store, an emailed PO, the order page or a CSV.
- It’s checked: SKUs, stock, the ship-to address and regions you don’t ship to. If something needs a person, the order is held for you and nothing is charged.
- The retailer pays: their card is charged, or the order goes on their monthly invoice if they’re on net terms.
- It’s created in your Shopify store with the customer’s address and the retailer’s name on the packing slip.
- You ship it. Tracking goes back to the retailer on its own.
Every step is listed in the order’s History, with who did what.
The order numbers
Each order page shows three numbers:
- Retailer’s PO: the number the retailer uses. Use it when you talk to them.
- Their store’s order: the order number in the retailer’s own store, which their customer sees.
- Your store’s order: the order VendorDesk created in your Shopify store. This is the one you fulfill.
Find orders
Use the tabs (All, Needs you, Open, Shipped, Cancelled) and the filters for retailer, status, how it arrived, and dates. Choose Columns to pick what the table shows. Your choice is saved for you only.
Export downloads the filtered orders as a CSV, one row per order or one row per item.
Change an order
Before an order is paid or created in your store, open it and choose Change this order. You can change quantities (0 removes an item), add items by SKU, and fix the ship-to address. The order is checked and priced again, and nothing is charged until it passes.
Once the order is in your store, change it in Shopify. Shipments and tracking still come back to VendorDesk.
Cancel an order
Open the order, give a reason and choose Cancel order. This also cancels it in your store.
If the retailer paid by card through Stripe, tick Refund to the retailer’s card and the refund is made straight away. For other payments, refund them in your payment provider.
If the retailer’s customer cancels in the retailer’s store, the order is cancelled in VendorDesk too, unless it has already shipped.
After an order ships it can’t be cancelled. Returns are between you and the retailer.
Packing slips
Each order has a packing slip in the retailer’s name, with the note you set in Program settings. Open it from the order page and print.
Last updated October 15, 2026