Orders

Orders record the customer, products, quantities, date and payment method. They can also record cylinders to collect.

Where to find them

Open Orders. Search by customer name, order number, invoice number or product, and filter by date, status, payment and fulfilment type. With a WooCommerce or Shopify shop connected, Filters also has Shop, to show one shop’s orders. Search covers all matching orders, including those on other pages. Open an order to see its details or make changes.

The Delivery stage column shows what is happening operationally, rather than leaving every open order marked only as placed:

• Waiting to plan means the delivery is not on a round yet.
• Planned for shows the round date. The driver and vehicle appear underneath when assigned.
• Out for delivery means the round has left. Its date, driver and vehicle appear underneath.
• Collections, completed orders and cancelled orders are labelled separately.

Select a planned or out-for-delivery stage to open that round. Use the Delivery stage filter to show only waiting, planned or out-for-delivery orders. Choosing one of these stages automatically limits the list to deliveries; choosing collections clears the delivery-stage filter.

Cancelled orders are hidden by default. Untick Hide cancelled orders, or choose Cancelled under Status, to see them. Clear filters returns to the usual view with cancelled orders hidden.

Use Hide refunded orders to leave those out of the list too. Refunded includes partial shop refunds and refunds recorded in Bottle. The number of orders and pages updates to match.

Select a customer’s name to open their customer record. One-off orders without a linked customer show a name without a link.

Click the order number to open the full order in a window. Product and collection details appear on a quieter line beneath the customer. Each row has a More options (three dots) menu for the customer, tracking page, invoice where available, and the order’s own page. Open shows the full order in a wide window: products, quantities, prices, totals, returns, payment and delivery details. There is no extra summary to click through. Close it to return to your place in the list.

Creating an order

Select New order, search for a customer and choose their address. Add a new customer if needed.

Select products and quantities. Each line is priced the way the order will be: the customer’s own agreed price, then their price list’s price, then the Trade or Consumer price, with any quantity prices, as set out in Who pays what. Under the price, the line says where it came from, such as Agreed rate, Price list, Quantity price, Trade price or Consumer price.

Prices for starts from the selected customer’s type: Trade for a trade customer and Consumer for a consumer. Change it when this particular order needs the other catalogue price. The change applies to this order only and does not alter the customer record. A customer’s own agreed rates and assigned price list still come first.

Prices on an order

If your business is VAT registered, use Prices entered as to choose how prices work on this order:

• Including VAT: enter the final amount the customer pays. For example, £60.00 stays £60.00. Bottle works out that £10.00 VAT is already included and does not add it again.
• Excluding VAT: enter the price before VAT. For example, £50.00 becomes £60.00 at 20% VAT. The form shows the VAT and final total before you save.

The dropdown starts with the preference under Business settings → Your business → How you enter prices, but you can change it for each new order. Saved agreed rates, price-list prices, quantity prices, cylinder charges and delivery charges are converted into the order’s selected basis, so the figures on screen match the order, invoice and accounting record.

Where a quantity price applies to a line, the line shows the working, such as “10 × £30.00 = £300.00”. Quantities are counted across the order, so two lines of the same product count together and reach a quantity price together.

To charge something else, type a price on the line. It says Typed, and that price is used for the whole line in the VAT basis selected above it.

Check the date, payment method and driver notes before saving.

Surcharges

Owners and admins can set an order surcharge under Business settings → Surcharges. Give it the wording to show on the invoice, enter the amount and choose whether that amount includes or excludes VAT.

Choose who pays it:

• Add to everyone adds it for every customer.
• Add to chosen customers adds it only for the customers you choose.
• Add to everyone except excluded customers adds it unless you have excluded the customer.
• Add by hand on each order never adds it on its own.

Under Who pays it, select Add customers or Exclude customers. Type a name, which does not need to be exact, and press Enter to add the first match. Search for the next and keep going, then confirm the list. The customers on the list are in a table below, where you can filter them and remove one. You can also choose or exclude a customer on their record, or tick several in Customers and use Set business surcharge. Bottle Shop guests are treated as everyone else: they pay under Add to everyone and Add to everyone except excluded customers, and do not under the other two.

While a surcharge is switched on, staff can add it to any order or remove it, whatever these rules say. This works when taking the order, and on an order that has not been billed, paid or delivered. If no item matches the rule below, it is added once.

Then choose when it applies:

• Every order applies when the order contains a product.
• Orders containing any cylinder leaves accessories-only orders alone.
• Selected cylinder types applies only to the gas types you choose, such as Flogas Propane, Oxygen or Beer Gas.
• Selected products applies only to the individual products you choose.

Then choose whether to add the amount once per matching order or for each matching item. For example, a £2 surcharge for each matching cylinder adds £6 to an order containing three of those cylinders. Deposits and rent are not counted as cylinders.

The surcharge appears below the products with its quantity, VAT and final amount. Select Remove to leave it off an order taken in Bottle; you can add it back before saving. If you change the products or quantities before the order is completed, Bottle recalculates a per-item surcharge using the rule copied onto that order. Changing the business setting, or a customer’s surcharge choice, later does not rewrite orders already taken. To add the surcharge to one of those, open the order and press Add surcharge below the items.

The same matching rule is used in Bottle Shop baskets. Shop customers cannot remove the charge at checkout. Orders imported from WooCommerce or Shopify are not given Bottle’s surcharge: they keep any fee actually charged by that shop instead.

Review cylinder charges before saving

Cylinder charges shows any charge for additional cylinders being supplied without an empty in exchange. Bottle works out a suggestion from the cylinders going out minus the empties expected back. It uses the customer’s agreed rates, price list, Trade or Consumer prices and cylinder-charge settings.

Check the charge before saving. Change its quantity or price, select Remove charge, or select Add charge back if it is needed. The order total includes the charge currently shown. Saving keeps the charge lines you reviewed, including any changes or removal.

If the customer’s opening cylinder balance has not been confirmed, Bottle starts with a like-for-like exchange. One cylinder out expects one empty back and suggests no additional cylinder charge. Set the expected return to zero if the customer has no empty to exchange; Bottle can then suggest the charge for the additional cylinder.

Cylinders to collect is always visible. Use its searchable product box to find a cylinder by name, code or SKU. Check the expected returns before saving.

The driver records the empties actually collected at delivery. This updates cylinder holdings and deposit-refund eligibility. It does not change the cylinder charge, invoice or payment amount already agreed. Shopify and WooCommerce orders keep the prices and charge lines supplied by their shop.

Cylinders to collect

The form shows the customer’s current holdings and a separate section for returns.

Expected returns start as a swap: one empty for each full cylinder of the same gas type, capped at the customer’s confirmed holdings. If an existing customer’s opening balance has not been checked, Bottle suggests a one-for-one swap instead and labels it clearly; adjust it to what the driver should collect. Once the opening balance is confirmed, you can also use Collect everything they have.

For a driver visit with no sale, choose Collect items and leave Delivery selected. Select the cylinders to bring back. The visit goes onto a round without sale lines.

If the customer is bringing the cylinders to your yard, choose Click & collect instead. That order does not go on a round.

The customer page also offers Book a collection. Existing orders can be changed to collect items only where permitted; any outdated invoice or payment link is cancelled.

The driver confirms actual returns at the stop. Once the delivery is complete, the order shows those confirmed returns under Empty cylinders collected instead of the original collection plan. On a part-delivered order, it shows them as soon as any empties are back. The quantities also update stock and the customer’s cylinder balance.

Bottle keeps the cylinder-charge lines agreed when the order was saved. If more eligible cylinders come back than go out, Bottle either records a separate deposit refund or shows Review refund under Empty cylinders collected, depending on the business’s cylinder refund setting. Review shows the calculation before the office adds anything. For an office-added refund, Bottle first asks you to confirm the customer’s opening cylinder balance if it has not been checked. A return does not rewrite the order’s charge lines, invoice or payment amount.

For repeating visits, use Regular deliveries and collections.

Replacing a faulty cylinder

When a customer has a faulty cylinder, add the replacement as its own item and tick Replaces a faulty cylinder under the product. For example, for one 19kg they are paying for and one to replace a faulty 19kg, add 1 × 19kg as normal and 1 × 19kg with Replaces a faulty cylinder ticked.

The replacement is free: its price is £0.00 and it adds no deposit or surcharge. The invoice shows it as “(replaces faulty cylinder)”.

Don’t add the faulty cylinder to the empties to collect. When the driver delivers the replacement, Bottle takes the faulty cylinder off the customer’s cylinders and records it as damaged in stock, so it is not counted as an empty and no deposit is refunded on it. The driver sees “Replaces a faulty cylinder” on the item.

You can tick it when editing an order too, including a delivered order. If the driver recorded the replacement as not delivered, use Correct delivery first. See Correcting what was delivered.

Where an order came from

Source labels identify regular schedules, vehicle sales and shop orders. An order from a connected shop is labelled with its platform and the name you gave the shop, such as Shopify · Trade shop, so orders from two shops on one platform are told apart. Imported orders can also display their shop reference.

Tick orders and choose Download CSV to download them as a spreadsheet. The Shop column names the connected shop each order came from, and is blank for other orders. The Delivered by column says Our driver or Delivery partner when staff chose one as they marked the order delivered, and is blank otherwise.

Orders from your shop

An order placed on your shop is marked Ordered from your Bottle Shop, on the list, the order sheet and the order itself, with how it is paid:

• Paid by card: the shopper paid through Stripe at checkout. The order arrives already paid, and an invoice is raised for it.
• On account: an approved trade customer on pay-later terms ordered while signed in. It is invoiced like any other pay-later order.

A shop order is planned onto a round and delivered like any other. Cancelling one that was paid by card leaves a refund due, as for a payment link.

Orders from WooCommerce or Shopify

Once order imports are set up, supported paid, unfulfilled orders arrive with their shop name and reference. Bottle keeps the shop’s prices and VAT, gives the order a tracking reference, and handles planning and delivery.

These orders are different from orders placed on your Bottle Shop: the external shop owns their invoices, payment and refunds. Bottle does not create another invoice or payment link, or add inferred cylinder deposits or rent. Make financial changes in the shop rather than charging the customer again in Bottle.

Bottle also leaves its business surcharge rule off these imports. If the external shop charged a surcharge or another explicit fee, that shop’s own fee is kept on the imported order.

Open Import log on the shop’s card in Connections to search import results, filter errors and warnings, and see an order’s earlier results. Resolve the missing detail, then choose Retry import in its details.

Fully refunded shop orders are kept as cancelled, history-only records marked Refunded in shop, with their original items and charges. They do not create delivery, stock, billing or tracking-email work. This includes an order refunded after a failed delivery, or after its day was moved. A refund received while the order is on a round, or after any of it was delivered, needs review; Bottle does not automatically reverse physical deliveries or stock movements. Cancel the order yourself once it is off the round.

Delivered, or collected

Delivery or click & collect says whether a driver takes the order (Delivery) or the customer comes to your yard (Click & collect).

Open a delivered order to see Proof of delivery. Bottle shows the signature or safe-place photograph captured by the driver, who signed or where it was left, when it was recorded, and the driver and vehicle. If an order needed more than one visit, each visit’s proof is kept on the order. An order marked delivered from the office may have no driver proof; the order says so plainly instead of showing a broken image.

When you mark a delivery delivered from the order, on the web or from Order details in the Bottle app on iPhone or Android, Bottle asks Who delivered it? Choose Our driver or Delivery partner. It starts on Our driver, or on Delivery partner for an order a partner has. Choosing Our driver takes the order off the partner. Tick several orders and choose Mark as delivered to give the same answer for all of them, which suits a delivery partner’s run. Any collections you ticked are marked collected. An order delivered by a partner shows Delivered by delivery partner. To choose a delivery partner before it is delivered, see Delivery partners.

To give an order to a delivery partner before it is delivered, see Delivery partners. Choosing Delivery partner takes the order off its round if it is on one. The stop leaves the driver’s list and the round’s load, and the driver is told. Mark as not delivered clears the answer but does not put the order back on the round, so plan it again if it still needs delivering.

Mark as not delivered leaves the stock where it is. The cylinders stay with the customer, and marking it delivered again moves nothing a second time. If the driver recorded the wrong number handed over, use Correct delivery instead: it moves the cylinders back and keeps the order open for the rest. See Correcting what was delivered.

If a round already delivered part of the order, marking it delivered moves only the rest.

If marking an order delivered fails, Bottle shows an error. Press Mark delivered again and the stock moves once. If you come back to the order later, it shows as delivered with no Mark delivered button. Press Mark as not delivered, then Mark delivered.

A yard collection is not assigned to a round. When the customer collects, use Mark collected and record any empties returned. Stock and cylinder holdings update accordingly.

This differs from Collect items with Delivery selected, where your driver visits the customer to collect cylinders.

Delivering without rounds

On the Shop plan there are no rounds. Your day lists the orders for the day, grouped by delivery area, with a run sheet to print. Press Mark delivered on each one when it is done; Bottle asks how many empties came back and who delivered it, as it does on the order. See Deliveries without rounds.

When a drop fails

If a driver could not deliver, the top of the order says Not delivered, with the reason, the driver, the day and time in UK time, and any note the driver wrote. Open this round goes to the round it happened on. A notification about a failed drop opens this page.

The order stays open and can go on another round. If the driver chose Customer cancelled, the order also says to cancel it if that is right, and Cancel order opens the same dialog as in the ⋯ menu.

Not delivered goes away when the order is back on a round, delivered, cancelled or changed to a collection, or when a later visit delivers part of it. The failed visit stays recorded under the stop in Rounds.

Order details in the Bottle app on iPhone or Android shows the same reason, note and advice in a Not delivered card. Cancel order is in that screen’s menu.

How it is being paid

New orders start with the customer’s terms:

• Pay later: invoice after delivery or on their scheduled invoice.
• Payment link: send an advance-payment link through Stripe.
• Cash: record payment at the stop. On Shop, press Paid at the door on the order in Your day.
• Paid outside Bottle: you have already invoiced the customer or taken the money another way, such as through your own accounts software or a bank transfer you agreed directly. Bottle sends no invoice or payment link, and the driver collects nothing at the door. Bottle still plans, delivers and tracks the order.

Unpaid payment-link orders are excluded from automatic planning. Pay-later, cash and paid outside Bottle orders can be planned straight away.

Choose Paid outside Bottle when you take an order, from Payment method on the order page, or under Change the delivery. Where the invoice number would be, the order shows Invoiced outside Bottle. Bulk Mark as paid and Send payment link skip these orders.

You can change an order to Paid outside Bottle until money is recorded against it in Bottle or it is on a period invoice. You cannot change it while its round is out. Choosing it cancels any unpaid payment link and its invoice. To bring the order back, choose another payment method.

Changing the payment method on an eligible order cancels any obsolete payment-link invoice.

Recording part of a payment

Open the order and choose Record payment. Enter the amount received, select Cash, Bank transfer, Card or Other, and confirm the date. You can add a receipt number or bank reference.

The payment section shows the order total, money received and amount still due. An order stays Partly paid until the balance is cleared. Choose Send link for… to request just the remaining balance; the invoice keeps its original total and shows what has already been received.

For example, on a £100 order, recording £50 in cash leaves £50 due. The next payment link requests £50. When that payment arrives, the order and its invoice are marked paid.

Drivers can use Paid some to record cash at a stop. That cash contributes to the same order balance. Older payment links are retired before another payment is recorded, so they cannot continue requesting an outdated amount.

The payment history keeps each receipt’s amount, method, date and reference. Use Reverse to correct an office receipt entered by mistake. It remains in the history and the balance is recalculated. Reversing a receipt does not refund money. Driver cash corrections stay in the driver cash workflow.

Orders billed by a connected shop keep their payment records in that shop. Orders already included on a period invoice are paid through that invoice.

Delivery options

Delivery options are under Business settings → Delivery, in one card with your delivery areas and the days you’re closed. On Shop the card also shows Your yard, made from your business address: where your stock is kept and where customers collect from. Press Edit on it to change the address. Press Add delivery option, or Edit beside one, and fill in:

• Name, such as Next day, and the Charge, with the other VAT figure shown as you type. Leave the charge empty for free delivery.
• Earliest and Latest delivery, in days from the order.
• Runs on: the days of the week it delivers. All seven are ticked to start; at least one must stay ticked. A delivery that would land on a day it does not run moves on to the next day it does, and past any day you’re closed.
• Order by: a time, such as 12:00. Orders taken after it count from the next day, so “Next day, order by 12:00” ordered at 2pm comes the day after tomorrow. Your shop shows the time left as a countdown. Leave it empty for no cut-off.

The list says each one in short, such as “Next day · Mon to Fri · order by 12:00”. Under the days you’re closed, What that comes to says when an order taken now would arrive on each option, such as “Ordered now: Next day arrives Friday 3 October”.

Choose an option on the order or select a date manually. Closed days are taken into account, and manually selecting a closed date shows a warning.

Existing orders retain the dates and charges recorded when they were created, even if you later change a delivery option.

Requested delivery date

The delivery date determines which planning day’s waiting list includes the order. Use it to organise orders before creating rounds.

Editing an order

Open an order and select Edit order to change its delivery date, address, reference, notes and items. You can add or remove items, change quantities and enter a different price. Existing lines keep their agreed prices unless you change them. Cylinder charges are ordinary saved lines: changing items or expected empties does not add or recalculate a charge.

To change only the delivery destination, select Change delivery, choose a saved address, then Save delivery. Use Add a new delivery address in the same form if the address has not been saved yet. Saving attaches that address to this order and updates its map position, including an unfinished stop on a planned round. Adding an address to the customer on its own does not change existing orders. Archived addresses cannot be selected for delivery.

Items can be changed before payment. Once some of the order is delivered, only owners and admins can change them, as described below. Changing items cancels the order’s old unpaid invoice and payment link. Save the changes, then send a new payment link if payment is needed in advance. The previous invoice stays in the history as cancelled.

Paid orders keep their original items. Create another order for additional goods, or use the return or refund workflow for reductions. Make financial changes to Shopify and WooCommerce orders in the shop that billed them.

On a part-delivered order, owners and admins can still change what is left to deliver with Edit order, as long as nothing has been paid and the round the order is on is not out or finished. Each delivered item shows the lowest quantity you can enter, and delivered items cannot come off. Enter a Reason for correction and select Save changes. To change what was delivered, use Correct delivery.

Once anything on an order has been delivered, Delivered so far shows on every item, including those with none delivered yet.

Remove an order from its round before changing its delivery date. Reference and note corrections remain available after payment. Issued invoices keep the reference saved when they were raised; use invoice correction to change an unpaid invoice’s reference.

Drivers can add quantities to unpaid orders using Wants more. For additional goods after payment, create another order.

Delivered

Owners and admins can correct an unpaid delivered order using Edit order. Change the products, quantities or prices to what was actually delivered and enter a Reason for correction. You can make further corrections whenever needed.

Saving updates the order, adjusts stock by the difference and replaces any unpaid invoice, keeping the previous invoice and the correction reason in history. On a period invoice, only this order’s lines change; other orders keep their amounts. The delivery date and driver proof stay the same. Recorded empties stay the same unless you change them.

Orders with recorded payments or refunds need the payment, refund or invoice-correction workflow instead. Cancelled orders remain in the history.

To cancel an unpaid invoice without replacing it, open the invoice from the order and choose Cancel invoice from its menu.

Correcting what was delivered

Use this when the driver’s record of what was handed over, or of the empties they collected, is wrong. Owners and admins can do it. Drivers cannot.

1. Open the order and select More actions, then Correct delivery. It shows on any order where something has been delivered.
2. Set how many of each item the customer was given. It can go down to 0, and never above the “Up to” figure shown for that item.
3. Under Empty cylinders collected, set how many empties of each cylinder the driver brought back. Leave the rest as they are.
4. Enter a Reason, such as “Recorded by mistake”, and select Save correction.

Bottle then:

• moves the cylinders taken off back onto the vehicle they came off, so your stock and the customer’s cylinders are right
• shows the item with the rest still to deliver, so it can go on another round
• opens a delivered order again if anything is now left to deliver. Its unpaid invoice is cancelled, and the usual invoice goes out once the rest is delivered or you use Remove undelivered items
• keeps money already taken against the order. If you then remove what was not delivered, the overpayment shows as a refund due
• changes your stock and the customer’s cylinders to match the empties. If you lower them, they go back on the customer’s count and come off the vehicle or yard that received them. If you raise them, they come off the customer’s count and go onto that vehicle or yard
• adds the deposit refund due to the order when more empties came back than cylinders went out, as at the door, if your business is set to Add deposit refunds automatically. If you add them yourself, use Review refund under Empty cylinders collected
• lists the change under Delivery corrections on the order, with who made it, when and why

A period invoice is not changed here. Cancel or correct that invoice first.

Empties cannot be changed here once a refund is recorded or due on the order, because the refund was worked out from them. Settle or correct the refund first. On an unpaid delivered order you can also correct empties with Edit order.

Your reference or PO number

Use Your reference / PO number when taking an order in the office or placing an order on Bottle Shop. It is optional. The reference appears on the order and on invoice lines raised for it, including PDF invoices. A period invoice shows each order’s own reference beside its items.

This is separate from the tracking reference Bottle gives the customer.

The tracking reference

Each order has a reference such as 7K3M9-QWXZ2. The customer uses it with their delivery postcode to open tracking.

Use Copy tracking link to share the page. With Order emails on under Business settings → Customer emails, customer confirmations include tracking details; pay-first orders receive theirs after payment. Turn that switch off while another system handles order emails. Bottle still creates the order and tracking link.

See Tracking and Emails to customers.

Orders from somewhere else

Authorised integrations can create orders through the API. Their access is limited by the permissions granted.

See API keys and Permissions.

For an overview of taking orders in Bottle, see Taking orders on the Bottle website.