Accepting Unpaid Pending Orders

[Serenade]

I was always under the impression every order would go to into the Pending Orders page simply for manual verification to make sure it's not fraud. I had until this evening been selecting all the pending orders (unpaid or paid) from the checkbox page, and accepting them.

 

It came as a shock to me this evening while testing account registration, that even though I have selected in the Product Setup to only "Automatically setup the product as soon as the first payment is received", when I accepted the unpaid pending order, it automatically changed the product in question to "Active".

 

Is this default behaviour? Have I just given free accounts to everybody's who's ever ordered but never paid the invoice?? What happens to an order who's invoice has never been paid? It just sits in Pending Orders for eternity?

 

If anyone could shed some light on this that'd be really great...

[steven99]

That is the default action when you're manually accepting an order, paid or otherwise as you're accepting it and thus expecting it to create the service. There is a checkbox to not create the service, however. If you want to manual verify orders, it is best to use "Automatically setup the product when you manually accept a pending order". Otherwise, services will be provisioned once paid, but still be pending and you'll have to delete the account if it is a fraud account. During that time they could have abused the service.

 

As for what happens after you've accepted an unpaid order and they still do not pay, the same thing that happens when you're customer doesn't pay -- it goes through your overdue policies . If you have auto suspend setup, then it goes through that action. The order will not be pending but the invoice for that order will be considered overdue.

[Serenade]

That is the default action when you're manually accepting an order, paid or otherwise as you're accepting it and thus expecting it to create the service. There is a checkbox to not create the service, however. If you want to manual verify orders, it is best to use "Automatically setup the product when you manually accept a pending order". Otherwise, services will be provisioned once paid, but still be pending and you'll have to delete the account if it is a fraud account. During that time they could have abused the service.

 

As for what happens after you've accepted an unpaid order and they still do not pay, the same thing that happens when you're customer doesn't pay -- it goes through your overdue policies . If you have auto suspend setup, then it goes through that action. The order will not be pending but the invoice for that order will be considered overdue.

 

Thanks for the detailed info!

 

Where's this checkbox to not create the service? I actually have no legitimate need to verify orders, I don't use WHMCS for traditional hosting purposes so there's no real chance of abuse. The only reason I've been bulk accepting the pending orders at the end of the day is because they pile up. It's also been nice to get a quick overview of what's been ordered for that day, and clear everything for the next. If there's a checkbox that makes it so if I accept a pending order and there's an unpaid invoice it doesn't mark that product active, that sounds like what I'm looking for.

[WHMCS John]

Hi,

With WHMCS it's always necessary to manually approve pending orders even if all the services/domains have been provisioned automatically. This gives you an opportunity to keep track of new orders received and run any manual checks your business practices require. For more information please refer to our documentation: http://docs.whmcs.com/Order_Management

 

It sounds like you're saying that services aren't being provisioned automatically? In which case, please start your troubleshoooting at http://docs.whmcs.com/Auto_Setup_Issues

[Serenade]

Hi,

With WHMCS it's always necessary to manually approve pending orders even if all the services/domains have been provisioned automatically. This gives you an opportunity to keep track of new orders received and run any manual checks your business practices require. For more information please refer to our documentation: http://docs.whmcs.com/Order_Management

 

It sounds like you're saying that services aren't being provisioned automatically? In which case, please start your troubleshoooting at http://docs.whmcs.com/Auto_Setup_Issues

 

No. The issue is that it IS provisioning services even if the order is unpaid.

[Serenade]

No. The issue is that it IS provisioning services even if the order is unpaid.

 

Great support here. Gives an irrelevant canned answer and no follow-up.

[WHMCS John]

Hi,

If you'd like technical support, I invite you to open a support ticket: http://www.whmcs.com/support/ . The forums are for user-to-user support, but myself and other staff members drop by when we can.

 

* Please review Utilities > Logs > Activity Log at the time of ordering and advise what entries you see.

* Which Auto Setup option do you have selected for the product under Setup > Products/Services > Products/Services?

* Are you accepting unpaid pending orders?

[Serenade]

The last reply to this thread by a certain user (which seems to have since been deleted?) described exactly how the process should work. I verify the Pending Order, and accept it if it's not a fraudulent order. The Product / Service status at this point should remain pending until the invoice for that order is paid. It makes ZERO sense to provision the product if it isn't paid for, regardless of whether or not I "accepted" the pending order.

 

* "After First Payment" / "Automatically setup the product as soon as the first payment is received"

* Yes, see above.

[WHMCS John]

Hi,

Thanks for clarifying.

 

Normally one would not accept an order until the payment had been made.

However if you do not wish to provision the order when accepting it, I recommend UNticking the "Run Module Create" checkbox on the order details page (Orders > List All Orders > Click Order ID), before clicking the "Accept Order" button.