Orders and support

Missing order handoffs

Compare the order you have authorized to release with the fulfillment reference, and treat a missing reference as a missing handoff. On WooCommerce, Processing means payment was received, stock was reduced, and the order is awaiting fulfillment. WooCommerce calls that the cue to ship and then manually mark the order Completed. On hold means stock was reduced but payment still needs confirmation, so it is not the same cue. On Shopify, Paid and Unfulfilled are different statuses. In progress means preparation. Fulfilled is the fulfillment record, and a partial fulfillment covers only some items. An order assigned to a fulfillment service cannot be marked fulfilled by the merchant. Your written release rule can be stricter than either platform's status. A status word does not replace that rule. If no fulfillment reference exists, the handoff is absent in the store even if someone remembers packing a box. Confirm which party owns any missing operational or integration handoff. Describe the work you need. Prism will confirm scope, responsibilities, fees, and terms before work begins.

For: An owner or authorized representative of a research-use-only peptide business comparing accepted orders with the fulfillment work that should have followed.

Updated 2026-09-21

An accepted order and a handoff are different records

Start with orders you can identify, not with a pile of packages. For each order ID, write the payment or store status, the line quantities, and the fulfillment reference if one exists. The handoff is missing when the order meets your release rule and the fulfillment reference is absent, or when the quantities in the reference do not match the lines.

A remembered pack is not a reference. A note in a personal inbox is not a reference unless your process says that note is the fulfillment record. This page looks for orders that never reached the fulfillment process. It does not explain how to cancel an order after that process has already started.

Which WooCommerce statuses are not a release

Pending payment means no payment has been made. Failed means the payment failed or was declined and no payment has been made. Neither is an accepted order. On hold is waiting for payment confirmation. Stock is reduced, but you still need to confirm payment. WooCommerce also says on hold can appear when a gateway separates authorization from capture. Do not hand an on-hold order to fulfillment because stock has already moved.

Processing is the status WooCommerce describes as payment received and awaiting fulfillment, and as the cue for the store to ship and then mark the order Completed. That sentence is WooCommerce's description of the status. It does not erase a stricter release rule you have written, such as a review that must finish first. If you have no written rule, write that the rule is unstated. Do not invent one in the middle of the reconciliation.

Completed means the order has been marked fulfilled. If your process stores a shipment only in an order note or a fulfillment extension, that note or extension entry is the reference. WooCommerce's core status list does not itself provide a carrier tracking number. No note and no extension entry means the handoff is not in the store, even when the status says completed. This page does not claim that core WooCommerce records a partial shipment.

How Shopify shows the gap

Read payment status and fulfillment status separately. Payment pending is not complete. Authorized is the cue to capture when you capture manually, and it is not Paid. Paid means the payment was captured or the order was marked paid. A paid order can still be Unfulfilled. That pair is an accepted order without a fulfillment record, subject to your release rule.

In progress means you have marked the order as being prepared, such as picking and packing. Fulfilled means the items were fulfilled and shipped. Partially fulfilled means only part of the order was fulfilled. On hold blocks fulfillment until the hold is released. If a third-party fulfillment service is assigned, Shopify says you cannot manually mark the order fulfilled or in progress. The service's acceptance, and its reference, are the handoff. A request that was declined returns the order toward Unfulfilled and is an exception, not a completed handoff.

Do not copy these labels onto WooCommerce, or WooCommerce's labels onto Shopify. Another platform's states stay unknown until its current document is open.

What the missing row lets you do

You can list the order IDs that meet the release rule and have no matching fulfillment reference, and you can give that list to the person who runs fulfillment. You can hold an order your rule does not release. You cannot treat Processing, Paid, or Unfulfilled as permission to ship when the rule says otherwise. You also cannot assume an app created the handoff. If an app is supposed to import orders, that behavior is the app's documentation. Until you open it, the import stays unconfirmed.

A repeated gap is a store and operations question you can describe to Prism, including the platform and whether a processing question sits next to it. Prism's consultation covers storefront review, card-processing preparation, and a provider's website questions. Confirm any order-handling or integration responsibilities in the agreed scope; an inquiry alone does not authorize fulfillment. Scope, fees, and terms are discussed before work.

Order-to-fulfillment reconciliation

Use real order IDs. One row of the sheet is one fact about one order. Write none or unstated instead of guessing a reference or a rule. Worksheet entries are not submitted by this worksheet or saved by this site. Use only non-sensitive summaries; do not enter credentials, government identifiers, card or bank-account numbers, private receipt links, or customer details.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

Order-to-fulfillment reconciliation. The last column is for temporary notes.
Order fact	Where you read it	How a missing handoff shows up	This order
Order ID	The store's order number.	Every later fact has to use this ID. A package with no ID is not yet a matched handoff.	Order ID: This order
Accepted status	WooCommerce Processing, or Shopify Paid. Exclude pending, failed, on hold, and authorized-but-not-captured.	Any other status is not this page's accepted order. Do not force it into the fulfillment list.	Accepted status: This order
Release rule	The written rule that says this status may be released, or a note that no rule is written.	A platform status does not authorize shipment by itself. An unstated rule means the release is unknown.	Release rule: This order
Line quantities	The product or variation and quantity on the order.	The fulfillment reference has to cover these quantities. A smaller fulfilled quantity is a partial handoff, where the platform records one.	Line quantities: This order
Fulfillment reference	The Shopify fulfillment, the WooCommerce completion plus the note or extension entry you use, or none.	None means the handoff is absent in the store. A remembered pack is not a reference.	Fulfillment reference: This order
Reference time	The time that reference was created, or none.	An accepted order with no time has not been handed off. Do not backfill a time.	Reference time: This order
Exception	On hold, a fulfillment hold, a declined fulfillment-service request, a quantity mismatch, or unknown.	An exception stays on the list until the record changes. It is not automatically shipped or cancelled.	Exception: This order

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. The consultation form does not include these entries.

Limits

A Prism consultation can help you organize the facts and discuss the website or processing question. The payment provider decides eligibility, pricing, reserves, and whether an account is opened or closed.
Never ship only because a status label exists. Follow the written release rule, and stop when no rule is written.
Do not assume an app or integration created a fulfillment reference.

Related guides

Sources checked 2026-09-21

WooCommerce order statuses — checked 2026-09-21. Processing means payment was received, stock was reduced, and the order awaits fulfillment, as the cue to ship and mark it completed. On hold still needs payment confirmation. Pending and failed have no successful payment.
Shopify order statuses — checked 2026-09-21. Paid, Authorized, and Payment pending are payment statuses. Unfulfilled, In progress, On hold, Partially fulfilled, and Fulfilled are fulfillment statuses. A fulfillment on hold cannot be fulfilled until it is released.
Shopify individual fulfillment — checked 2026-09-21. Fulfillment is a separate act from the order. A third-party fulfillment service controls status for an assigned order, and the merchant cannot manually mark that order fulfilled or in progress.
Prism solutions — checked 2026-09-21. Public support is a storefront review, card-processing preparation, or help with a provider's website questions. The provider decides account terms.
Prism contact — checked 2026-09-21. Scope, fees, and terms are discussed before work. The request does not purchase a service or submit a processing application.

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