---
title: What are special orders?
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/special-orders
description: A special order is a job your shop runs for one named customer, tracking its costs, payments and profit from quote to close.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# What are special orders?



A **special order** is a job your shop runs for one named customer. A customer at Fairgreen Golf
Co.'s shop wants the merino quarter-zip in XXL navy, which the shelf does not carry. The shop
orders it in from Kaimen Knitwear, takes a deposit, and calls him when it arrives.

Special orders live at **Selling › Special orders** on the web. On the iPhone app they are in the
**⇕** menu, for looking a job up at the counter.

Your workspace may use its own word for this; **Settings › Terminology** shows both.

## Why do special orders exist? [#why-do-special-orders-exist]

Most shops track this kind of job on a paper slip, a note in the till or a spreadsheet one person
keeps. The slip knows the customer's name. It rarely knows what the job cost, whether the deposit
was taken, or who promised what by when.

A special order keeps all of that on one page. The supplier's bill, the embroidery, the stock you
took off the shelf, the deposit and the till sale all add up to three numbers: what the job cost,
what is still owed, and what it made.

Because it is shared, whoever is on the counter when the customer rings can answer them. Nobody
has to find the person who took the order.

## When would you use one? [#when-would-you-use-one]

Whenever the shop agrees to get something for one person and wants to be paid for it:

* **A size or colour you do not stock.** Pick the product from your Shopify catalog, choose
  **Other size…**, and type the size the customer wants.
* **Something you do not carry at all.** Type in the brand, product, colour and size, plus the
  rep's style number, so whoever places the order has what they need.
* **A staff purchase.** Choose **A staff order** and pick the person on your team.
* **A sale already rung up at the register.** Start the sale's note with "SPL" and the customer's
  name, and the special order makes itself. See <Ref to="special-orders/from-the-register" />.

A good special order names the customer, carries a **Promise by** date and has an owner. That is
what lets a colleague pick it up when you are not in.

## What does a special order keep track of? [#what-does-a-special-order-keep-track-of]

* **The item**: what the customer wants, how many, the retail price, and the agreed price, with
  the reason when the two differ.
* **The customer**: a Shopify customer, a new customer you add, or a member of your team.
* **Who and when**: an owner and a due date.
* **The stage**: Quoted, Ordered, Arrived, Delivered, Closed or Cancelled, unless your workspace
  renamed them.
* **The cost**: supplier bills, costs you type in, and stock taken off the shelf.
* **The money in**: payments, till sales, and any balance written off.

From those, each job shows **Cost**, **Paid**, **Owed** and **Profit**.

## What is a special order not? [#what-is-a-special-order-not]

Use a purchase order instead when you are buying stock for the shelves rather than for one
customer. See <Ref to="purchasing" />. The supplier's bill for a special order can still be
attached to the job.

Use a wholesale order instead when you are selling to a dealer or another business with an
account. See <Ref to="wholesale" />.

## What do you need first? [#what-do-you-need-first]

* The **Special orders** module switched on in **Settings › Modules**, along with Store. It starts
  on for a multi-brand retailer and off for brands and manufacturers. See
  <Ref to="workspace-admin/modules" />.
* Your Shopify store connected, so you can search your catalog and customers. See
  <Ref to="get-started/connect-shopify" />.
* **View special orders**, **Create special orders** and **Edit special orders**, which start at
  member. Recording money needs **Record payments on special orders and write off balances**,
  which starts at lead. See <Ref to="workspace-admin/permissions" />.

## Where do you go next? [#where-do-you-go-next]

Start with <Ref to="special-orders/take-and-track" />. It covers creating a job, adding its costs,
recording the money, moving it through its stages, and looking it up on your phone.

If your shop rings special orders up at a Shopify register, read
<Ref to="special-orders/from-the-register" /> next. It turns a noted register sale into a
special order without anyone typing it twice.