--- title: How to turn a register sale into a special order url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/special-orders/from-the-register description: Start a Shopify register sale's note with SPL and the customer's name, and Tideswell makes the special order for you within minutes. --- > Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further. # How to turn a register sale into a special order A special order is a job your shop runs for one named customer, covered in . When the customer pays at your Shopify register, a short note on the sale is all it takes. Tideswell reads your register sales every five minutes and turns each noted one into a job on **Selling › Special orders**. Your workspace may use its own word for special orders; **Settings › Terminology** shows both. ## Before you start [#before-you-start] You need: * The Store and **Special orders** modules on. See . * Your Shopify store connected, with sales rung up on Shopify's point-of-sale register. See . * **Register special orders** switched on in **Brain › Automations**. It starts on for every workspace, and only people with **Manage automations** see its switch. See . Nobody needs a Tideswell permission to make the job: the register sale does it. The people told about it are those with **Record payments on special orders and write off balances**, which starts at lead. ## How do you mark a sale as a special order? [#how-do-you-mark-a-sale-as-a-special-order] Ring the item up as its own sale and start the first line of the sale's note with **SPL**, followed by the customer's name. "SPL Smith", "SPL-Smith" and "SPL: Smith" all work, in capitals or not. 1. At the register, ring up the product the customer is ordering, on its own sale. 2. Attach the customer to the sale if they are in Shopify. 3. Add a note whose first line starts with SPL and the customer's name. 4. Take payment as usual. Keep SPL as its own word at the start of the note. A note that starts "Splash" is an ordinary sale. ## What does Tideswell make from the sale? [#what-does-tideswell-make-from-the-sale] Within about five minutes, a new job appears on **Selling › Special orders**, at the first stage (Quoted, unless your workspace renamed it). Its page reads "Created from register sale" and the order number. * **The title** is the product on the sale. A sale with several lines reads as the first one "and 2 more", for example. * **The customer** is the Shopify customer attached to the sale. With none, it is the name from the note. With neither, it reads "Unknown customer" and the sale number, so attach the customer or write their name every time. * **The item** is the product, its options, SKU, quantity and retail price, when the sale has one line. * **The money**: when the sale was paid in full, the agreed price is what the customer paid after discounts. The sale is linked under **Till sales** as **Linked automatically**, so the job owes nothing. Each register sale makes one job, however often it is read. ## What if the sale was not fully paid? [#what-if-the-sale-was-not-fully-paid] The job is still made, without an agreed price, and its **Owed** reads **Not priced**. The notification says why, such as "Only part of this sale was paid at the register. Record what was actually paid by hand." Open the job, set the **Agreed price**, and record what the customer paid with **Record payment**. The steps are in . ## Who is told, and how? [#who-is-told-and-how] Everyone with **Record payments on special orders and write off balances** gets a push notification titled **Register special order**. It names the note and the item, such as "SPL Smith: Merino quarter-zip, $98.00 paid", and opens the job when tapped. The push follows each person's **Notable order alerts** switch and quiet hours, in **User menu › Account settings › What buzzes you**. See . ## What happens if the sale is refunded later? [#what-happens-if-the-sale-is-refunded-later] The same people get a second **Register special order** push, "Sale #4127 for SPL Smith was refunded, check the special order". It opens the job that holds the sale. Open the job and correct the money. **Unlink** takes the till sale off, and **Record payment** puts in what the customer actually paid. ## What happens if you switch the Special orders module off? [#what-happens-if-you-switch-the-special-orders-module-off] Register sales stop becoming special orders, and every existing special order is kept. Switch the module back on and Tideswell carries on from where it stopped, so nothing is lost. If a noted sale has not appeared after ten minutes, see .