Order Approval for Fulfillment

Learn how the order approval process in HotWax Commerce works and prepares orders for fulfillment.

In HotWax Commerce, order approval acts as a critical checkpoint before fulfillment begins. When a customer places an order through Shopify or another sales channel, it enters HotWax Commerce in a Created status.

Orders must pass validations like payment verification and fraud checks before fulfillment begins. Once these conditions are met, the order status changes to Approved. This signals to the warehouse team that the order is legitimate and ready for picking, packing, and shipping.

The order approval lifecycle

The approval process adapts based on the sales channel and payment method. It can happen instantly or after a delay.

• Immediate approval: Orders paid with cash, cash on delivery (COD), or billed accounts often auto-approve within seconds.

• Delayed approval: Orders requiring fraud assessment, such as those paid with high-risk credit cards, enter a Hold status. They wait for a scheduled job to confirm they pass security checks.

Once approved, HotWax Commerce officially allocates reserved inventory to the order. This allows the warehouse management system to begin picking operations.

Approval pathways

HotWax Commerce orchestrates order approval through several pathways, depending on where the order originated and its specific requirements:

• Shopify webhooks: The orders/updated webhook detects payment confirmations and instantly triggers the approval process.

• Scheduled batch jobs: The Approve Orders job regularly checks for fraud validation tags, like Riskified's approved tag, and approves orders that pass the assessment.

• Marketplace services: Specific services handle approval for Amazon and eBay orders based on their unique rules.

• Point of sale (POS): Orders placed in physical stores or via WebPOS auto-approve during checkout.

• Direct UI or API: You can manually approve orders using the HotWax Commerce user interface or direct API calls.

• Data imports: The Maarg Data Manager processes and approves bulk order imports.

Approve Orders job

The Approve Orders job runs at a default frequency of 30 minutes. It systematically verifies and approves orders that require additional checks, such as third-party fraud detection.

For example, if you use Riskified for fraud detection, it adds an approved tag once an order passes security checks. The Approve Orders job scans for this tag and updates the order status to Approved, making it eligible for fulfillment.

Fig. 6: Configuration of the “Approved Orders” job in the Job Manager App

Shopify marks digital items as Fulfilled automatically. When these items import into HotWax Commerce, they are automatically marked as completed.