Understand the statuses
- Received means the order is awaiting seller action.
- On hold is a neutral wait state; it does not claim payment or fulfillment.
- Paid means payment was accepted and the order is ready to process.
- Ordered from vendor means items have been ordered from a supplier or are being processed before shipment. Packing means the seller is preparing the order.
- Ready for pickup and Shipped are fulfilled states. Direct Vendor Shipped means the supplier shipped directly to the buyer instead of routing the package through the seller; buyers see that label, and its first notification uses the same shipped-status email path as Shipped.
- Completed means the order is delivered and finished.
- Return Received records that the seller received a return. Return Refunded records the seller's return-workflow status.
- Cancelled stops the order and releases its tracked stock and promotion reservations.
To change a status, open Dashboard → Selling → My Forms, click the form's View orders →, click the order row to expand it, and open Fulfillment if collapsed. Choose a status in its dropdown; a single-order selection saves immediately, except where cancellation or reactivation asks for confirmation. You need the form owner's access or Update order status/details permission. A status is an operational label, not evidence that money moved.
For a bulk change, select order checkboxes, choose the status in the bottom selection bar, and click Update. Review the confirmation and result. Bulk changes process orders individually; if a partial failure occurs, refresh and check the affected orders before retrying.
Both return statuses are manual. Choosing one does not send a refund, confirm a payment, change a refund record, restock inventory, or release promotion reservations. It does not send a Paid or Shipped notification. Record and confirm any actual refund through the existing refund workflow. Buyers and order exports show the return label, and the earlier payment interpretation remains separate from the return status.
Know when email is sent
The first change to Paid can queue a Payment Received email. The first change to Shipped or Direct Vendor Shipped without a tracking number can queue a shipped-status email. Re-saving a status that was already notified does not send another copy.
In the expanded order's Fulfillment group, enter one tracking number per line in Tracking #s, then click the ✓ button. Typing alone does not save tracking. Buyers can receive separate tracking links, while a connected Google Sheet stores the numbers together in its Tracking column. Saving new tracking normally marks an active, unfulfilled order Shipped and can send a privacy-safe tracking email with shipment facts and a secure order-details link. Form titles, products, options, answers, and totals are not included in shipping emails. It does not replace a status that is already Ready for pickup, Shipped, Direct Vendor Shipped, Completed, returned, or Cancelled. Ready for pickup and returned orders lock buyer self-edits.
Status and tracking saves are authoritative even when an email side effect is withheld by a recipient preference or durable delivery-safety limit. Check the saved order before repeating the action merely because no message arrived.
Cancel or reactivate carefully
Cancelling releases the exact stock and buyer-promotion reservations recorded with the order. Reactivating checks and reserves those amounts again; real stock or promotion conflicts can stop reactivation.
Some older orders do not contain enough evidence to prove whether a particular inventory line was reserved. That unprovable historical line no longer blocks editing, cancellation, reactivation, or deletion. EZFormz logs and skips only the uncertain stock change while applying the rest of the order action; it does not guess from the form's current inventory mode.
Cancellation also voids open balance links. Reactivation requires confirmation and does not automatically recreate a payment request.
Do not use On hold as a substitute for a refund, and do not mark Paid based only on a screenshot. See Resolve payment proof problems and Handle refunds and orders on hold.