What is an "Incomplete" Sales Order, and what happens when I click "Finalize"?

An order is flagged as Incomplete when the site is using a real-time payment method and a customer's payment has failed.

Causes of payment failure include:

1. (most common) The authorization of the customer's credit card was declined and the customer did not correct the billing information. If a customer corrects their information and re-submits the same order, the Incomplete flag will be removed automatically.

2. There is a problem with the Payment Gateway and/or Merchant Account.

3. A disruption in the Internet prevented the Pulse Commerce system from receiving a successful response from the Payment Gateway.

Regardless of the cause, these orders are saved as Incomplete to alert the merchant of a potential problem and to allow corrective action to be taken. Once the payment from the customer has been confirmed, the merchant may Finalize the order (which removes the Incomplete flag) and fulfill the order normally.

Note: Clicking Finalize will NOT charge the customer's credit card; it only removes the Incomplete flag from the order.

An alternative situation can occur when some merchants choose not to contact customers who have Incomplete orders or the customer is unable or unwilling to provide valid billing information. In this case, the proper course of action is to update the order status to Cancelled and continue fulfilling other orders.

Additional suggestions when you receive Incomplete orders:

Review the order details page.

• Does the customer, and the customer's billing information, appear to be valid?
• What credit card type did the customer attempt to pay with?
• Did Pulse Commerce receive the Transaction ID from the payment gateway?
• Are there any additional notes added by the system in the Order's Admin Notes field?
• If you have the Order Fraud Risk Scoring module, what is the risk score of the order?

Log into the payment gateway terminal.

• If you are able to login, review any additional information regarding the transaction.
  Note: In the case where a disruption in the Internet prevented Pulse Commerce from receiving a successful response from the Payment Gateway, the Payment Gateway may show a successful charge whereas Pulse Commerce displays the order as Incomplete.