The Order flow is the path taken by an order inside VTEX platform, from the moment the customer clicks the Checkout button until the order is invoiced or canceled.

Order changes - whether caused by the customer, the store, or external systems - generate changes to the order status. And with that, the order moves within the flow.

Marketplace and Seller concepts are critical to understanding the flow of an order at VTEX. Let's understand why:

• Marketplace is the environment where the order is closed, ie, where the customer performs the checkout process.
• Seller is the owner of the SKU. It is therefore responsible for the fulfillment - that is, for delivering the product to the customer.

Every store that sells products in its own environment and makes its own deliveries is a Marketplace and a Seller at the same time.

It's important to understand these concepts because the Marketplace's order flow is different from the Seller's order flow.

It happens when the store acts exclusively as a Marketplace in the order. That is, when the store sells products from another store - its Seller.

In this case, the store's responsibility focuses on approving the payment.

After the customer completes the purchase, the store must wait for the seller's confirmation before proceeding with the order. This is because it needs confirmation from the Seller who owns the products. The Seller needs to confirm that it will be possible to fulfill the order.

Once the Seller sends this confirmation to VTEX, the order goes to the status Payment Pending. If the transaction completes successfully, the status becomes Payment Approved.

The dispatch is then authorized and the order enters the status Window to Cancellation. In this status, the customer can still cancel the order. By default, the Window to Cancellation period is half an hour, but this can be adjusted on the platform.

It happens when the store acts as a Seller. That is, when it is the owner of the product.

In such case, the order was closed at another store (the Marketplace). Therefore, the Seller flow begins as soon as the payment is made and approved.

The Seller must then authorize the shipment for the order to exit the status Waiting for order authorization and enter the Window to Cancellation status.

After the Window to Cancellation period ends, the status becomes Ready for Handling, which means the Seller can proceed with picking and packing.

The next status is then Handling Shipping, when the Seller prepares the invoice and order tracking.

It happens when the store is both the Marketplace and the Seller. That is, it's when the order was closed in the store and the store itself is the owner of the product, being responsible for the fulfillment.

In such case, the initial order status automatically changes from Waiting for Seller Decision to Payment Pending.

Once the payment has been approved, the order goes to Payment Approved and then to Window to Cancellation and, when the Window to Cancellation is over, to Ready for Handling and finally to Handling Shipping.

That is, in this case both payment and delivery steps are the store's responsibility.

There are only two possible final statuses for every order:

• Invoiced

• Canceled

To understand each order status in more detail, see a table with all statuses at Understanding the Status.