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Sales rep ordering

Order for a customer

Steps for

How it works

Once you choose a customer, everything you see is theirs: prices, payment methods, credit, addresses and order history. The order is placed against the customer's account, not yours.

How an order for a customer works

Choose a customer

From your open orders or a search
(this flows forward)

Build the order

Add products at the customer's prices
(this flows forward)

Adjust

Change prices, shipping or quantities if your role allows
(this flows forward)

Check out or quote

The order or quote is placed for the customer

Choose a customer

Start every order by choosing who it's for.

  1. Sign in to your store with your sales agent account and open My Cart.
  2. On the Order builder screen, pick a customer under Open orders, or search for one and click Start order.
  3. Their cart opens, with their name in the Ordering for chip.
More detail

You can also pick a customer from the My Customers tab: search, then click Log in, or click Login next to a recently accessed account. This opens the customer's account in My Account.

Both screens are described under The Order builder and My Customers tab.

Check who you're ordering for

The Ordering for chip shows who you're ordering for. It sits at the start of the search row in My Cart, with the customer's initials and name.

  1. Hover over or focus the chip to see the customer's full name.
  2. Click it to switch customer.
More detail

Prices, credit and history follow the chosen account, so check the chip before you add products. It replaces the "You're signed in as" banner and the Switch Account? link of earlier versions.

Switch to another customer

  1. Click the Ordering for chip.
  2. On the Order builder, pick another customer, or search for one.
More detail

Each customer's cart is kept as you left it, so you can move between several customers' orders and come back to each. You can also act as a different customer on each of your devices.

Cart locking

A customer's cart can only be changed by one sales agent at a time. When you choose a customer, their cart is locked to you. If another sales agent has the same customer open, they see:

You cannot update the cart because it is being processed by a sales agent

The cart stays locked to whichever agent has it open. To carry on, the other agent switches to another customer, or you wait until they've finished.

My Cart can also show who last edited the cart, for example This cart is being edited by a sales agent, with Take control to make your own changes. See Cart locking in My Cart.

Shared logins make this more likely, because two people signed in as the same agent can each open the same customer. Give every person their own sales agent login. See Add a sales agent.

Add products

Add products as a customer would, at the customer's prices:

HowWhere
Search by name, SKU or barcodeThe search box in My Cart.
Load a shopping listActions in My Cart. See Shopping lists.
Re-order a past orderThe customer's order history in My Account. See Reorder.
Scan barcodes, upload a file or forward an emailActions in My Cart. See Intelligent Cart (AI).
More detail

Personal shopping lists are a quick way to start customer orders: save a list in your own account, then choose a customer and load the list to fill their order.

Check out for the customer

  1. In My Cart, click Checkout.
  2. Under Details, choose the customer's shipping address and fill in any other fields, such as a purchase order number.
  3. Under Review & Pay, choose a Shipping Method and one of the customer's payment methods.
  4. Click Complete Order.
More detail

The checkout steps are Cart, Details, Review & Pay and Complete, as for the customer. The payment methods are the ones the customer's customer group allows. If the customer pays upfront, they're emailed to pay.

How the order and payment work

When a sales agent places an order, it arrives in Shopify as a draft order with the customer's details filled in, whatever the payment method. It stays a draft until payment is made or you act on it.

Payment methodWhat happens
Pay by InvoiceA draft order is created for you to process.
Pay on AccountA draft order is created for you to process.
Pay Online by CardA draft order is created and the customer is emailed to pay.

When the customer needs to pay, Shopify emails them their order with a Complete your purchase button. This uses the "Send invoice" feature of draft orders (see Shopify's guide to sharing a checkout link (opens in a new tab)). Once they pay, the order moves to your Shopify orders as paid.

To change the email, go to Settings,Notifications (opens in your Shopify admin in a new tab) and edit the Draft order invoice template.

If the customer hasn't paid, or you take payment another way, open the draft order in Shopify and click Resend invoice, or use Collect payment to mark it as paid.

Submit a quote

Instead of placing an order, you can submit the cart as a quote for the customer. This needs the Create quotes permission, and quotes turned on at Settings,Configurations,Quotes and invoices (opens in your SparkLayer Dashboard in a new tab) (Pro and Enterprise, or the Quoting Engine add-on on Starter and Growth).

  1. In My Cart, click Submit Quote, next to Checkout.
  2. Work through the checkout steps. Each one shows This order will be submitted as a quote.
  3. Click Submit Quote.
More detail

The quote then follows your Quoting Engine process: see Work on a quote.

Change a unit price

Sales administrators can change a product's unit price on a cart line. This gives a one-off price without changing your price lists. It needs the Change quoted prices permission.

  1. Click the unit price on the cart line (it's underlined with dots).
  2. In Edit unit price, choose Fixed price or Percentage off, and enter the price or percentage.
  3. Click Save price.
More detail
  • The line under the field shows what you're setting: the percentage off the original price, or the new unit price.
  • A percentage is always taken from the original price, so 10% off twice is still 10% off.
  • The option you used last stays chosen for the next line.
  • Reset puts the original price back in the field.
  • If the line has quantity rules, its label changes from Qty rules apply to Qty rules overridden.
  • You can set a price above the original as well as below it.

Add a custom item

Sales administrators can add items that aren't in your catalogue, such as special instructions, products without a SKU or another charge. It needs the Add custom items permission.

  1. In My Cart, click Actions, then Add custom item.
  2. Enter the item's Name, its Cost per unit and the Quantity.
  3. Click Add.
More detail

A custom item can have a price or be free. You can then change its unit cost and quantity, or remove it.

Set a custom shipping rate

Sales administrators can set their own shipping cost for an order, without changing your shipping rules. It needs the Change shipping permission.

  1. At checkout, under Review & Pay, click Add custom rate next to Shipping Method.
  2. Enter a description, such as "Pallet delivery", and the amount. Enter 0 for free shipping.
  3. Click Add.
More detail
  • The rate is added to the shipping methods with a Custom label, and chosen for the order. Without a description, it's called "Custom rate".
  • Your platform's admin shows the shipping as custom shipping. If other systems read your orders, such as an ERP, test how they handle it before you rely on it.

Override quantity rules

Sales administrators can ignore a product's pack size and minimum or maximum quantity rules and enter any quantity. It needs the Ignore product rules permission.

  1. Enter the quantity you need on the cart line.
  2. Tick I acknowledge that I've made changes to requirements in this order.
  3. Click Checkout.

Add a new customer

Sales administrators can create a customer from your store, then order for them straight away. It needs the Create customers permission.

  1. Open the My Customers tab and click Actions, then Add a new customer.
  2. Enter the customer's First name, Last name, Email and Company.
  3. Click Add new customer.
More detail

The new customer gets the same settings as the sales agent who created them: price lists, discount percentage, customer group, sales agent groups and default addresses. To change them, edit the customer afterwards, for example by giving them a different customer group tag.

Account statusWhat happens
No account on your storeThey're emailed an invitation to set up their account.
Already has an accountThey sign in with their existing details.

Shopify only

On Shopify, the invitation is Shopify's account activation email, which you can edit at Settings,Notifications (opens in your Shopify admin in a new tab). To stop invitations being sent, turn on Don't send Shopify's customer invite at Integrations,Platform,Shopify order actions (opens in your SparkLayer Dashboard in a new tab).

Order for yourself

Sales agents can also order for their own account, for example to buy a sample for a customer demonstration. Their prices come from the price list of their own customer group.

  1. In My Cart, switch to your own account.
  2. Add products and check out like any customer.
More detail

This needs version 1.4.0 or later of the SparkLayer Core Script.

Track sales agent orders

Orders placed by sales agents carry extra data, so you can filter and report on them, or pass the data to your other systems.

Shopify only

On Shopify, it's on the draft order, and on the completed order once payment is taken:

DataDetails
Tagsagent (an agent order), agent- plus the start of the agent's email (for example agent-contact), agent- plus the agent's email domain (for example agent-sparklayer.io), and b2b (a B2B order).
B2B Sales Agent Account IDThe agent's accounting ID, if they have one.
B2B Sales Agent EmailThe sales agent's email address.
sparkPaymentTypeAdded to all B2B orders, showing the payment type the agent chose.

The fields appear under Additional details on the order.

Sales agents can also export order activity to a CSV file from the activity list in My Account, with the Download menu: choose Activity or Activity with line items.

The Order builder and My Customers tab

Sales agents use these 2 screens to find and switch customers.

The Order builder

The Order builder is what you see when you open My Cart without an order on screen, and when you click the Ordering for chip.

PartWhat it shows / does
SearchSearch buyers by name, email or account number. Click Start order next to a result.
Recently accessed accountsThe last five customers you opened, with their email and Last order date. Click Open to carry on an open order, or Order to start one.
View all customersOpens your full customer list.
Open ordersCustomers with an order in progress, with its Lines, Units and Amount. The customer you're ordering for is marked Current. Click a row to carry on.
Recent activityThe latest orders across your customers, with Reference, Submitted on, Status and Amount. Filter by Status: All, Shipped or Processing.
Back to orderReturns to the cart of the customer you're ordering for.

The My Customers tab

Sales agents see a My Customers tab in the widget, headed Sales Agent Ordering.

PartWhat it shows / does
SearchSearch customers by name, email or account number. Click Log in next to a result.
ActionsAdd a new customer (see Add a new customer).
Recently accessed accountsCustomers you've opened, with Last Login and a Login button.
Recent ActivityRecent orders across your customers, filtered by Status. Click a reference to see the order's lines.

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Sales rep ordering

How sales reps order on behalf of B2B customers: switch to a customer, build the order at their prices, then check out or raise a quote for them.

Sales rep setup

Add a sales agent so a member of your team can order for your B2B customers, choose which customer groups they can see, and change or remove their access.