Terminology

The Orders API allows you to manage eCommerce orders throughout their lifecycle.

This article contains a comprehensive list of the various terms and concepts used in Orders and its APIs.

Activity

An activity is a record of an action taken on an order. Activities include system events (for example, payment received and shipment created) and merchant comments. Use the Add Activities method to add activities to an order.

Channel

A channel is the sales channel through which the order is placed. Common values include WEB (online store), POS (point of sale), BACKOFFICE (manual order), and OTHER_PLATFORM (external marketplace or system).

Draft order

A draft order is a temporary, editable version of an existing order. Use draft orders to modify pricing, line items, or discounts before you commit the changes. Learn more about the Draft Orders API.

Fulfillment

A fulfillment is a shipment or pickup associated with an order. An order can have multiple fulfillments when items ship separately. Learn more about the Order Fulfillments API.

Fulfillment status

A fulfillment status indicates whether order items have been shipped or picked up. Possible values:

NOT_FULFILLED: No items have been shipped or picked up.
PARTIALLY_FULFILLED: Some items have been shipped or picked up, but not all.
FULFILLED: All items have been shipped or picked up.

Line item

A line item is a product or service included in the order, along with its quantity, price, and other details.

Order status

An order status represents the overall state of an order in its lifecycle. Possible values:

INITIALIZED: The order is created but not yet approved. This typically happens when the order is created via the API and awaits payment or manual approval.
PENDING: The order is waiting for the buyer to complete checkout. This applies when the buyer has started but not finished the checkout process.
APPROVED: The order is confirmed and ready for fulfillment. An order becomes approved after payment is received or when a merchant manually approves it for offline payment methods.
CANCELED: The order is canceled by the merchant or buyer. Canceled orders are final and cannot be restored.
REJECTED: The order is rejected because of failed payment or other validation errors. Rejected orders are final and cannot be restored.

Payment status

A payment status indicates the state of payment for an order. Possible values:

NOT_PAID: No payment has been received for the order.
PENDING: Payment is being processed.
PARTIALLY_PAID: A partial payment has been received. The remaining balance is due.
PAID: Full payment has been received for the order.
PARTIALLY_REFUNDED: The order has been paid in full, and a partial refund has been issued.
FULLY_REFUNDED: The order has been paid in full, and the entire amount has been refunded.