[WooCommerce] How Scheduled Orders are Linked to WooCommerce Orders

Autoship Cloud powered by QPilot makes it easy for customers to setup an Autoship by adding a product scheduled for Autoship to a cart and completing checkout.

In this article, we'll review how a WooCommerce Checkout results in the creation of a Scheduled Order as well as how merchants can quickly identify when a WooCommerce Order is created from processing an Autoship Scheduled Order.

Creating a Scheduled Order from Checkout

Any products selected for Autoship that are included in a WooCommerce Cart and Checkout will result in:

  • A new Order being created in WooCommerce
    • One-time purchases as well as products scheduled for Autoship can be purchased with the same cart & checkout
  • A new Scheduled Order being created in QPilot
    • A new Scheduled Order is created for each frequency type and/or next occurrence date
    • For example, if 2 products are added to the cart with the same frequency of "Every 2 Months", then 1 Scheduled Order is created with the frequency of Every 2 Months that includes both products.
    • Another example, if 2 products are added to the cart with different frequencies of "Every Week" and "Every Month", then 2 Scheduled Orders are created: one with a weekly frequency and one with a monthly frequency.

How To Identify an "Autoship" Checkout

An "Autoship" Checkout refers to when a WooCommerce Order Contains product(s) scheduled for Autoship.

You can quickly identify this type of checkout by viewing your WooCommerce Orders ( WP-Admin > WooCommerce > Orders) and reviewing the "Origin" column displayed within the WooCommerce Orders view.

An icon will display next to the "Origin" column for the Order that also provides a tooltip containing the Scheduled Order ID(s) spawned from the checkout.

Example: In the following screen recording, a customer places an "Autoship Checkout" that results in a new Order in WooCommerce and a new Scheduled Order with the expected product and frequency:

How To Identify an "Autoship/Recurring" Order 

An "Autoship/Recurring" Order refers to a new Order in WooCommerce that results from a Scheduled Order being processed.

You can quickly identify this type of Order by viewing your WooCommerce Orders ( WP-Admin > WooCommerce > Orders) and reviewing the "Origin" column displayed within the WooCommerce Orders view.

An icon will display next to the "Origin" column for the Order.  In the "Origin" column, the ID for the Scheduled Order that was processed is displayed.

Troubleshooting Issues With Linked Scheduled Orders

If your WooCommerce site is having connectivity issues when an Autoship Checkout occurs, then Scheduled Order(s) may not have been created or linked to the Order in WooCommerce.

Issue: Linked Scheduled Order(s) is Unknown

A "?" icon will display next to the "Origin" column indicating that an Autoship Checkout appears to have taken place but no Scheduled Order ID's are linked to the Order in WooCommerce.  An error may have occurred, but was not able to be logged.

Issue: Linked Scheduled Order(s) Error

A red icon will display next to the "Origin" column indicating that an Autoship Checkout did take place but an error occurred when attempting to create the resulting Scheduled Order(s).

The tooltip for the icon will display additional details regarding the error that occurred.

How To Resolve Issues With Linked Scheduled Orders
  1. Confirm if a Scheduled Order was created from the Autoship Checkout by searching for any Scheduled Orders belonging to the customer's email in WP-Admin > Autoship Cloud > Scheduled Orders
    1. You can edit the Order in WooCommerce to see the customer's email
  2. If a Scheduled Order was created, you can copy the Scheduled Order ID(s) that should be linked and use the "Autoship Link Scheduled Orders" panel to add the ID(s) to the WooCommerce Order.
    1. Separate each ID with a comma to link multiple Scheduled Order ID's to the same WooCommerce Order
  3. If no Scheduled Order was created, you can review the Autoship data for each product in the WooCommerce Order and manually create a new Scheduled Order and then copy the ID(s) to the "Autoship Link Scheduled Orders" panel.
    1. Each product scheduled for Autoship will display additional data within the WooCommerce Order including Frequency, Frequency Type so that you can manually create Scheduled Orders accurately.

Example: in the following screen capture, an administrator links a WooCommerce Order to a Scheduled Order ID by editing the Order in WooCommerce and updating the Autoship Link Scheduled Orders panel.

What Scheduled Orders look like in WooCommerce

Autoship Cloud enables your WooCommerce store to receive and create orders from Scheduled Orders.  This means that when a Scheduled Order automatically processes, an order is created in WooCommerce with the information from the Scheduled Order.

This will appear as a new Order in WooCommerce, but with added information from the Scheduled Order including:

  • Product Meta Data 
    • Autoship Frequency
    • Scheduled Order Item information (item id and item cycles in QPilot)
  • Custom Fields
    • Scheduled Order Frequency
    • Scheduled Order ID