Item Types
Before understanding the order workflow, you need to understand item types - what they are and how they are related to orders.
Most often, items are simply products and can be thought of as such - you create lines on an order and add items in varying quantities. Each order line is, at its heart, an item reference and a quantity (as well as some other meta data).
But items can be more "abstract" than simple physical products. They can be non stockable products or services or other charges, as well as a few others. All of these items can be put on an order line.
To understand the impact different item types have as we move through the order workflow, you need to understand the characteristics of each. Here's a summary:
Stockable Product (default)
Yes
Yes
A widget that you buy, store in your warehouse and keep an accurate count of inventory for.
Non Stockable Product
No
Yes
Screws that you buy in bulk boxes of 10,000, rebag and sell by approximate weight. You don't wish to count screw by screw!
Digital Item
No
No
A code for a video game that you send to customers by email after purchase.
Service
No
No
As well as furniture, you might also offer a "home installation" service.
Other Charge
No
No
You charge customers on an ad-hoc basis for special delivery methods that don't fall into your usual shipping methods.
Discount
No
No
A customer places an order by phone and although there they do not have special pricing (price scheme) or there are no current auto-discounts (web discounts), you decide to give them a 5 Euro discount because of the large order size.
As you can see, the last 4 items above all have the same stock "treatment" (they cannot be stocked or dispatched) - so the different type classification is for internal organisation purposes more than anything else.
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