How customers order
Every way an order starts today (at the counter, at home, kiosk to phone), why it is always placed on a paired tablet, and what staff see for each.
Overview
Customers can start a design in three places: at your counter, at home, or at the kiosk and then on their phone. However they start, the order is placed on a paired kiosk tablet in your shop and paid at the register, unless you also take orders from customers' own phones (off by default, below). Settings → Kiosk shows which of these your shop has on, in the How customers order card at the top.
At the counter
The customer designs on your paired tablet.
At home
The customer designs on their own phone or computer and saves it. They get a short code and a QR code.
Kiosk to phone
The customer saves at the kiosk and scans its QR code to keep the design on their phone.
Every order is placed on a paired tablet
Paired kiosk tablet
Review, approve and Submit order. A saved design opens with Finish a saved design (code or QR code).
Your order queue
The order arrives Awaiting payment, with its order number.
The register
The customer pays. Staff scan the receipt QR code or search the order number or name.
At the counter, on a paired tablet
The customer picks a design on your kiosk tablet, fills it in, sees the stitch preview, approves it and taps Submit order. The order screen shows the order number, the total to pay at the register and a QR code. The tablet clears itself for the next customer.
This needs at least one paired tablet. Pairing is what lets a tablet place orders: see Pairing a kiosk tablet for what it is, why it's needed and how to do it.
What staff see: the order arrives in Orders, awaiting payment, with its order number. At the register, staff scan the QR code on the customer's screen or phone (on any staff page), or search the order number or name, and mark it paid. See Managing orders.
Start at home, finish in the shop
The customer opens your kiosk link on their own phone or computer, designs there, and taps Save and finish at the shop. They get a short code and a QR code. In the shop, they tap Finish a saved design on the kiosk and scan the QR code or type the code; the design opens ready to approve and submit. Saved designs last seven days.
This is on unless you turn off Allow saved home sessions (Settings → Kiosk → Session & Delivery). See Saved designs: start at home, finish in the shop.
What staff see: nothing in Orders until the customer submits it at the kiosk; then it's an ordinary order. Scanning a saved design's code on any staff page shows Saved design — not ordered yet.
Take it to their phone
At the kiosk, a customer who isn't ready to order can tap Save for later and scan the QR code to take the design with them on their phone. They finish it on the kiosk later with Finish a saved design, as above. After ordering, the QR code on the order screen opens their approved design on their phone, so they keep a copy without a printed receipt.
There's nothing to turn on. See Take a design to your phone.
What staff see: the same as above. The order screen's QR code is also what staff scan at the register.
Order on their own phone (off by default)
If you turn on Let customers place orders from their own phones (Settings → Kiosk → Orders from phones), anyone who opens your kiosk link can place the order on their own phone, with a name and a phone number or email. Nothing is made until they pay at the counter. See Orders from customers' phones.
What staff see: the order arrives in Orders, awaiting payment, with a From a phone tag. Check who it is when they come to pay.
Why orders are placed only on a paired tablet
Customers pay at the register, so your order queue should only hold orders placed in the shop. Your kiosk address is public, and without pairing anyone with the address could put unpaid orders in your queue from home. On any browser that isn't a paired tablet, the kiosk saves designs instead of ordering them (while Allow saved home sessions is on), unless you take orders from phones.