DL Special Orders

DL Special Orders helps Shopify merchants create, organize and track special product requests, suppliers, statuses and customer arrival notifications.

What the app does

• Keeps special orders in one shared workspace.
• Connects customers and catalog products from Shopify.
• Supports custom items that are not in the Shopify catalog.
• Organizes suppliers, statuses, employees and estimated arrival dates.
• Records internal comments and order changes in a timeline.
• Sends a configurable arrival notification when requested items are ready.

Getting started

1. Open DL Special Orders from Shopify admin.
2. Open Settings and review the default statuses.
3. Add the suppliers your team commonly uses.
4. Configure an email provider if arrival notifications are required.
5. Return to the main screen and choose Create new.

Before creating the first order

Make sure the Shopify staff member using the app can access the relevant customers, products and inventory information. The app uses these permissions to power customer selection and catalog search. It does not silently create a draft order: that action requires an explicit confirmation from an authorized user.

Review the store workspace before the first live request:

• Add the suppliers used by the team.
• Rename or reorder statuses so they match the real workflow.
• Decide which statuses should appear in the default Open filter.
• Add an employee when responsibility should be visible on the order.
• Configure the notification provider only after its sender details are ready.

Creating a special order

Choose the customer

Search Shopify customers by name or email and select the customer connected to the request. If the customer does not exist, create the customer in Shopify and then return to the special order.

Add the requested items

You can add either a Shopify catalog item or a custom item.

• Shopify item: Search by product name, SKU or UPC and set the quantity.
• Custom item: Add a name and, when useful, SKU, UPC, cost, price, vendor and description.

The item details copied into the special order can be edited without changing the original Shopify product.

Editing an existing order

Open an order from the main list to update its status, suppliers, employee, estimated arrival date, items or internal comments. Changes are recorded in the timeline so the team can distinguish the current state from the history of the request.

Complete the request

Select the current status, suppliers, responsible employee and estimated arrival date when known. Add an internal comment when the team needs additional context.

Managing the workflow

Each Shopify store manages its own suppliers and statuses. Statuses can have a label, color and Open-filter setting. Team members can update the status from the main list or from the order detail.

The timeline records internal comments and important order changes so the team can understand what happened and who updated the request.

Searching and filtering

The main list opens with the Open filter. Use the search field to find an order by order number, customer, supplier, employee or item. Select another status filter when you need to review completed, cancelled or archived work.

When a supplier or status is removed from Settings, the existing text stored on previous orders is not rewritten. Historical orders keep the information that was recorded at the time.

Customer arrival notifications

The current private beta supports these store-controlled delivery methods:

• Resend
• SMTP
• Gmail API for Google Workspace
• A custom HTTPS webhook

Before sending a notification, confirm the customer email, sender address and provider configuration in Settings. A successful delivery is recorded in the order timeline.

The message template can use the customer name, special order number, item list and current Shopify store name. Send the notification only after the requested items have arrived and the order details have been reviewed.

Draft orders and Shopify data

DL Special Orders keeps an operational record for the request. When the workflow requires it, an authorized user can explicitly create a Shopify draft order from that record. Shopify customers and products are selected from the store, while custom item details are stored with the special order and do not modify the original catalog product.

Data and privacy notes

Do not include passwords, API keys, OAuth tokens or payment information in internal comments. When contacting support, share only the store domain, affected special order number, expected result and the minimum screenshots needed to reproduce the issue.

Troubleshooting

Customer or product search is unavailable

Confirm that the app installation still has the customer, product and inventory read permissions requested during installation. Reauthorize the app after a permission change and retry the search.

An arrival email is not delivered

Verify the customer email, sender address and provider credentials. For Resend, confirm that the sender is verified. For SMTP, check the host, port and security mode. For Gmail, confirm OAuth send access and the authorized sender alias.

Need support?

Email support@dolphinland.org with the store domain, special order number, expected result and relevant screenshots. Do not send passwords, API keys, OAuth tokens or unnecessary customer information.