How 3D Print Sellers Keep Track of Orders

Most of us start with a spreadsheet, a notes app or our messages. That holds up until orders have several parts, run on several printers and have clashing due dates. What works is one record per order (customer, due date, status), a board showing every order by stage, and each printed part tracked on its own until the parcel ships.

We started Fox & Train the same way: orders on one page, filament on another, customer details scattered across messages and notes. This is the setup we use now.

Step by step

1. Put every order in one list

An order that lives only in a chat thread is an order you will forget. Wherever it came from (your website, a market stall, a direct message), it goes into the same list the moment the customer says yes.

In FoxTrack, New order on the Orders page opens the order form. Give the order a project title, a customer, a status and a due date, and if you like a priority and a sales channel. The order number is assigned when you first save, so you never type it.

2. Keep the customer with the order

Pick the customer in the order's Customer field, or create a new one from the same field. Next time they order, their details are already there, and opening the customer shows every order linked to them with its status, due date and total.

3. Use statuses that match your real work

A status only helps if it matches what is happening on the bench. Keep the list short: one status for each place an order waits, such as not started, printing, ready to pack and shipped.

In FoxTrack the statuses are the columns of the order board on the dashboard. Add column and Edit column shape the list, and Rules on a column can act when an order enters it, for example to set the shipping status or clear the due date. Drag an order from one column to the next as the work moves.

4. Put a due date on every order

Without due dates, the loudest customer goes first. With them, you can plan the week. Orders due in the coming week appear under Upcoming deadlines on the dashboard, and an order close to its due date raises an Order due soon notification.

5. Track each printed part, not only the order

One order can be a lampshade in one colour, two brackets in another and a base that prints overnight. "Printing" on the whole order does not tell you which part is on which printer, so track each line on its own.

In FoxTrack every line on an order has its own item status, from a list you set under Settings → Item Statuses. The Fulfillment page in the sidebar is the queue for the print room: every line still in production, grouped By Order or By Printer. Click a status to move a line on, and pick the printer it runs on. When a line reaches a status that is linked to a board column, the order moves on the board by itself. To follow each piece of a line with a quantity of three, Split turns it into three lines, each with its own status and printer.

6. Let orders move your stock

If an order uses filament or finished stock, saving it should update that stock for you. In FoxTrack, saving an order takes filament grams off the spools for products you make to order, and takes finished items off the shelf for products you sell from stock. Editing the order reverses the old movement first, so nothing is counted twice. We cover the filament side in how to track filament stock without a spreadsheet.

7. Pack, ship and invoice from the same record

Each order has its own fulfillment page. Print packing slip downloads a PDF of the parcel contents. Once every line is finished, Mark packed sets the order's shipping status to Packed. The carrier and tracking number go in the Shipment block on the order form, and Create invoice makes an invoice with the order's lines and totals copied across.

Moving over from a spreadsheet

Import CSV on the Orders page loads orders from a CSV file, so you can bring your open orders across instead of typing them again.

Questions

Is a spreadsheet enough to track 3D print orders?

For a few single-part orders a week, it can be. It gets hard when one order has several parts, when you need to know which printer has which part, or when stock and invoices have to agree with the orders.

How do I track an order with several printed parts?

Give each part its own line on the order. Each line then has its own status and printer, and the order moves forward on the board as its lines do.

What order statuses should a 3D print shop use?

One for each place an order waits is usually enough. Add a column later if orders pile up in one place.

How do I stop missing deadlines?

Put a due date on every order when you take it, and look at the coming week every morning. In FoxTrack the Upcoming deadlines panel shows that week, and Month view shows the whole month.