The Order Flow

When a customer submits a buylist order, it enters a structured workflow that takes them from “I have cards” to “I have cash (or store credit).” This doc covers the end-to-end process from both sides of the counter.

Each order gets a unique reference code in XXXX-XXXX-XXXX format. Customers use this to look up their order status at any time.

The Full Order Lifecycle

Customer submits
       ↓
    Pending  ←─ Your store reviews
       ↓
   Approved  ←─ Customer ships
       ↓
  In Transit  ←─ Tracking number provided
       ↓
   Received  ←─ Your team grades cards
       ↓
  Offer Sent  ←─ Customer reviews and decides
      ↙  ↘
Accepted   Rejected
    ↓           ↓
Payment     Returning
 Pending        ↓
    ↓       Completed
Completed

Stage 1: Customer Submits (Pending)

A customer browses your public buylist, adds cards to their offer, and submits. They provide:

• Their name and email address
• Which cards they’re selling (card, condition, quantity, variant)
• Payout preference: direct payout or store credit

The moment they submit:

• Your store gets an email notification at all organization member addresses
• The customer gets an order confirmation email with their reference code
• The order appears in your Orders queue with status Pending

What you need to decide: Approve or decline the submission. Review the order — check that it’s complete, that you actually want those cards, and that the customer appears legitimate. Most stores approve everything and handle condition disputes at grading.

Stage 2: Store Approves (Approved → In Transit)

When you approve an order, the customer receives an email with:

• Confirmation that their order is approved
• Your shipping address
• Instructions on how to package and ship
• Their reference code to include in the package

Your responsibility here: Respond promptly. If you don’t approve within a reasonable window, Sideboard sends the customer a reminder automatically after 24 hours of no activity — nudging them to ship once approved.

Once the customer ships, they enter their tracking number via the order lookup tool. The order moves to In Transit and you receive a shipment notification email.

Stage 3: Cards Received — Grading

When the package arrives, mark the order as Received in Sideboard.

Now comes grading. For each card in the order, your team:

1. Opens each line item
2. Assigns an actual condition (NM, LP, MP, HP, DMG) — this may differ from what the customer claimed
3. Marks each individual copy as Accepted or Rejected

Grading happens at the unit level. If a customer submitted 4 copies of Lightning Bolt LP, you grade each of the 4 copies individually. Some might be LP as claimed; others might actually be HP. Each gets its own grade and accept/reject decision.

Condition adjustments recalculate automatically. If a customer submitted a card as LP but you grade it as MP, the payout for that copy drops from 90% to 75% of the base price. The customer will see this adjustment when the offer arrives.

Rejected cards contribute $0 to the offer. They’ll be returned to the customer. You can reject cards that are below your minimum acceptable condition or are the wrong card entirely.

Stage 4: Offer Sent

Once all cards are graded, click Send Offer to push the final offer to the customer.

The customer receives an email with:

• Itemized list of accepted and rejected cards
• Condition adjustments applied
• Final offer total (cash and store credit options shown side by side)
• A link to accept or decline

If the customer chose direct payout, the payout offer is shown. If they chose store credit, the offer shows both the direct payout amount and the store credit amount (with the bonus applied — e.g., $10 cash / $13 store credit at 30% bonus).

24-hour reminder: If the customer hasn’t responded within 24 hours, Sideboard sends an automatic reminder email. No manual follow-up needed.

Stage 5: Customer Decides

If They Accept

The order moves to Accepted → Payment Pending.

Process the payout:

• Direct payout: Handle this outside Sideboard (in-person, bank transfer, PayPal, e-transfer, etc.). Mark as complete when done.
• Store credit: Sideboard adds the credit to the customer’s store credit balance automatically when you mark the order complete. The transaction is recorded with a reference to the order for your records.

Mark the order Completed once payment is processed.

If They Decline

The order moves to Rejected → Returning.

You’ll need to ship the cards back to the customer. Once returned, mark the order Completed.

It’s worth noting: offer declines are uncommon when prices are competitive and clearly communicated. If you’re seeing frequent declines, it usually signals a mismatch between quoted prices (at submission) and graded prices (at offer) — worth reviewing your grading process or condition adjustment settings.

Adding to an Order

After an order is received, you can add cards to it manually — useful when a customer included extra cards not listed in their submission, or when a collection comes with bonus items.

Go to the order and use Add Item to include additional cards with their condition and quantity.

Comments and Notes

Any team member can add internal comments to an order at any stage. These are visible to your team only — not to the customer. Use them to flag issues, track decisions, or leave notes for the next person who picks up the order.

Emails: What Goes Out Automatically

To the Customer

To Your Team

All outgoing emails come from orders@sideboard.gg.

Multi-Game Orders

If a customer submits cards from multiple games in a single order, Sideboard handles pricing correctly for each game — using that game’s buylist rules and condition defaults. You don’t need to split orders by game.

What’s Next

• Creating a Buylist — Set up your buylist before taking orders
• Buy Pricing Rules — Price rules that determine offer amounts
• Quantity Rules — Control how many copies you accept
• The Customer-Facing Buylist — What customers experience
• ../customers/store-credit — Store credit balance management

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