BigCommerce
Store Operations
Orders
Overview

Orders Overview

This article introduces BigCommerce's Orders V2 and Orders V3 REST API resources. Orders V2 exposes endpoints for creating, reading, updating, and deleting orders; it also includes endpoints for managing order shipments and order shipping addresses. Orders V3 surfaces order transactions and order refunds endpoints. For information on processing order payments by API, see Payments API Overview.

Prerequisites:

Creating an order

To create an order, send a POST request to /stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders.

Example request: Create an order
POST https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
{
  "billing_address": {
    "first_name": "Jane",
    "last_name": "Doe",
    "street_1": "123 Main Street",
    "city": "Austin",
    "state": "Texas",
    "zip": "78751",
    "country": "United States",
    "country_iso2": "US",
    "email": "janedoe@email.com"
  },
  "products": [
    {
      "name": "BigCommerce Coffee Mug",
      "quantity": 1,
      "price_inc_tax": 50,
      "price_ex_tax": 45
    }
  ]
}
  • The example above contains the minimum required fields for a create order request.
  • The product ordered is a custom product; custom products do not exist in the catalog.

Changing order status

Specify order status by including the status_id property in the create order request. To update an order and change its status, send a PUT request to /v2/orders/{{order_id}}.

Example request: Change order status
PUT https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders/{{order_id}}
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
{
  "status_id": 2
}

To get a list of order statuses, send a GET request to /stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/order_statuses.

Example request: Get order statuses
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/order_statuses
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
  • If not specified, status_id defaults to 1.
  • The refunded status is neither paid nor unpaid.
  • For information on changing custom_label in the control panel, see Order Statuses (opens in a new tab).
  • When an order is created, set to Awaiting Fulfillment, and then manually edited, inventory levels won't reflect a change in stock. To learn more about inventory stock settings, see Stock Adjustment Settings (opens in a new tab).

Specifying order customer

Specify the customer by including a customer_id in the create order request.

Example request: Specify order customer
POST https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
 
{
  "customer_id": 1,
  "billing_address": {...},
  "products": [...]
}

To get a list of customers, send a GET request to /stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v3/customers.

Example request: Get a list of customers
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v3/customers
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Accept: application/json

Set customer_id to 0 to create a guest order.

Including shipping addresses

Add shipping addresses by including a shipping_address array in the create order request.

Example request: add shipping addresses
POST https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
{
  "billing_address": {...},
  "shipping_addresses": [
    {
      "first_name": "Rusty",
      "last_name": "Gates",
      "company": "Example LLC",
      "street_1": "123 Example ST",
      "street_2": "",
      "city": "Austin",
      "state": "Texas",
      "zip": "12345",
      "country": "United States",
      "country_iso2": "US",
      "phone": "5128675309",
      "email": "rusty.gates@example.com"
    }
  ],
  "products": [...]
}

Add multiple shipping addresses to ship to multiple locations.

Adding products

Specify products from the catalog by including a products array in a POST request to the Create an order endpoint.

Example request: Add products
POST https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
{
  "billing_address": {...},
  "products": [
    {
      "name": "BigCommerce Coffee Mug", # custom product
      "quantity": 1,
      "price_inc_tax": 50,
      "price_ex_tax": 45
    },
    {
      "product_id": 184,               # product from catalog
      "quantity": 1,
      "product_options": [
        {
          "id": 200,
          "value": "180"
        },
        {
          "id": 230,
          "value": "192"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

To get the product_options.id and product_options.value of a product for the order products array, send the following GET request to Get variants by product id. See the example response that follows, or consult the response schema.

Example request: Get product variants
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v3/catalog/products/{{product_id}}/variants
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
  • Custom products do not get added to the catalog.
  • If the product's price is not specified in the create order request, BigCommerce's pricing service calculates the price by applying applicable currency conversions and pricing operations (such as price lists (opens in a new tab) and customer group discounts (opens in a new tab)) to the product's catalog price; use price_inc_tax and price_ex_tax to override the calculated price.
  • Marketing promotions currently do not apply to orders created with the Orders API.
  • If you override price_ex_tax or price_inc_tax, override both; otherwise, order totals will not calculate correctly.
  • Overriding price_inc_tax or price_ex_tax does not change variant pricing.

Creating order shipments

Once an order has products, a billing address, and a shipping address, you can create an order shipment.

To create an order shipment, send a POST request to /stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders/{{order_id}}/shipments.

Example request: Create an order shipment
POST https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}}/v2/orders/{{order_id}}/shipments
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
  "tracking_number": "EJ958083578UK",
  "comments": "Janes Order",
  "order_address_id": "128",
  "shipping_provider": "",
  "items": [
    {
      "order_product_id": 194,
      "quantity": 1
    },
    {
      "order_product_id": 195,
      "quantity": 1
    }
  ]
}
PropertyDescription
tracking_numberShipping provider tracking number; used to generate tracking link
commentsOptional comments
order_address_idObtain with Get Order Shipping Address
shipping_providerOptional; used to create tracking link; see Create Order Shipment for accepted values
items.order_product_idObtain with Get Order Products. For non-variant products, use the id.
  • Create multiple shipments by specifying a subset of products and quantities in each POST request.
  • Create an order shipment with product variants by using the id returned in each GET request.
  • Creating order shipments triggers email notifications; adjust Order Notification (opens in a new tab) settings in the control panel (opens in a new tab) to change this behavior.
  • Deleting a shipment does not move the order out of shipped status.

Shipping to multiple locations

You can create multiple shipments for orders, and each shipment can have a different order_address_id.

Example 1: order_address_id
POST https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}}/v2/orders/{{order_id}}/shipments
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
 
{
  "order_address_id": "123",
  "shipping_provider": "usps",
  "items": [
    {
      "order_product_id": 2,
      "quantity": 1
    }
  ]
}
PropertyDescription
order_address_idObtain with Get Order Shipping Address
shipping_providerOptional; used to create tracking link; see Create Order Shipment for accepted values
items.order_product_idObtain with Get Order Products. For non-variant products, use the id.

Getting shipping quotes

To get shipping quotes, send the following GET request. See the example response that follows, or consult the response schema.

Example request: Get shipping quotes
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders/{{order_id}}/shipping_addresses/{{shipping_address_id}}/shipping_quotes
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Accept: application/json

Generating a quote through a shipping carrier is not supported. You can specify a shipping carrier when creating an order shipment. You can generate the quote elsewhere, then update the shipping_cost_ex_tax and shipping_cost_inc_tax for the order total to be correct.

Getting order taxes

To get order taxes, send the following GET request. See the example response that follows, or consult the response schema.

Example request: Get order taxes
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v2/orders/{{order_id}}/taxes
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Accept: application/json

The response's order tax object name property gets set to API Tax Override when generated by third-party tax services like Avalara Premium (opens in a new tab).

Example response detail: Tax object from get order taxes
[
  {
    "id": 13,
    "order_id": 138,
    "order_address_id": 39,
    "tax_rate_id": 1,
    "tax_class_id": 0,
    "name": "API Tax Override",
    ...
  }
]

BigCommerce submits tax documents to Avalara when an order moves from an unpaid status to a paid status and voids tax documents when an order moves from a paid status to an unpaid status.

Existing StatusStatus PassedResultant StatusAvalara Tax Document Submission
AnyNonePendingNone
Paid or RefundedPaidPaidNone
Unpaid or RefundedUnpaidUnpaidNone
Paid or RefundedUnpaidUnpaidTax document voided
Unpaid or RefundedPaidPaidTax document submitted
  • Abbreviated state names (ex: CA instead of California) in an order address will cause tax document submission to fail.
  • You can calculate taxes using rules specified in the store unless automatic taxes (opens in a new tab) are enabled.
  • You can optionally override tax values by specifying price_inc_tax and price_ex_tax in an update order request.
  • If a store has automatic tax (opens in a new tab) enabled, BigCommerce does not compute sales tax on orders created with the API.

Getting order transactions

To get order transactions, send the following GET request. See the example response that follows, or consult the response schema.

Example request: Get order transactions
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v3/orders/{{order_id}}/transactions
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
Accept: application/json

Not all payment gateways return the full card or fraud detail. Depending on the payment method, different information will be available.

Handling refunds

Orders V3 exposes endpoints for managing order refunds. For an overview on using these endpoints, see Order Refunds in API Docs.

Calculating totals

Order subtotal and total calculate automatically; edits to the following properties trigger a recalculation.

PropertyTypeDescription
productsarray[obj]Used to calculate shipping, taxes, and subtotal
shipping_cost_ex_taxfloatShipping cost, excluding tax
shipping_cost_inc_taxfloatShipping cost, including tax
handling_cost_ex_taxfloatValue of handling cost, excluding tax
handling_cost_inc_taxfloatValue of handling cost, including tax
wrapping_cost_ex_taxfloatValue of wrapping cost, excluding tax
wrapping_cost_inc_taxfloatValue of wrapping cost, including tax
billing_addressobjUsed to calculate shipping and taxes
shipping_addressesarray[obj]Used to calculate shipping and taxes

You can override calculated values such as product prices, subtotals, and totals by sending a fixed value in the request. If you do not supply values for these properties, you will automatically calculate them based on the preset store values and tax rules.

  • If you override subtotal or total, override both; the system will not re-calculate the other.
  • To add a manual discount, overwrite the product price or discount_amount.

FAQ

Is adding coupons available?

Coupon redemption is unavailable. You can not write to the coupon_discount field. You can add a discount to the order by using the discount_amount.

How do I create an order for a guest?

To specify a guest checkout, set customer_id to 0.

How do I set the order source?

You cannot specify the order_source; its value is external. You can optionally specify a value for external_source to define which external source the order is coming from - e.g., POS system X, accounting system Y, etc.

Can I create an order with only custom products?

Yes, the store's catalog does not include products.

What is the difference between country_ISO2 and country?

There is no requirement to specify country when you specify country_ISO2 in the shipping and billing addresses and vice versa.

How can I take payment for an order?

You can either process payment through a third party or using the control panel.

Can I generate a shipping quote from a carrier using the API?

Not at this time. If you create an order either in the control panel or by API, it will return a 204 when trying to get a shipping quote.

Related resources

Articles

Endpoints

Webhooks

  • [Orders](/docs/integrations/webhooks/events#orders
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