# A sale's timeline

Sales > How a sale moves · How it works · https://vendordue.com/docs/sale-timeline

**In short:** A sale's timeline shows where its money stands and everything that happened to it, oldest first, with the days still ahead greyed at the bottom. Each line is one event in plain words: sold, shipped, held, refunded, landed, paid. Where a person did it, it gives their name.

Who: Admin, Viewer. Where: Activity > any row > Timeline.

Every sale, refund and payout has a timeline. It's the answer when someone asks "what happened to this?", and it's the same story your vendor reads on their side.

## The stages across the top

Four stages, left to right: **Sold**, **Scheduled**, **To pay** and **Paid**. A sale still waiting has a fifth, **On hold**, after Sold.

| The dot | Means |
| --- | --- |
| Filled | Reached, with its day under it |
| Ringed | The stage it's waiting on now |
| Ringed in amber | A hold stopped it there; the word under it says which |
| Hollow | Still ahead, with the earliest day it can happen |
| Red mark | Something undid it since, like **Refunded**, **Payment voided** or **Sent back** |

Under To pay, while a payout is unpaid, is what's still owed, like **$72.00 owed**.

## The story, line by line

Under the stages, everything that happened, oldest first. Each line has its day, a sentence and, where money moved, the amount.

Here's the mug on 10 September, shipped and inside its return window:

*The stoneware mug's timeline on 10 September.*

The greyed lines at the bottom are what's still ahead, so you can see the whole road from where it stands: the window ends on the 18th, it lands on 1 October, and then it's yours to pay.

## What each line says

**The sale.** "Sold on order #1047, 1 × Stoneware mug. Alder Ceramics earns $72.00 at 60% of revenue." Under it, when it shipped.

**Holds.** A hold that needs your decision reads "Held:" and what it's about. When it's sorted it reads **Cleared by** and the person's name, **Cleared on its own**, or **Ignored by** and a name.

**Refunds.** "Refunded in Shopify", with the amount in red. Under it, where the money comes off: "Comes off Alder Ceramics' next payout", or "Taken off the payout that landed 1 Oct 2026".

**Charges and other lines.** "Charged Booth rent", "Taken back", "Goodwill refund, decided by" a name, "Adjusted by" a name with their reason.

**Landing.** How the payout landed, and that the vendor was sent it:

| It reads | Because |
| --- | --- |
| **Landed on its date** | Its pay day came |
| **Landed early by** a name | Someone pressed Pay now |
| **Landed when** the vendor **asked to be paid** | They asked, and it was accepted |
| **Landed when a hold was released** | You released a hold on them |

**Confirmed.** "Confirmed by Alder Ceramics", when the vendor pressed **Looks right to me** on their payout.

**Questions.** "Alder Ceramics asked about this line", and "You answered". The words themselves are under **Messages**, next to the timeline.

**Payments.** "Payment recorded by" a name, with its receipt number. Under it, how it was paid and the reference you gave, like "Check, 1043", and then:

- "The payout is paid in full."
- "$36.00 of $72.00 went to this payout", when one payment covered more than one payout, or only part.
- "Paid before this payout was made, so it came off as credit."

A payment sent with Send now reads "Sent through PayPal" or "Sent through Venmo". One that came back reads "Venmo sent receipt R-2026-0004 back." A voided payment reads **Payment voided**.

## Who sees what

You see the name of the person on your team behind each act. Your vendor sees the same events from their side: "You confirmed it", "Fernhill Pottery answered", and the words of each question and answer in the timeline itself. They never see your share or your team's notes.

## When it looks wrong

### A line I expected isn't there

Lines only appear for what has happened. A payout that hasn't landed has no landing line, and an order Shopify hasn't marked shipped has no shipped line under the sale. If Shopify shows something VendorDue doesn't, **Check Shopify now** reads your store again.

### It says the vendor confirmed a payment they say they didn't get

**Looks right to me** is the vendor's own press. Ask them, and check the payment's reference against your bank. If the payment was wrong, void it. See [Record a payment](https://vendordue.com/docs/record-a-payment#fix-a-payment-you-recorded).

## Common questions

**Can I edit or delete a line on the timeline?** No. A timeline is a record of what happened. To correct something, you add to it: a voided payment, a refund, a charge taken back. Each says who did it.

**Does a payout have a timeline too?** Yes. Open any payout in Payouts and its timeline shows when it landed, every payment, and anything sent back.

**Why is a day ahead with no date?** Its payout waits for something rather than a day, like the vendor asking to be paid. The line says what.

Checked against VendorDue on 2026-10-06.