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TWELVETAKE CART

Admin Guide

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Getting Started

Setup Wizard

When you first log into the admin panel, the Setup Wizard guides you through 8 steps:

  1. Identity: Enter your store name, description, and contact email.
  2. Location & Currency: Set your country, address, currency code and symbol.
  3. Business Profile: Enter your business type, tax ID, and payout email. You can also turn on W-9 collection for US vendors and affiliates.
  4. Payment Processing: Select and configure your payment processor (Square, Stripe, PayPal, or manual).
  5. Shipping Basics: Set up a basic shipping rule (flat rate, free over a threshold, or weight-based).
  6. Email Delivery: Configure SMTP for transactional emails.
  7. First Product: Create your first product with a name, SKU, price, and images.
  8. Launch: Review everything and enable the storefront.

You can skip steps and return later. The Setup Checklist widget on your dashboard tracks remaining tasks.

Admin Panel Layout

  • Left sidebar: Navigation to all admin sections
  • Top bar: Store name, quick links, your account
  • Main area: Page content

Dashboard

The dashboard shows an at-a-glance overview: recent orders with status, sales summary (today, this week, this month), setup checklist for remaining tasks, low stock alerts, and pending reviews awaiting approval.

Products & Categories

Creating a Product

  1. Go to Products > New Product
  2. Fill in: name, SKU, price, compare-at price, and status (active/draft/archived)
  3. Write the full description. The toolbar above the box handles headings, bold and italic, lists, quotes, links, and images.
  4. Assign to a category and add tags
  5. Upload images. Drag and drop or browse. First image is primary. Reorder by dragging.
  6. Click Save

Checking your work before customers see it. Preview opens the real product page in a new tab. Draft and archived products return a 404 for shoppers, but load for you while you are signed in to the admin, with a banner confirming the page is not public.

Variants & Options

Products can have options (like Size, Color) that create variants. Each variant has its own SKU, price, stock quantity, weight, and backorder mode. Add options, enter values, and click Generate Variants to create all combinations.

Categories

Categories can be hierarchical (parent/child). Each category has a name, slug, optional parent, and optional image.

Collections

Collections come in two types. Manual collections hold products you pick by hand, and Smart collections fill themselves from rules such as tag or price range.

Product Badges

Badges are visual labels shown on product cards, such as New, Sale, or Featured. Create badges with custom label, background color, and text color. Assign to products from the product editor or badge manager.

Size Guides

Create measurement tables and assign them to product categories so customers see the right guide on product pages.

Orders & Fulfillment

Order Lifecycle

Orders flow through statuses: Pending, Awaiting Approval, On Hold, In Production, Ready to Ship, Shipped, Completed, Cancelled, or Refunded. Not every order goes through every status.

Managing an Order

From the order detail page you can update status, edit items with automatic total recalculation, add internal or customer-visible notes, process refunds, print PDF invoices and packing slips, create shipping labels, and send tracking emails.

Manual Orders

Create orders manually at Orders > New Order for phone orders or in-person sales.

Quotes

Send price proposals before the customer commits. Dual approval workflow: both sides must approve. Any modification resets both approvals. Once approved, the quote converts to a payable invoice.

Invoices

Invoices are generated from orders or quotes. Customers with net terms receive invoices they can pay later at a self-service payment page, and they can pay in parts.

Customers

Customer profiles show contact info, order history, lifetime spend, saved addresses, group/segment memberships, loyalty points, subscription status, and notes.

Groups & Segments

Groups are manual collections for VIP pricing, restricted access, or targeted promotions. Segments are automatic: customers are included based on rules (spend, order count, location, registration date).

B2B Companies

When B2B is enabled, you can set up company accounts with multiple users, purchase order numbers, net terms so the company pays by invoice later, and pricing specific to that company.

Promotions & Coupons

Create promotions at Promotions > New Promotion:

  • Types: Coupon (requires code), automatic (applies when conditions met), sale price
  • Discounts: Percentage, fixed amount, free shipping, BOGO
  • Conditions: Minimum spend/quantity, specific products/categories, customer eligibility, date range
  • Limits: Total usage limit, per-customer limit, max discount cap
  • Codes: Single code or bulk generate with prefix
  • Share links & QR: Each code offers "Copy link" and a QR image on the Codes page. Anyone opening the link (or scanning the QR) gets the code applied automatically at checkout — it follows them while they browse. Combine up to 3 codes in one link with the Share Link builder (subject to your stacking mode).

Stacking modes: None (one discount per order), Best Wins (highest value applies), or Controlled (multiple stack). A global max discount percentage cap prevents excessive stacking.

Gift Cards

Enable in Settings > Gift Cards. Configure denominations, custom amount range, expiry, and code prefix. Customers purchase on the storefront and send via email. Recipients apply the code at checkout. Create cards manually for promotions or customer service.

Shipping

Configure shipping rules as flat rate, free shipping above a threshold, or weight-based, and scope them by region or country. Generate shipping labels from order detail pages, or enter a carrier and tracking number to email the customer a tracking link.

Payments

Supported processors: Square (cards, refunds, subscriptions), Stripe (cards, refunds, subscriptions), PayPal (checkout, refunds), and Offline (check, bank transfer, PO). Configure in Settings > Payment with sandbox/production modes. Process refunds (full or partial) from the order detail page.

Returns & Refunds

Enable in Settings > Returns. Configure return window, require reason, policy text, and instructions.

Workflow: Customer requests return → admin reviews → customer ships item → admin marks received → refund issued (original payment or store credit).

Exchanges: Customers can request a different size/color instead of a return. Keep-it refunds: For orders under a threshold, the customer keeps the item and receives a partial refund.

Inventory Management

Each variant tracks stock quantity, automatically decremented on order. Set a global low stock threshold (default: 5) with per-product overrides. Backorder modes: disallow, allow, or allow with notification. Inventory reservations prevent overselling during checkout.

Merch Builder

Setup

  1. Enable in Settings > Merch Builder
  2. Configure product types (e.g. "Classic T-Shirt") with blank images, print zones, zone pricing, and quantity breaks
  3. Configure service fees for custom design work and image upgrades

Customer Experience

Customers choose a product type, select a blank (brand, style, color), choose print zones, upload artwork, set quantity per size, and see real-time pricing including zone costs and quantity breaks.

Fulfillment

Merch orders have special tools: view artwork and print specifications, track production progress, upload production photos, record blank orders, and receive and check in deliveries.

Digital Products

Enable in Settings > Digital Products. Configure download link expiry, max file size, and allowed extensions. Create products with the Digital type and upload files. Customers access downloads from their account after purchase. Supports TwelveTake Vault integration for automatic license key generation.

Subscriptions

Create subscription products with configurable billing intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) and optional free trials. Customers can pause, resume, cancel, skip, or swap plans from their account. Admin panel shows upcoming renewals, payment failures, and subscription analytics (MRR, churn). When a payment fails, it is retried on the schedule you set and the reminder emails escalate.

Marketing

Email Marketing

Build subscriber lists with double opt-in from capture forms on your storefront, then send campaigns once or on a schedule using templates you reuse. Automation rules cover welcome series, post-purchase, and win-back messages, and the reports show opens, clicks, and conversions.

SMS Marketing

SMS goes out through Twilio. You can run campaigns and automations, A/B test them, target segments, manage opt-ins and opt-outs, set quiet hours, and track delivery.

Abandoned Cart Recovery

Enable in Settings > Cart Recovery. Configure abandonment window, up to 3 recovery emails with configurable delays and optional discount incentives.

Loyalty & Rewards

Configure earning rules (per dollar, per order, account creation, birthday, reviews, referrals), tiers with increasing benefits, and redemption options (points-to-dollar conversion, redemption catalog, minimum points). Customers view their status, point history, and available rewards from their account.

Vendors

The vendor/consignment system lets third parties sell through your store. Commission can be calculated on margin, as a percentage, or as a flat fee. Vendors get their own dashboard for sales, orders, and payout tracking, and you pay them through PayPal, Venmo, or by hand. For tax, the system collects W-9s, tracks the $599 payout cap, and generates 1099-NEC PDFs.

Affiliates

Signup can be open, invite-only, or subject to your approval. You set a global commission rate and override it per category or per product, and commissions can run two levels deep. Affiliates get referral links, performance stats, earnings history, and W-9 submission. Fraud detection tracks self-referrals, unusual click ratios, and rapid-fire clicks.

Content Management

CMS Pages

Create static pages (About Us, Contact, Policies) with rich text editor, URL slug, and publish/draft status. Served at /shop/pages/<slug>.

Blog

Create and schedule posts with authors, categories, tags, comments, and SEO metadata. Served at /shop/blog/<slug>.

FAQ

Questions and answers are organized by category, shown as expanding panels, and marked up so search engines can read them.

Navigation

Customize storefront navigation: reorder items, add links to pages/categories/collections/URLs, create dropdown menus with drag-and-drop ordering.

URL Redirects

You can create permanent (301) and temporary (302) redirects, and import or export them in bulk.

Analytics & Reports

Built-In Reports

The built-in reports cover sales summary, product and category performance, new versus returning customers, inventory, backorders, tax, refunds, and shipping costs.

Advanced Analytics

You also get conversion funnels, customer lifetime value by cohort, retention analysis, a custom report builder, A/B tests, and goal tracking with progress indicators. Any report exports as CSV, PDF, or JSON, and you can have it emailed on a schedule.

Store Settings

Settings are organized in tabs:

  • General: Store name, country, currency, brand color, session timeouts
  • SEO: Title separator, OpenGraph image, organization type, social links, sitemap, robots.txt
  • Orders: Cancellation/refund statuses, custom status labels
  • Reviews: Enable/disable, require approval, require purchase
  • Tax: Default rate, included vs added, jurisdictions, exemptions
  • Payment: Processor selection, credentials, sandbox/production
  • Inventory: Low stock threshold, backorder mode, reservations
  • Promotions: Enable/disable, stacking mode, max discount cap
  • Cart Recovery: Enable, timing, email sequence, discount incentives
  • Gift Cards: Enable, denominations, custom range, expiry
  • Digital Products: Download expiry, max file size, allowed extensions
  • Returns: Enable, window, require reason, policy text
  • B2B: Enable, PO numbers, net terms, quotes
  • Merch Builder: Enable, service fees, DPI limits
  • Integrations: TwelveTake Vault

Additional Settings Pages

Appearance (theme colors, fonts, logo, favicon), API Keys, Webhooks, Currencies, Languages, Tax Jurisdictions, Tax Exemptions, Custom Fields, and Notifications (email template customization).

Staff & Permissions

Manage staff accounts with role assignment and two-factor authentication. Define roles with granular permissions per module (products, orders, customers, settings, financial data, staff management). Full audit log tracks who did what and when.

Import & Export

Importing Products

  • From WooCommerce: Upload CSV, preview data, confirm import
  • From Shopify: Upload CSV, preview, confirm
  • From Any CSV: Upload CSV, map columns to fields (with auto-matching), preview, confirm

Exporting Data

Export products, orders, and customers as CSV. Use filters for subsets.

Bulk Operations

You can bulk edit product status, category, and pricing, import customers and add them to groups in bulk, and update or export orders in bulk.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Orders not processing: Check payment processor configuration and credentials. Check the order events log for error messages.

Emails not sending: Open Settings → Email Delivery, verify your SMTP credentials, and use its Save & Send Test button — it reports the actual SMTP error instead of failing silently.

Products not showing: Ensure status is active, at least one variant has stock (or backorders allowed), and product is assigned to a visible category.

Images not loading: Check that data/media/ exists and is writable.

Tax not calculating: Check default rate and jurisdiction configuration. Verify the "tax included in prices" toggle.

Built-In Diagnostic Tools

  • API Documentation at /api-docs.html
  • Audit Log: Check recent admin actions
  • Order Events: Every status change and note is tracked
  • Webhook Logs: View delivery attempts and errors

Data Backup

Your entire store data lives in the data/ directory: store.db (database) and uploads/ (media files). Back up this directory regularly. If you are backing up while the store is running, use sqlite3 data/store.db ".backup data/backup.db" to copy the database. A plain file copy of a live database can miss recent orders.