Online Order Alerts & Tickets
Use this page to understand the chime and printed ticket you get when an online order comes in, and what to do with the order.
Quick steps
- When you hear the new order chime (or a ticket prints), finish what you're doing.
- With the cart empty, tap the Orders tab in Sales History under the cart. The badge shows how many orders are waiting.
- Tap the order to see what the customer bought and how they'll get it.
- For a pickup order, get it ready. If you can, tap Mark Ready (notify customer) so they get a "your order is ready" email.
- When the customer comes in, open the order, tap Load into Register and take payment with CASH or a card button.
On the browser version, tap the register screen once after it loads. Browsers block sound until you do, so the chime can't play.
Common questions
It keeps chiming. Your store has Keep chiming on. Open the Orders tab and the repeat chime stops.
The chime plays but nothing prints. That can be normal. Only online-store orders print a ticket (WooCommerce orders only chime), and in a store with several registers only one register prints.
I can't see Load into Register. You need the Manage Orders permission. Ask a manager.
Can the customer pay with a gift card or store credit at pickup? No. Take the payment as cash or card.
More detail: what alerts you get
When a customer orders from your online storefront or WooCommerce shop, Brother POS can alert staff in two ways, so nobody misses an order while serving in-store customers:
- A chime plays on the register. This works for storefront and WooCommerce orders.
- A "new order" ticket prints automatically on your label or receipt printer. This works for storefront orders only.
Both are optional, and your admin turns them on. This page covers what cashiers see. For the setup steps, see Online Order Notifications (Admin).
How It Works
While the register is open and online, it checks for new online orders about every 15 seconds. You don't need the orders screen open. The alert works from anywhere in the register.
When a new order arrives:
- The register plays the notification chime, if sound is on.
- A new order ticket prints, if auto-print is on and it's a storefront order.
The order itself appears in the Orders tab of Sales History (under the cart when it's empty), where you handle it. See WooCommerce Orders and Phone Orders, Delivery & Shipping for what to do next.
When the register first loads, it notes the orders already waiting and doesn't alert for them. Reloading the register or opening another till won't re-chime or reprint those orders. Only orders that arrive after that point trigger an alert.
More detail: the arrival chime
The Arrival Chime
The chime plays once when a new order arrives. A few things to know:
- Volume is set by your admin.
- Keep chiming (optional): with this on, the register chimes again every 20 seconds until someone opens the Orders tab, so an order can't sit unnoticed during a rush.
- Per-vertical sounds (optional): stores that sell different kinds of products can play a different chime for each, for example one sound for a food order and another for a cannabis order. An order that mixes groups plays the "mixed" sound. If this isn't set up, every order plays the default chime.
Web browsers block sound until someone interacts with the page. On the browser version, tap or click the register once after it loads so the chime can play. The Brother POS iPad/Android app doesn't need this.
More detail: the auto-printed ticket and which register prints
The Auto-Printed Ticket
When auto-print is on, a ticket prints as soon as a new storefront order arrives. WooCommerce orders still chime but don't print a ticket.
What's on it depends on the printer:
| Printer | What the ticket shows |
|---|---|
| Receipt printer | "NEW ONLINE ORDER", customer name and phone, order total, order number, pickup / delivery / mail order, delivery address (for delivery and mail orders), scheduled time if any, the time it was received, and up to 6 items |
| Label printer | A bag label: pickup / delivery / mail order, customer name and phone, delivery address, order total, scheduled time and order number (no item list) |
Your admin chooses where it prints:
| Setting | What prints |
|---|---|
| Off | No ticket (the chime can still play) |
| Label printer | A label |
| Receipt printer | A receipt-style ticket |
| Both label + receipt | One of each |
The ticket prints on the label or receipt printer that's already set up for the register.
Even with the chime off, the ticket works as a silent notification. Staff just grab the slip off the printer as orders come in.
Which Register Prints? (Designated Register)
In a store with several registers, you don't want a copy printing at every till. Your admin can choose one register to print online order tickets, using the Print from this register setting.
- The chime still sounds on every register, so all staff hear it.
- The ticket prints only from the chosen register.
If this is set to Any register (single-register stores), every open register prints its own copy.
Choose the register nearest your pickup or packing area, so tickets land where staff put orders together.
More detail: examples
Common Scenarios
A ticket printed but there's no order on screen
Open the Orders tab. The order is there; the ticket just printed before you looked. If it's really missing, check your internet connection.
The chime plays but nothing prints
This can be normal. Auto-print may be off, this register may not be the one chosen to print, or the order came from WooCommerce (only storefront orders print). Also check that a label or receipt printer is connected to this register.
Orders keep chiming
That's the Keep chiming option working as intended. Open the Orders tab and the repeat chime stops.
More detail: taking payment when a storefront order is picked up
Taking Payment When a Storefront Order Is Picked Up
When the customer comes in for a storefront pickup order:
- Open the Orders tab and tap the order.
- Tap Load into Register. The order goes into the cart.
- Take payment with CASH or a card button.
Load into Register needs the Manage Orders permission. Without it, the order shows a note to ask a manager instead of the button.
Other buttons on a storefront order:
- Mark Ready (notify customer) — for a pickup order that's still pending. The customer gets the same "your order is ready" email as when it's marked ready in the admin panel. Needs Manage Orders.
- Print Kitchen Ticket — stores using the kitchen ticket workflow, so the kitchen can start on it before it's paid.
- Cancel Order — cancels the order after you confirm. Needs Manage Orders.
The order is recorded on the register taking the payment, so the cash lands in that register's drawer.
Split payments, gift cards and store credit can't be used for a storefront order at pickup. If you try, you'll see "Take this order's payment as cash or card. Split, gift card and store credit payments can't be recorded when completing an online order."
If your store charges tax on delivery and shipping fees (Charge tax on delivery and shipping fees, in the Delivery & Shipping Fees section of the Sales & Integrations tab in Settings > Edit Settings), a delivery fee or shipping charge on the order is taxed at your store's rate (GST and PST, or your single rate), so the tax you see in the cart includes the tax on the fee. The same goes for a delivery or shipping order you take at the register with Create Order: its tax and total include it. See Phone Orders, Delivery & Shipping.
If the store enforces the daily cannabis limit, the order you load isn't counted twice: it shows under This cart, and Purchased today covers the customer's other purchases and other waiting online orders. See Compliance.
Delivery and shipping orders aren't taken at the register. They're managed from Online Orders in the admin panel. When a manager clicks Complete Order there on an order the customer paid for in person, they're asked how it was paid and, for cash, which open drawer the cash went into, so it's counted in that drawer like a register payment. See Online Storefront.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| No chime ever plays | Ask your admin to check that the sound is turned on in Settings. On the browser version, tap the screen once after loading so sound can play. |
| One register is silent | Every register should chime. Tap that register's screen once and check the device's volume and mute switch. |
| Ticket doesn't print | Check that it's a storefront order, that a label or receipt printer is set up on this register, and that this is the register chosen to print (or that "Any register" is selected). |
| Every till prints a copy | Your admin needs to choose one register in Print from this register. |
Best Practices
- Turn on Keep chiming for busy periods so a new order can't slip past while you're serving the counter.
- Choose the register at your packing area as the one that prints, so tickets land where the work happens.
- Keep the register open on at least one device. Alerts only happen while the POS is open and online.
- Use per-vertical sounds if you sell very different product lines, so staff know at a glance what just came in.
What's Next?
- WooCommerce Orders: view, load and complete online orders at the register.
- Phone Orders, Delivery & Shipping: take phone orders and process delivery and shipping orders.
- Online Order Notifications (Admin): set up the chime, auto-print and the printing register.