> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.help.creatora.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage orders and payments

> Check orders, record external sales, and handle refunds, disputes, and billing details.

Orders record sales in Creatora. Under **Sales > Orders**, you can check what was purchased, order statuses and amounts, record sales made externally, and manage refunds and disputes.

Student access to courses is managed separately. To check or change it, see [Manage students and access](/en/students-and-orders/manage-students-and-access).

## Find and check an order

In the **Admin Panel**, go to **Sales > Orders**.

The initial view shows completed orders for the selected period. If you cannot find an order, check the applied filters first.

You can filter orders by date, status, payment method, offer, course, service, coupon, or student, among other fields. Available statuses are:

* **Open**
* **Succeeded**
* **Failed**
* **Refunded**
* **Disputed**

Keep in mind that a course obtained directly through a free offer can grant access without creating an order.

Select **View** to open an order's details. Here you can check the order status and amounts, the student, the offer used, and the included products.

If the offer was changed or a coupon was added or removed during checkout, the order details also include **Captured events**, showing the events recorded during those changes.

## Payments handled with Stripe

Stripe is the payment system integrated with Creatora.

Money operations, such as a refund or dispute, take place in Stripe. After handling them in Stripe, also record them on the Creatora order using **Refund** or **Dispute**.

This keeps revenue data in Creatora up to date and lets you choose whether to update the student's access as well.

If you use an external payment system, you can [integrate it with Creatora through the API](/en/sell-and-launch/sell-with-creatora-pages-or-your-own#use-an-external-landing-page-and-checkout). In that case, payment management remains in the external system.

## Record a sale made outside Creatora

If you received payment by bank transfer or another external channel, you can record the sale by creating a **manual order**.

Go to **Sales > Orders** and select **Create manually**.

A manual order lets you record the sale in Creatora and assign students what they purchased. The sale is then included in platform data and statistics.

When creating it, you can enter the sale date, select one or more students, and choose an existing offer or define a custom offer.

You can also record the applied discount, payment cost, billing details, and an internal note.

## Refund an order

If you need to return money for a payment made with Stripe, first issue the refund in your Stripe account by following the [Stripe guide](https://docs.stripe.com/refunds).

After issuing the refund, return to the order details in Creatora and select **Refund**. Enter the refunded amount and confirm.

<Warning>
  **Refund** does not return money to the student. It records in Creatora the refund you already issued in Stripe so the order's revenue data stays up to date.
</Warning>

During the same operation, you can choose whether to also remove access to one or more courses included in the order. The refund and access removal are therefore separate actions.

## Record a dispute

The payment dispute is handled in Stripe. Once you know the outcome, record it on the Creatora order by selecting **Dispute**.

Enter the dispute cost and select the outcome with **I won** or **I lost**.

<Warning>
  **Dispute** does not open or manage the dispute with Stripe. It records the outcome in Creatora so the order's revenue data stays up to date.
</Warning>

You can also choose separately whether to remove access to courses included in the order.

## Invoice details

During checkout, the buyer can select **Add VAT number** and enter the details associated with their VAT number. If they provided them during a previous purchase, Creatora can fill them in automatically.

In the order list, the indicator in the **VAT ID** column turns green when these details are available for the order. Open the order to view them.

Creatora collects and stores the entered data but does not automatically generate or send an invoice. The administrator decides how to use the data and handles any invoicing with the system they prefer.