The steps of a request
Every order, booking or inquiry a customer sends arrives in Requests (bookings also in Bookings, inquiries in Inquiries). It moves through these steps:
| Step | What it means |
|---|---|
| New | The customer sent it. It waits for your answer — it never expires. |
| Accepted | You said yes. The fee is charged now. |
| In progress | You tapped Start preparing. |
| Done | You tapped Mark as done. |
| Rejected | You said no to a new request. |
| Cancelled | You or the customer cancelled it. |
Rejected, done and cancelled requests are final. A booking or class whose start time has passed can still be accepted, or rejected.
Accepting
Tap Accept (for a booking Confirm, for an inquiry Accept lead). The button shows the fee before you tap it — or that the request is free this month because you reached your monthly cap. There is no second question: one tap accepts and charges the fee from your balance.
Bookings you set to confirm automatically are accepted, and charged, the moment the customer books.
If your balance cannot pay the fee, owners and managers see Top up to accept on the request before they tap — the request keeps waiting while you top up.
Rejecting
Tap Reject (for a booking Decline), then choose a Reason — it is required: Out of stock, Too busy right now, Closed, Outside our delivery area, That time is not available or Other reason. You can add a Message for the customer (optional). Phone numbers and links in that message are flagged for review. Rejecting is free.
Cancelling
Tap Cancel request and choose a reason (required); a message is optional.
- Cancel an accepted request before you tap Start preparing: its fee goes back to your balance. Before that point you can also choose Customer unreachable / fake — for a customer you could not reach or an order that was not real.
- Cancel after Start preparing: the fee is not returned.
- A request the customer cancels before you accept costs you nothing.
Go Online may take back returned fees if cancelling is used to avoid fees, and "Customer unreachable / fake" cancels are watched for that.
What the customer sees
The customer follows the request on its tracking page, which updates by itself. They see the step it is at. For bookings, classes and inquiries they also see your message if you wrote one; for orders they see only "Declined by the shop" or "Cancelled". Customers do not get a message or SMS from Go Online, so if something changes after you accepted, call them.
A request from a number that had an earlier accepted request at your shop shows Returning customer.
The customer's phone and address
- Orders and bookings: you see the customer's name, phone, address and notes as soon as the request arrives.
- Inquiries: you see the message and the name; "Phone, address and notes are shown after you accept". Until then, phone numbers, e-mails and links typed into the name or the message are hidden.
When the contact is shown, the request has Call, WhatsApp and, for a delivery with an address, Map.
When your balance is too low
If your balance cannot pay the fee, owners and managers see Top up to accept on the request, and Accept is refused for everyone. New requests are paused until you top up: your shop stays online, the requests you already accepted are not affected, and you can still reject. See Top up your balance.
Hearing about new requests
- Email: the owner gets an email for every new request.
- Reminders: while requests wait for your answer, the owner gets a reminder email — the first about an hour after a request arrives (if your shop is closed then: at your next opening time; without opening hours: never in the evening or at night — it waits for the morning), then at your next opening time and on the next day, then one each morning while anything waits. Set your Opening hours in Settings so the reminders come when you are open.
- While the dashboard is open: a message appears at the bottom of the screen. In Settings → New-order alerts you can turn on Play a sound (your phone must not be on silent) and Browser notifications. Both work only on the phone or computer where you turn them on, and only while the dashboard is open.
- Installing the app keeps the dashboard one tap away.
Your response rate
The requests page shows Your response rate for the last few months: how many requests you answered (accepted, rejected or cancelled) out of those you received. A request counts once you answer it or after a short wait; requests confirmed automatically and requests the customer cancels quickly, before you answer, are not counted.
Only you see it: shop pages do not show response rates.