Why is Status of Order on Hold?

Hi there!

An on-hold order is an order that has been paid but is waiting for confirmation. That usually happens when your payment gateway is set to authorize but not capturing the charge, so the store owner will have to manually capture the charge to confirm the payment.

Could you share your System Status Report, it would help us to understand your site setup a bit better. You can find it via WooCommerce > Status. Select Get system report and then Copy for support. Once you’ve done that, paste it here in your reply.

### WordPress Environment ###

WordPress address (URL): https://www.mywebsite.com
Site address (URL): https://www.mywebsite.com
WC Version: 4.4.1
REST API Version: ? 1.0.15
WC Blocks Version: ? 3.1.0
Action Scheduler Version: ? 3.1.6
WC Admin Version: ? 1.4.0
Log Directory Writable: ?
WP Version: 5.5
WP Multisite: –
WP Memory Limit: 256 MB
WP Debug Mode: –
WP Cron: ?
Language: en_US
External object cache: –

### Server Environment ###

Server Info: Apache
PHP Version: 7.2.32
PHP Post Max Size: 128 MB
PHP Time Limit: 60
PHP Max Input Vars: 2000
cURL Version: 7.71.0
OpenSSL/1.1.1g

SUHOSIN Installed: –
MySQL Version: 5.5.5-10.2.33-MariaDB
Max Upload Size: 128 MB
Default Timezone is UTC: ?
fsockopen/cURL: ?
SoapClient: ?
DOMDocument: ?
GZip: ?
Multibyte String: ?
Remote Post: ?
Remote Get: ?

### Database ###

WC Database Version: 4.4.1
WC Database Prefix: q739_
Total Database Size: 12.38MB
Database Data Size: 12.06MB
Database Index Size: 0.32MB
q739_woocommerce_sessions: Data: 0.01MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_api_keys: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_attribute_taxonomies: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_downloadable_product_permissions: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_order_items: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_order_itemmeta: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_tax_rates: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_tax_rate_locations: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_shipping_zones: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_shipping_zone_locations: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_shipping_zone_methods: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_payment_tokens: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_payment_tokenmeta: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_woocommerce_log: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_actionscheduler_actions: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.02MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_actionscheduler_claims: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_actionscheduler_groups: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_actionscheduler_logs: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_commentmeta: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_comments: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_gdpr_cc_options: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_links: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_mailchimp_carts: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_mailchimp_jobs: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_options: Data: 1.56MB + Index: 0.05MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_postmeta: Data: 9.59MB + Index: 0.09MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_posts: Data: 0.86MB + Index: 0.03MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_tcb_api_error_log: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_td_fields: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_td_groups: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_termmeta: Data: 0.03MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_terms: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_term_relationships: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_term_taxonomy: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_usermeta: Data: 0.01MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_users: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_admin_notes: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_admin_note_actions: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_category_lookup: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_customer_lookup: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_download_log: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_order_coupon_lookup: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_order_product_lookup: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_order_stats: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_order_tax_lookup: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_product_meta_lookup: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_reserved_stock: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_tax_rate_classes: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.01MB + Engine MyISAM
q739_wc_webhooks: Data: 0.00MB + Index: 0.00MB + Engine MyISAM

### Post Type Counts ###

attachment: 9
customize_changeset: 2
nav_menu_item: 14
page: 16
post: 6
product: 1
revision: 70
shop_order: 2
tcb_content_template: 16
tcb_symbol: 4
thrive_demo_page: 1
thrive_demo_post: 1
thrive_layout: 4
thrive_template: 55
thrive_typography: 2

### Security ###

Secure connection (HTTPS): ?
Hide errors from visitors: ?

### Active Plugins (9) ###

Akismet Anti-Spam: by Automattic – 4.1.6
Automatic pages for Privacy Policy, Terms, About, Contact us: by Puvox.software – 1.14
GDPR Cookie Compliance: by Moove Agency – 4.2.7
Jetpack by WordPress.com: by Automattic – 8.8.2
Mailchimp for WooCommerce: by Mailchimp – 2.4.5
Thrive Product Manager: by Thrive Themes – 1.2.4
Thrive Architect: by <a href="https://www.thrivethemes.com">Thrive Themes</a> – 2.5.8.2
WooCommerce Services: by Automattic – 1.24.1 – Installed version not tested with active version of WooCommerce 4.4.1
WooCommerce: by Automattic – 4.4.1

### Inactive Plugins (0) ###

### Settings ###

API Enabled: –
Force SSL: –
Currency: USD ($)
Currency Position: left
Thousand Separator: ,
Decimal Separator: .
Number of Decimals: 2
Taxonomies: Product Types: external (external)
grouped (grouped)
simple (simple)
variable (variable)

Taxonomies: Product Visibility: exclude-from-catalog (exclude-from-catalog)
exclude-from-search (exclude-from-search)
featured (featured)
outofstock (outofstock)
rated-1 (rated-1)
rated-2 (rated-2)
rated-3 (rated-3)
rated-4 (rated-4)
rated-5 (rated-5)

Connected to WooCommerce.com: ?

### WC Pages ###

Shop base: #10 - /shop/
Cart: #11 - /cart/
Checkout: #12 - /checkout/
My account: #13 - /my-account/
Terms and conditions: ? Page not set

### Theme ###

Name: Thrive Theme Builder
Version: 1.6.2
Author URL: 
Child Theme: ? – If you are modifying WooCommerce on a parent theme that you did not build personally we recommend using a child theme. See: How to create a child theme
WooCommerce Support: ?

### Templates ###

Archive Template: Your theme has a woocommerce.php file
you will not be able to override the woocommerce/archive-product.php custom template since woocommerce.php has priority over archive-product.php. This is intended to prevent display issues.

Overrides: –

### Action Scheduler ###

Complete: 10
Oldest: 2020-08-21 20:27:48 +0000
Newest: 2020-08-25 02:04:08 +0000

By any chance, could it be because my Paypal API Credentials had not been filled in within the Dashboard before I did the test purchase?

Hi there,

Thank you for providing that status report!

By any chance, could it be because my Paypal API Credentials had not been filled in within the Dashboard before I did the test purchase?

Yes, that would certainly cause issues, however I believe if the credentials are not entered in your PayPal settings in WooCommerce, it should not allow you to finish checking out via PayPal at all. I believe an order would be created, but would remain in the initial Pending Payment status, rather than On Hold.

If you enter your credentials and complete setup as described in the guide below, then do you see your Orders change status as expected?
https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/paypal-standard/#section-2

As mentioned, please check that you have the “Payment Action” option set to “Capture” so that the order does not go to On Hold status.

Please let me know how that goes, or if you have any questions!

Hi, thank you. Yes, everything was set up as indicated in the document you referenced.

I do have this validation error that I see: Validation error: PayPal IPN response from a different email address (theemailaddress.com). Order status changed from Pending payment to On hold.

How do I deal with this? I have four different emails that I can use to accept payments through Paypal.

This is probably what is causing the error, but I don’t know what to do….

Hi there,

PayPal IPN response from a different email address (theemailaddress.com). Order status changed from Pending payment to On hold.

Yep, that sounds like the cause of the issue. Please go into your PayPal account dashboard, then click the “Profile Settings” option in the menu in the top-right corner. From there click the “Update” link for the Email option, and check to see which of the email addresses there is set as the Primary:

Link to image: https://d.pr/i/UgV1TU

Make sure that is the email address you have set as both the “PayPal email” and “Receiver email” in the PayPal settings under WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > PayPal.

After that, please try another test order to see if that resolves the issue.

Okay, so I tried it again after making the changes. Now, in the Dashboard, it says that it is Processing, but the Order does not complete. The money is showing up in my Paypal account for the test order. So how do I get the order to complete?

I have set it up (and plan to keep it that way) that the customer has to login to get his/her download.

Also, is there a way to edit the emails to add my support email if the customer has problems or questions?

Oh, wait a minute I’m going to try what I found on another forum post as my product is digital:

“Sorry for the trouble there. When an order is placed and paid for, it is set to “processing.” The idea is now that order has been paid for, the store owner will need to ship it, or do something else with it and then change the status to completed.

For digital products, you can set them to be both downloadable and virtual. When they are both set, paid order will automatically be marked completed.

virtual and downloadable”

Okay, it completed once I checked both virtual and downloadable Strange that that would be required, but it seems to have solved that problem.

I read a WC document on editing the emails a bit, but I’m not sure how to do it still. All I want to add is my customer support email address if they run into any problems after their order. Can you advise me how to do this?

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

Glad to hear you were able to sort things out with the Order statuses, and money is showing up in PayPal!

Yes, by default orders with products that need to be shipped or fulfilled in some way will go to Processing after payment is received. However, if they marked as both Virtual and Downloadable, then they will automatically complete. There are other options for auto-completing order as well, such as code:
https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/automatically-complete-orders/

Or plugins:
https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-order-status-control/

For customizing order emails, you could override the email template file by copying it to a child theme, and then customizing it there. We have a guide for this here:
https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/template-structure/#section-1

You could also do it using PHP Action/Filter hooks — we have information about working with these here:
https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/introduction-to-hooks-actions-and-filters/

The specific code would depend on where/how you want to add that email.

Hi there,

We haven’t heard back from you in a while, so I’m going to mark this thread as resolved. If you have any further questions, please start a new thread.

Have a wonderful day!