Reviewed, sourced guidance
Map repair job states from intake to collection
Direct answer
Start with the real stages in the shop: received, inspection, estimate, approval, work, quality check, ready and collected. Treat these as a workflow design, then verify whether Shopify or a chosen app can represent each stage.
A repair status is useful when it tells the next person what happened and what action is due.
Key takeaways
- Choose states from actual staff handoffs.
- Give each state a clear next action and owner.
- Record customer approval before work that needs consent.
- Keep collection evidence separate from payment status.
A practical sequence to adapt
An example is received, awaiting inspection, estimate sent, approval pending, authorised, in repair, quality check, ready for collection and collected.
Merge stages that do not create a useful handoff. Add a state only when someone must act or a decision changes.
Test the transitions, not just the labels
Check who can move a job forward, what evidence is recorded and how staff reverse an incorrect change.
Repair app listings describe features such as custom statuses and customer notifications. Verify those claims in a legitimate test environment before relying on them.
Sources for this section: Shopify App Store, RepairTracker listing (observed 2026-09-24; developer claims)Shopify App Store, Unified Repairs Support listing (directly observed 2026-09-24; 2026-09-28 search excerpt also reviewed; developer claims)
Make handover a recorded stage
At collection, record the work described to the customer, any agreed limitations and the collection event.
Keep repair completion distinct from the Shopify order payment state. A paid order is not a technical quality check.
Sources for this section: Shopify Help Center, draft orders and invoices (observed 2026-09-25)
Next steps
- Draw the current shop workflow on one page.
- Mark each stage that is unsupported by the selected Shopify setup.