Order Tracking Spreadsheet: Track Customer Orders from Payment to Delivery in Excel or Google Sheets
Set up an order tracking spreadsheet for an online store: columns, status dropdown, business days to ship with NETWORKDAYS, late-order flags, channel summary and a worked example with eight Shopify, Etsy and Amazon orders.
An order tracking spreadsheet logs every customer order with its date, sales channel, value and status (pending, packing, shipped, delivered, return requested), counts the business days each order takes to ship, and highlights any order that has passed your handling time. For a small shop selling on its own site plus a marketplace or two, it is the simplest way to make sure no order quietly slips through the cracks.
This guide belongs to Online Selling & Inventory. It pairs with the inventory management template (what you have on the shelf) and the sales tracker (what you sold and earned). Orders you place with your own suppliers belong in a purchase order template instead.
Recommended columns
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| A – Order # | The order number from your store or marketplace |
| B – Order date | When payment cleared |
| C – Customer | Name or customer ID |
| D – Channel | Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, Instagram, phone… |
| E – Order value | Total charged |
| F – Status | Dropdown: Pending, Packing, Shipped, Delivered, Return requested |
| G – Carrier | USPS, UPS, FedEx… |
| H – Tracking # | From the shipping label |
| I – Ship date | Day the package left |
| J – Delivery date | Confirmed delivery |
| K – Days to ship | Formula |
| L – Flag | Formula |
Turn the range into a table (Ctrl+T) so formulas fill down automatically for new orders, and create the Status dropdown with Data → Data Validation → List.
Key formulas
Business days to ship
=IF(I2="",NETWORKDAYS(B2,TODAY())-1,NETWORKDAYS(B2,I2)-1)
NETWORKDAYS counts working days including both the start and end date, so subtracting 1 makes a same-day shipment show 0. Unshipped orders count up to today. Add a holiday list as a third argument — NETWORKDAYS(B2,I2,Holidays!A:A) — so Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas doesn’t count against you.
Late flag
=IF(K2>$N$1,"LATE","OK")
N1 holds your handling time in business days — the same promise shown on your listings (2 in the example). Use conditional formatting to turn rows red when column L says LATE.
Transit days
=IF(J2="","",NETWORKDAYS(I2,J2)-1) measures how long the carrier took, which is handy when you compare shipping services.
Worked example: eight orders reviewed on Friday, November 6, 2026
| Order | Date | Channel | Value | Status | Shipped | Delivered | Days to ship | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1041 | 11/2 | Shopify | $58.00 | Delivered | 11/3 | 11/5 | 1 | OK |
| #1042 | 11/2 | Etsy | $24.50 | Delivered | 11/2 | 11/5 | 0 | OK |
| #1043 | 11/2 | Amazon | $112.00 | Shipped | 11/5 | — | 3 | LATE |
| #1044 | 11/3 | Shopify | $39.99 | Shipped | 11/4 | — | 1 | OK |
| #1045 | 11/3 | Etsy | $76.00 | Packing | — | — | 3 | LATE |
| #1046 | 11/4 | Shopify | $18.00 | Return requested | 11/4 | 11/5 | 0 | OK |
| #1047 | 11/5 | Amazon | $145.00 | Pending | — | — | 1 | OK |
| #1048 | 11/6 | Shopify | $62.40 | Pending | — | — | 0 | OK |
Summary block
| Metric | Formula | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Orders | =COUNTA(A2:A9) |
8 |
| Order value | =SUM(E2:E9) |
$535.89 |
| Late orders | =COUNTIF(L2:L9,"LATE") |
2 (25%) |
| Average days to ship (shipped orders) | =AVERAGEIF(I2:I9,"<>",K2:K9) |
1.0 |
| Average transit days | =AVERAGEIF(J2:J9,"<>",M2:M9) |
2.0 |
| Value not yet shipped | =SUMIFS(E2:E9,I2:I9,"") |
$283.40 |
(M holds the transit-days formula.) Reading it: #1045 has been packing for three business days and should ship before anything else today; #1043 already left but was a day over the promise. #1047 ($145, the largest order) needs to go out today to stay within the two-day window.
By channel
A PivotTable with Channel in rows and Order # (count) and Value (sum) in values gives: Shopify 4 orders / $178.39, Amazon 2 / $257.00, Etsy 2 / $100.50. Add Flag as a column field to see which channel produces the late orders — often the one whose orders you check least often.
Shipping promises and the law
In the United States, the FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule generally expects sellers to ship within the time they state, or within 30 days if no time is stated, and to notify customers and offer the option to cancel when a delay occurs. Marketplaces also set their own handling-time and late-shipment standards. The late flag in this sheet is an internal early warning, not legal advice; check the current rule and each platform’s policies for your situation.
Habits that keep orders moving
- Import, don’t retype: export new orders from each platform as CSV and paste them in once a day.
- Update before the carrier pickup so the sheet reflects what really left the building.
- Never delete rows — change the status. Old orders give you return rates and ship-time trends.
- Link to stock: subtract shipped units in your inventory sheet so you don’t oversell.
- Track returns by product to spot listings with confusing sizes or photos.
- Keep the books separate: fees and payouts belong in your bookkeeping — see Etsy bookkeeping for marketplace sellers.
FAQ
When should I move from a spreadsheet to order management software?
When copying orders into the sheet takes longer than packing them, when several people need to edit at once, or when you need automatic customer notifications. Until then, a clean table does the job.
How do I exclude holidays?
List them on a “Holidays” sheet and pass the range as NETWORKDAYS’ third argument.
Does this work in Google Sheets?
Yes. NETWORKDAYS, COUNTIF, SUMIFS, AVERAGEIF and pivot tables all work with the same names.
Should I put the customer’s address in the sheet?
Only if you need it. Your store already holds addresses; keeping personal data in fewer places is safer. An order number is enough to look the customer up.
Next step: export this week’s orders from every channel, paste them into the table, set your handling time in N1 and see which rows turn red.