Order Processing Jobs from Home

While it’s easy to think that most if not all orders for merchandise are handled by computers these days, there is actually still a significant amount of order processing that is still done by hand. Some companies outsource their order processing jobs to individuals who work from home, eliminating the need for managers or other employees to hand-process orders in addition to their regular job duties.

Doing order processing from home typically involves you taking invoices or spreadsheets containing order information and submitting the final order to the warehouse, manufacturer or retailer that will ship the ordered items. The orders may be delivered in a physical printed format or digitally over the Internet; if physical invoices are used, you may be required to pick them up each night from the retailer or company that hires you to do its order processing. Even if the orders are delivered in a digital format you may need to check in with the company to request the spreadsheet or archive containing the orders.

Many order processing jobs require you to work at night once the business you’re processing orders for has closed for the day; this allows them to send you all of the orders for the day so that you can begin processing them. In most cases you will be expected to complete the order processing that night, though some companies may allow up to two or three days for order processing to be complete; the latter is especially common with businesses that only process orders on certain days of the week instead of processing orders on a daily basis.

It’s important to note that not all order processing jobs involve processing customer orders for retailers or specialty merchandise companies. Some companies outsource the processing of orders for essential equipment and materials used in their daily business, such as manufacturing companies hiring an order processor to make orders for parts or medical offices hiring someone to process orders for medicines and other supplies. While retail order processing does make up a significant portion of order processing jobs, not every job you choose will require you to deal with multiple customer orders.

Many order processing jobs may require you to maintain confidentiality about the work that you do, especially those where you will be processing orders for the customers of a business. While you likely won’t have to worry about processing individual payments for customers since many companies handle the payments themselves, customer names, addresses and other information may be included in the information you have to enter. Some order processing jobs may require you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, while others will not be as concerned about you discussing the work that you do.

Finding legitimate order processing jobs may take a bit of searching, since some scam artists post fake job ads to take advantage of those who are seeking work that they can do at home. Some order processing opportunities may come about as a result of work that you’ve done before with other companies, while others will be posted on job boards and in newspapers where they’re likely to get a larger number of views. Larger companies may hire multiple order processors to cover their needs and may offer order processing jobs on a temporary basis instead of a long-term position.