Tracking orders in a spreadsheet, or not

A woman looks at a crowded spreadsheet with hundreds of small numbers on her laptop

Almost everyone who wants to keep track of their online orders starts with a spreadsheet. That's a fine start: you choose the columns and it's set up in no time. Where it falls apart is everything that has to happen afterwards.

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A spreadsheet is a good list and a poor assistant. It remembers what you enter, but it works out nothing you didn't put in yourself, and it never taps you on the shoulder.

What a spreadsheet does and doesn't do

	Spreadsheet	Orderlyst
Note orders and amounts	Yes	Yes
Set up the layout	Build and maintain it yourself	Ready straight away
Work out the return deadline per shop	Only with your own formulas	Yes, set per shop
Warn you when a deadline runs out	No	Yes
Status per item within an order	Cumbersome	Yes
Show outstanding payments and refunds separately	With effort	Yes
Move settled orders out of view	By hand	Automatically
Fill it in on your phone	Barely	Yes

Where it goes wrong in practice

You stop filling in the last columns as soon as things get busy
One row per order doesn't work when half of it goes back
The return date is there, but nobody looks at it
On your phone, a spreadsheet with eight columns is hopeless

That last one is decisive. Orders come in while you're out and about, and an overview you only update at your laptop falls behind.

One row per order doesn't work

In a spreadsheet, an order is one line. In real life each item has its own outcome: you keep this one, that one goes back, the other hasn't been delivered yet.

That's why the status is set per item, and the totals at the bottom add up to what you still have to pay and still get back.

An order in Orderlyst with a status per item: paid, paid and return sent

Switching from a spreadsheet

You don't have to empty your old file. Start with your current orders, usually five to ten of them, and leave the settled ones where they are. After a week or two you won't order anything without adding it.

You can start with a set of common shops and payment methods, including the return period most of those shops use. You can always add more.

Frequently asked questions

Can I import my Excel file?

No, there is no import for spreadsheets. You add your current orders by hand, which takes about a quarter of an hour for a normal number of orders.

Why shouldn't I just keep using a spreadsheet?

If you rarely order and hardly ever send anything back, that's fine. The difference shows with returns and paying later, because then someone has to watch the deadlines. In a spreadsheet, that someone is you.

Can I get my data out again?

Your data lives in your own account and you can always view and delete orders. You can delete your account yourself in the app, after which your data is erased.

Start with an empty overview

Add your first order and see straight away what is still open.

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Checked on 28 October 2026