When spend controls are on and an order would exceed one of your caps, Merch places it on credit hold instead of processing it. The order exists, but inventory hasn't been allocated and fulfillment hasn't started. The recipient sees nothing different — their tracking page renders the normal "processing" copy.
#Why it happens
Five possible reasons, evaluated in this order — first failure wins:
| Reason | What's at the ceiling | |---|---| | Account fulfillment limit reached | In-flight exposure is at or above your fulfillment credit limit | | Campaign budget reached | Cumulative campaign spend is at or above the campaign budget | | Team spending cap reached | The sender's team has hit its period cap | | User spending cap reached | The sender's personal period cap is hit | | Per-recipient cap reached | A per-recipient annual or campaign-scoped cap is hit |
The Spend Controls page and the order's detail-page banner both show the specific reason in plain English.
#Where to see held orders
- Settings → Spend Controls — the full queue for your account.
- Fulfillment Orders — filter to held-only.
- Daily digest emails — Admins get a once-a-day summary of new holds in the last 24 hours.
#How to clear one
What works depends on which cap fired.
A campaign, team, user, or per-recipient cap:
- Raise the cap — held orders are re-evaluated immediately, and anything that now fits is released.
- Wait for the period to reset — team and user caps reset at the calendar boundary you configured, and Merch retries held orders automatically at the reset.
The fulfillment credit limit:
- Pay outstanding invoices early — exposure drops as soon as payments land.
- Wait for the next monthly invoice cycle — same effect, just slower.
- Ask your sales rep about a higher limit.
Any reason:
- An Admin (or the team's Manager, for team orders) can override a specific hold with a captured reason — useful for VIP or one-off exceptions.
- Cancel the order, if the gift isn't appropriate anymore. Cap counters reverse when a previously committed order is cancelled, so cancellations don't permanently penalize your budgets.
#How auto-release works
Held orders re-evaluate automatically whenever something changes: an invoice cycle runs, a period resets, or an Admin raises a cap. A background check on a schedule catches anything the triggers miss. The retry is safe to run repeatedly — orders that still don't fit stay held; orders that now fit clear.
#FAQs
Will recipients get notified that their order is delayed? No. Delays from credit holds are invisible to recipients. If a recipient asks where their gift is, clear the hold and the order ships on the next cycle — there's nothing for them to see in the meantime.
Do held orders count against my fulfillment exposure? No. Held orders haven't allocated inventory, so they don't add to in-flight exposure. Only allocated, not-yet-invoiced orders count.
How long can an order stay held? Indefinitely. The Spend Controls page shows the age of each hold. The order won't ship until the hold clears.