Receipts, order references, and order lookup explained

A receipt is a record that a particular amount was tied to a particular number at a particular time. It is not the phone's balance. It is not proof the provider has finished applying the credit. Those are later states. Keeping them separate makes support conversations shorter.

Northline builds the receipt on the server and signs the link. It is not stored as the payment record inside your browser. If you clear the browser, the link in the email still works until it expires. If you never got the email, the track page can still find the order when you have the reference and a second detail.

What the reference is for

The reference is random. It is not a counter you can guess by trying the next number. That matters because a public lookup that only needs a short number would let anyone walk through other people's payments. You will be asked for the reference plus the receipt email or the last four digits of the mobile number.

Store the reference in the same place you keep the confirmation from your bank. A photo of the screen is fine if the reference is readable. A photo that cuts off the code is not.

What a receipt shows

Expect the reference, the credit, the fee, any promo, the total, a masked phone number, a masked email, a time, and a status. You should not see a full card number. You may see a brand and last four digits when a processor provides them. While payments are closed you will not get this receipt from the waitlist. The waitlist is only an email.

Lookup failures that are working as designed

A wrong email and a wrong reference produce the same message. So does a right reference with the wrong last four digits. The page is not trying to coach a stranger. Check your own typing before you assume the order vanished. Caps and spaces in the reference matter. The email is matched in lowercase.

Rate limits slow repeated tries. If you are testing combinations, stop. Use the email you typed at checkout, or the last four of the number you entered twice.

Status words

Waiting for payment means no charge is captured. Payment captured means the processor reported success and the credit may still be in flight. Credit posted means the partner reported acceptance. Refunded means the credit was not posted and the charge was sent back. None of these is a live view of the provider's balance.

When to write to support

Write when the status and the phone's balance disagree for long enough that you are unsure, or when you need a refund because a captured payment did not post. Include the reference. Do not include a card number or a security code. Support can see the order. Support cannot see a full card number, because we do not store one. If the email never arrived, check the spelling you used at checkout before you assume the message was blocked. The lookup still works with the last four digits when you have the reference from the screen you saved.

Treat the receipt as a financial record, like a card statement line. Keep it until the credit shows on the phone and, if you might need a refund, until the refund appears on the card. Deleting the only copy because the balance looks fine can leave you without a reference if the provider later reverses the credit. We do not promise that a posted credit stays posted. The provider controls that. If you manage payments for more than one number, file each receipt under that number's last four digits so two credits do not get mixed in one note.

• Reference saved outside the browser.
• Second detail ready: email or last four digits.
• Receipt link treated as the server's record.
• Provider balance checked separately.
• Card number kept out of email and forms.

File the reference the day you get it. Copy the reference into a note named with the last four digits of the number and the date. Paste the credit, the fee, and the total on the next lines. Add the status the next time you look. This takes a minute and it is the difference between a solvable question and a story that starts with "I think I paid something last month." The email can be deleted by a cleanup rule. Your note will not. If you later need a refund because the credit was not posted, the note has the reference support needs. If the provider shows the credit, the note still explains the card charge, which is larger than the credit by the fee. Do not store a card number in that note. The receipt page does not show one, and your note should not add one. A waitlist confirmation is not this record. It has no reference because it is not an order. Keep the note until both the phone and the card look right.

Questions