Normally an order waits for the next cron run before it is sent to the supplier. With a one-minute cron that is fine for most services. For fast services, where the supplier answers in seconds, that wait is most of what the customer feels. Instant Send removes it.
What Instant Send does
When Instant Send is on for a supplier API, an order for that supplier is sent the moment the customer's checkout finishes, instead of waiting for the cron job. The customer gets their page straight away, and the order is on its way to the supplier a moment later.
Collecting the result still happens on the cron job, so the API's cron line is still needed. What changes is the start: the supplier begins working on the order up to a minute earlier.
How to turn it on
- Go to Supplier APIs › APIs and open the API.
- On the Connection tab, switch on Instant Send. The badge beside it shows how many slots are left, for example 1 of 2 left.
- Save.
In the API list, an API with Instant Send on shows an Instant flag beside its name.
Why only two APIs at a time?
Sending at checkout means the customer's request also does the work of talking to the supplier. Doing that for every supplier at once would make checkout slower for everyone. So Instant Send can be on for two supplier APIs at the same time. If you try a third, the save stops and names the two that already have it. Turn one of them off first.
Pick the two suppliers that sell your fastest, busiest services. Suppliers whose services take hours or days gain nothing from it.
Bulk orders
When a customer checks out many orders in one go, the first 20 are sent instantly and the rest are picked up by the cron job a moment later. Anything that fails to send instantly, for example because the supplier was briefly unreachable, is also left to the cron job, which tries again. Nothing is lost.
Which APIs are always instant
- Built-in APIs, under Supplier APIs › Built-in APIs, always send at checkout and carry the Instant flag whatever their switch says.
- Simple Link APIs are called at checkout by design, so they have no Instant Send switch.
- The Instant Support API type handles one order per request and needs no cron job at all.
When to leave it off
- The supplier is slow or often times out. Checkout should not wait on a supplier that is struggling.
- The supplier's services take hours anyway.
- Your hosting is small and already busy at peak times.
Instant Send is a speed-up, not a replacement for cron. Make sure every API has its cron line first: see how to set up cron jobs.