Issuing printed registration certificates

When your organization is a registry of record, a member who holds an issued certificate can order a printed copy, and you fulfill it from the certificate fulfillment queue. This article covers the queue, batching, the order states, canceling, and printer calibration.

Opening the queue

The queue is at creatures.com/registrar/certificate-fulfillment. It is available only to registry-of-record organizations, since that is the level that issues certificates in the first place. Switchers at the top pick the Org and Registry you are fulfilling for, and a Calibration link opens the printer settings.

Members order printed certificates from their animal's Records tab; the paid order then lands here. See Ordering a printed certificate for your animal.

The three summary tiles are Ready to batch, Awaiting mail, and Payment pending.

The order lifecycle

The status tabs are Ready, Printed, Mailed, Awaiting payment, Failed, Canceled, and All. An order moves through them like this:

• Awaiting payment: the member started the order but has not paid. It is not printable yet.
• Ready to print (shown as "Ready" on the tab): paid and queued for printing. The certificate PDF renders automatically in the background right after payment, so a brand new order may need a moment before its PDF is available (there is a Retry render action if a PDF fails to generate). This is where you act.
• Printed: you marked it printed.
• Mailed: for a mailed order, you marked it shipped. For a pickup order, Printed is the finish line.
• Failed and Canceled are also possible (a render can fail; an order can be canceled).

The orders table and its actions

Each row shows the Animal, the Certificate (its serial and registration number), the Method (Mail or Pickup), the Status, its Batch, and when it was Created. The actions available depend on the state:

• PDF: view the rendered certificate file.
• Printed: mark a Ready order printed, once its PDF has rendered.
• Mark mailed: for a mailed order, mark it shipped. You can add an optional Tracking number.
• Retry render: re-run a render that failed.
• Cancel: remove the order from the queue (covered below).

Building a print batch

Rather than print one at a time, select the ready, unbatched orders and choose Build batch to render them together into one merged PDF. A batch holds up to 200 certificates. Batches move through pending, rendering, rendered, and printed, and a rendered batch offers a Merged PDF to print and a Batch printed button to mark the whole set done.

Canceling an order

Canceling opens a confirmation page first. A few things to understand before you confirm:

• What it does: it removes the print order from the queue. Canceling a print order does not cancel the member's underlying digital certificate: the certificate and its QR verification page remain exactly as issued.
• The cancellation note: you enter a member-visible Cancellation note, capped at 180 characters.
• Refunds: if the order was already paid, a refund is queued after you cancel. If it was not paid, no refund is sent unless a late payment happens to settle afterward.

Calibration profiles

If you print onto preprinted certificate stock, the Calibration page lines up the printed data with your paper. A profile has:

• Name: a label for the profile (for example, your front-desk laser printer).
• Stock preset: the paper stock. The shipped preset is GOES engraved letterhead.
• Horizontal offset (mm) and Vertical offset (mm): fine adjustments from -25 to 25 millimeters. A positive horizontal value moves the content right; a positive vertical value moves it down.
• Default: mark one profile as the default used for this registry.

Use Test print to check alignment on your stock before running a real batch.

The fee

The member pays a registry fee (configured for your registry by Creatures staff, using the amount you agree on together) plus a Creatures service fee, both shown to them before they pay. An order appears on the Awaiting payment tab the moment it is placed, before any money moves; it enters the Ready lane only once its payment succeeds. So Ready, Printed, and Mailed rows are always paid, while Awaiting payment rows are not paid yet.

Related information

• Ordering a printed certificate for your animal
• Reviewing registration applications
• Registries and associations on Creatures

Updated on: 17/07/2026