Deferred payments

For orders with a full or partial outstanding balance, you can send an invoice to your customer for the order, accept the payment for the order by credit, or mark the order as paid if you have already received payment by another method.

Set payment terms for payments due later

Payment terms let you set the date that payment is due. If an order has a status of Payment pending, then you can add payment terms for orders that are due to be paid at a later date.

You can choose from the following options when setting the payment terms:

  • Due on receipt: Use this option to set the payment as due on the date that you send the invoice to your customer.
  • Due on fulfillment: Use this option to set the payment as due on the date that you fulfill all items in the order.
  • Net term: Use this option to set the payment as due within the specified number of days from the issue date. For example, you can choose Within 30 days, and the payment due date is set to 30 days after the issue date. By default, the issue date is set to the current date, but you can change the issue date after you select a net term option.
  • Fixed term: Use this option to set the payment as due on a specific date.

If the order isn't paid by the due date, then the order status becomes Overdue.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. From the Orders page, click order number.

  3. In the Pending section, click Add payment terms.

  4. Select one of the following Payment terms:

    • To set the payment due on the day that you send the invoice, select Due on receipt.
    • To set the payment due on the day that you fulfill all items in the order, select Due on fulfillment.
    • To set the payment due within a time duration of an issue date, select one of the Within days options, and then enter the Issue date.
    • To set the payment due on a specific day, select Fixed date, and then enter the Due date.
  5. Click Save.

Edit payment terms for payments due later

If an order has payment terms set, then you can edit or remove the due date.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. In the Pending section, next to the payment due date, click Edit.

  3. Modify the payment terms.

  4. Click Save to save your changes, or click Remove terms to remove the payment terms.

Send an order invoice to a customer

You can send an invoice to your customer with a link to the checkout page for orders in Payment pending status. Your customer can use the link in the email to enter their billing information, select a shipping method, and submit payment.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. From the Orders page, click the number of the order.

  3. Click Collect payment > Send invoice.

  4. From the Send invoice dialog, enter the message that you want to include in the invoice.

  5. Click Review invoice.

  6. In the dialog, review your email and click Send invoice.

Accept payment for an order pending payment

You can change the payment status on most orders from Payment pending to Paid with one of the following methods:

  • Mark as paid - Use when you've already received payment for the current order, or when you're importing a past order from another platform into your Shopify admin. The received amount isn't captured again by your payment provider. An order confirmation email is sent to the customer.
  • Pay by credit card - Use when you have the billing information of your customer or when your customer is available to enter it directly. This payment method is only available with Shopify Payments.

If the order is in Pending payment status and the customer used a different payment method than a credit card, then you might be unable to mark the order as paid. Learn more about orders with pending payments.

If your payment provider supports multiple payments, then you can capture partial payments up to the total order amount. Otherwise, you can collect only the total amount of the order.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. From the Orders page, click order number.

  3. In the Pending section, click Collect payment.

  4. Select one of the following options:

    • Click Mark as paid if you have accepted payment outside of Shopify.
    • Click Pay by credit card if you have the customer's credit card information ready.
  5. If you select Pay by credit card, then enter the customer's billing and credit card information, and then click Charge.

Set payment reminders

You can use the payment reminders feature to automatically send your customer a scheduled payment reminder email for an order that has payment terms assigned. You can create up to five payment reminders. Payment reminders can be set to the payment due date, or up to 30 days after the due date.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.
  2. In the Orders section, in the Payment reminder section, click Manage payment reminders.
  3. Click Add payment reminder.
  4. Choose when you want to send a payment reminder email by selecting one of the following options:
    • On due date
    • When payment is overdue
  5. If applicable, choose how many days after the due date you want to schedule your reminder for.
  6. Click Turn on.
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