Balance 
Take a deposit now, collect the balance later
Balance Due adds a deposit option to any product. Shopify's own checkout takes the deposit and saves the card. Balance Due collects the rest on the date you set, retries it when it fails, sends the reminders, and keeps fulfilment on hold until the order is paid in full.
No Shopify Plus needed. No per-order fees. Free for up to 3 open payment plans.
How it works
Three steps, no code, and nothing bolted onto your checkout.
Create a plan
Pick a deposit as a percentage or a fixed amount, then choose when the balance is due: a number of days after the order, a fixed date, or when you mark the order ready. Attach it to products, a collection or a tag.
Customers choose it at checkout
The deposit shows on the product page as a normal Shopify purchase option. Checkout, taxes, discounts and the saved card are all Shopify's own, so nothing about the customer's experience changes.
Balance Due collects the rest
On the due date it charges the saved card. If the charge fails it retries on a schedule, emails a pay link, and tells you. Fulfilment stays on hold until the order is paid.
Built for orders that take weeks to make
Everything a made-to-order, commission or pre-order business needs to get paid without chasing.
Who takes deposits
Anything with a lead time, a commission or a limited run. Pick your trade to see how a deposit plan is usually set up.
Furniture makers
Deposit on order, balance when the piece is ready, nothing leaves the workshop unpaid.
Upholsterers
Fabric is cut to order and cannot go back: the deposit covers it before you order a metre.
Jewellers
Bespoke and engagement pieces: the deposit covers the stone, the balance lands on completion.
Bridal shops
Dresses ordered months ahead: deposit at order, balance before the fitting.
Bike shops
Custom builds and pre-order frames: deposit to secure it, balance when it lands.
Art commissions
Commission deposits, balance on completion, a schedule the client can see.
Where the money lands
A £1,200 made-to-order table on a 25% plan, which is the order in the mock above.
A flat monthly price. No percentage of the sale, nothing per transaction.
The charge, then retries after 1, 3 and 7 days, each with a payment link.
Enough to run a real deposit order end to end before paying anything.
One order, start to finish
The only manual step is marking the order ready, which is the moment you were going to phone them anyway.
- 1
Customer orders
£300 taken
They pick the deposit option on the product page. Shopify charges the deposit, saves the card and records £900 as the balance on the order.
- 2
Order held
Nothing charged
A Shopify fulfilment hold goes on the order and the customer gets the schedule by email, with a link to their payment page.
- 3
Weeks of making
Nothing charged
If the spec changes, edit the order in Shopify and the balance follows. Nothing is charged until the piece is ready.
- 4
Three days before
Reminder sent
The amount and the date, by email on every plan and by text on Growth and Pro.
- 5
Marked ready
£900 charged
The saved card is charged, the receipt goes out, the hold is released and the order is tagged paid. It appears in your morning digest as ready to ship.
- 6
If the card declines
Payment link sent
A link that accepts any card, retries after 1, 3 and 7 days, then an overdue flag and an alert to you. The order stays on hold meanwhile.
What it replaces
Most stores already take deposits. The question is what the rest of the process costs.
The spreadsheet and the diary
Who paid what, when the rest is due, and a reminder in somebody's calendar to charge it. It works until there are twenty open orders and the person with the diary is on holiday.
- The balance and its date sit on the Shopify order
- A digest every morning: due today, due this week, paid overnight
- Orders tagged in Shopify so you can filter without opening the app
Chasing by phone
Ringing a customer three months after they ordered, finding the right figure, taking a card over the phone and writing it down somewhere.
- The saved card is charged on the due date, at 9am store time
- A failed card gets a payment link and three automatic retries
- One personal message when an order goes overdue, not before
Parcels leaving unpaid
The order that went out because the warehouse did not know it was a deposit order. Once is enough.
- Shopify's own fulfilment hold, so 3PLs and shipping apps respect it
- Released the instant the balance clears
- Release it by hand if you want to ship on trust
Everything Shopify already does, kept
Balance Due adds a purchase option and a collection process. It does not replace anything.
Your checkout
The deposit is a Shopify purchase option. Taxes, discount codes, shipping rules, Shopify Markets pricing and gift cards all work as they do today.
Your payment provider
The deposit and the balance are ordinary payments through your own provider at your normal rate. Shopify holds the card, not us.
Your fraud analysis
The order goes through Shopify's fraud analysis like any other, because it is any other order with payment terms attached.
Your fulfilment
The hold is Shopify's own, so your team, your 3PL and your shipping app see it without any integration work.
Read before you install
The guides cover the setup, the policy wording and the questions that come up.
Simple monthly pricing
Flat monthly plans on your Shopify bill. No percentage of the order, no per-transaction fee, no charge on manual orders.
Free
- Deposits on any product
- Automatic balance collection
- Email reminders and receipts
- Hold fulfilment until paid
- Customer payment page
- Balance Due branding on emails
Starter
- Everything in Free
- No Balance Due branding
- Retry ladder for failed charges
- Merchant alerts and daily digest
- CSV export
Growth
- Everything in Starter
- 300 active payment plans
- 100 text messages a month
- Collect now and reschedule from the order
- Priority support
Pro
- Everything in Growth
- 500 text messages a month
- Unlimited active payment plans
- Priority support
Prices in GBP, billed through Shopify every 30 days. 14-day free trial on paid plans. See the full pricing page.
Common questions
Do I need Shopify Plus?
No. Balance Due works on Basic, Shopify and Advanced as well as Plus, because it uses Shopify's deferred purchase options, which every plan supports.
Who holds the card details?
Shopify. The card is saved by Shopify's checkout as a payment mandate on the order. Balance Due never sees card numbers; it asks Shopify to charge the mandate when the balance is due.
Which payment providers support automatic balance charges?
Shopify Payments and PayPal Express support charging a saved card later. Stores on other providers can still take deposits: Balance Due sends the customer a Shopify pay link for the balance instead of charging the card, with the same reminders and holds.
What happens when a balance payment fails?
Balance Due retries after 1 day, 3 days and 7 days, emails the customer a pay link each time, and marks the order overdue if all four attempts fail. You get an alert and the order is tagged deposit:overdue so you can filter it in Shopify.
Does it hold shipping until the order is paid?
Yes. Balance Due places a Shopify fulfilment hold with the reason awaiting payment when the order comes in and releases it when the balance is paid in full. The hold is Shopify's own, so it works with your 3PL and fulfilment apps.
Is there a fee per order?
No. You pay a flat monthly plan through Shopify. There is no percentage fee, no per-transaction charge and nothing taken from manual or draft orders.
Can the balance be charged when the order is ready rather than on a date?
Yes. Choose 'when the order is ready' on the plan. Nothing is charged until you press mark ready on the order, which is what most made-to-order businesses use.
How long does it take to set up?
About ten minutes for the first plan. Place a test order on a development store with Shopify's Bogus Gateway and you will see the schedule email, the hold and the balance charge before any customer does.
Stop chasing balances by hand
Your first deposit plan takes about ten minutes to set up. Free for up to 3 open payment plans, and every plan collects balances automatically.