Balance 
Deposits on any product
A deposit option that lives inside Shopify's checkout, so you keep taxes, discounts, shipping rules and fraud analysis exactly as they are.
At a glance
What a deposit plan is, in one panel.
- Deposit
- 1% to 99%, or a fixed amount per unit
- Balance due
- Days after order, exact date, or when ready
- Attach to
- Products, a collection, or a tag
- Shown as
- A Shopify purchase option, next to pay in full
- Card saved by
- Shopify, as a payment mandate on the order
- Shopify plan
- Any Shopify plan
A plan has three parts: the deposit, the balance rule and the products. Everything else on this page is detail about those three.
What the customer pays
A £1,200 made-to-order table on a 25% plan, which is the example on the product-page mock across this site.
Shopify calculates the split at checkout according to its deferred purchase option rules, so tax and shipping are handled the way Shopify handles them, and the order's outstanding amount reflects it. Balance Due always collects exactly what Shopify says is outstanding and never a figure of its own.
The three parts of a plan
Set once, applied to every product that carries the plan.
The deposit
A percentage of the price, from 1% to 99%, or a fixed amount per unit. Percentages follow the product price, so variants at different prices work without extra setup. Fixed deposits are the same on every unit and are charged per unit.
- 25% on a £1,200 table is £300; on the £1,600 variant it is £400
- A £250 fixed deposit on a quantity of two is £500
- One plan can carry one deposit; use a second plan for a different percentage
The balance rule
When the rest is due. A number of days after the order, an exact date, or when you mark the order ready. The ready rule carries an outer limit that Shopify shows as the latest possible date, up to 365 days.
- Days after the order: fixed and predictable, no action needed
- Exact date: everyone on the plan is charged on the same day
- When ready: nothing is charged until you press mark ready
The products
A hand-picked list, a whole collection, or everything carrying a tag. Tags are the easiest to maintain: tag a new product and it joins the plan with no further setup.
- A product carries one Balance Due plan at a time
- Stock items and samples simply do not carry a plan
- A plan can cover as many products as you like, on every tier
Setting one up
About ten minutes, most of which is deciding on the percentage.
- In Shopify, check Settings, Payments: capture must be automatic at checkout or manual, not per fulfilment. The app checks this on install and tells you if it finds otherwise.
- Open Balance Due and create a plan: name it, choose a percentage or a fixed amount, and choose the balance rule.
- Write the storefront line. Each plan carries one sentence the customer sees on the product page, for example Pay 25% today, balance when your order is ready.
- Attach the plan to products, a collection or a tag. Balance Due creates a Shopify selling plan on those products.
- Add the Deposit option block to your product template once, under the buy buttons. It only renders on products that carry a plan, so it can stay there permanently.
- Place a test order with Shopify's Bogus Gateway on a development store and watch the schedule email, the hold and the balance charge.
If you quote by hand first, create one product per job type with the price set per order through a variant and send the customer the link once they accept. The order still has to come through checkout, because Balance Due does not take deposits on draft orders.
What Shopify does with it
Balance Due turns the plan into a Shopify selling plan on those products. Shopify shows it as a purchase option on the product page next to pay in full, charges the deposit at checkout, records the balance as payment terms on the order, and on Shopify Payments or PayPal saves the card for the later charge. The order appears in your admin as partially paid with the outstanding amount, which is the number Balance Due works from.
Because the deposit is native to checkout, it works with discount codes, Shopify Markets pricing, gift cards and every payment method your provider supports for the deposit itself. Nothing is bolted onto the checkout and nothing about tax, shipping or fraud analysis changes.
The deposit is a Shopify payment through your own provider, into your own account, on the day of the order. Balance Due never touches the money.
Which balance rule for which business
The rule is the one decision worth getting right, and it comes down to whether you know the date.
| What you sell | Balance rule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Made to order, commissions, bespoke | When the order is ready | The finish date is only known when it is finished. Nothing is charged until you say so. |
| Pre-orders with a known arrival date | Exact date | The storefront line can read 'balance on 14 March'. Everyone in the run is charged on the same day. |
| Pre-orders with a date that moves | When the order is ready | Avoids charging on a date while the stock is still at sea. Mark ready when it is checked in. |
| Bookings and hire with an event date | Exact date, moved per order | Set the plan's default, then move each order's date to a few weeks before its event. |
| Stock items reserved for a short while | A number of days after the order | Seven or fourteen days, fixed and predictable, no mark ready needed. |
The trade pages walk through the usual choice for a dozen kinds of business, with the percentages those trades tend to use.
Changing a plan later
Plans change. Orders already placed do not.
Edit the deposit or the rule
The selling plan on Shopify is updated. Orders already placed keep the schedule they were sold with, so nobody is surprised by a change they did not agree to.
Deactivate a plan
It is removed from the products, so no new deposit orders come in, but existing orders keep collecting their balances as before.
Delete a plan
Only allowed once no open orders use it. Until then, deactivate it instead.
If an individual order needs a different date or amount, change it from the order rather than the plan: reschedule the payment, collect now, waive part of the balance, or cancel the plan on that order only.
Limits worth knowing
- A product can carry one Balance Due plan at a time. Different percentages for different products means different plans on different products.
- Deposits apply to online orders. POS and draft orders are not supported, because deferred purchase options are an online checkout feature.
- Payment capture must be automatic at checkout or manual, not per fulfilment. The app checks this on install.
- On payment providers that cannot charge a saved card later, deposits still work, but the balance is collected by a Shopify payment link rather than an automatic charge.
- One balance per order. Balance Due does not split the remainder into instalments.
The plan limits on each pricing tier count orders with an open balance, not plans. You can have as many plans as you like on every tier.
Policy wording that works
Say in the product description and on your policy page: what the deposit is, whether it is refundable and from what point, that the balance is taken from the same card on the date or when the order is ready, and what happens if it cannot be taken. Balance Due shows your policy text under every payment email and on the customer's payment page, so the terms are in front of them at the point they are paying.
Bespoke goods are usually outside the 14-day cancellation right in the UK, but only if you have told the customer before they buy. Put it on the product rather than relying on the policy page alone. This is general information rather than legal advice, so check your wording with an adviser.
Related
Automatic balance collection
What happens on the due date and when a charge fails.
Hold fulfilment until paid
Nothing ships until the balance clears.
How to take deposits on Shopify
Step by step, with policy wording.
Reminders and receipts
Schedule, three-day reminders, receipts and overdue notices by email, with texts on Growth and Pro.
Customer payment page
One link, no login: the schedule, what is paid, what is left, and a pay now button.
Questions
Can a customer choose to pay in full instead?
Yes. Pay in full stays as the first option on the product page; the deposit is the second.
Does the deposit include shipping and tax?
Shopify calculates the split at checkout according to its deferred purchase option rules, and the order's outstanding amount reflects it. Balance Due always collects exactly what Shopify says is outstanding.
How many plans can I have?
As many as you need on every tier. The plan limits are on open orders, not on plans.
Can I take a different deposit on different products?
Yes. Create a second plan with its own percentage and attach it to those products. A product carries one plan at a time, so the two sets of products are separate.
What does the customer see on the product page?
Two purchase options: pay in full, or the deposit with the one line of copy you wrote, for example 'Pay 25% today, balance when your order is ready'. The cart and checkout then show the deposit as due now and the balance as due later.
Does it work with discount codes?
Yes. The deposit is native to Shopify's checkout, so discount codes, Shopify Markets pricing and gift cards apply as they normally would.
Can I change a customer's balance date after they have ordered?
Yes, from the order rather than the plan. Reschedule the payment to any future date and the customer gets a fresh reminder before it.
Do I need Shopify Plus?
No. Deferred purchase options, payment mandates and fulfilment holds are available to apps on every Shopify plan.
See the whole flow
The how-it-works page follows one order from the product page to paid in full.