Balance Hold fulfilment until paid
Nothing ships until it is paid, and nobody in the warehouse has to remember that.
How the hold works
When a deposit order comes in, Balance Due puts a hold on its fulfilment order with the reason awaiting payment and a note showing the outstanding amount. It is Shopify's own hold, the same one you can set by hand, so anything that fulfils from Shopify (your own team, a 3PL connector, a shipping app, Shopify Fulfillment Network) sees the order as on hold and cannot fulfil it. The order is also tagged deposit:active.
When it is released
The instant the last balance payment clears, whether by automatic charge, pay link, a payment you took over the phone, or a waiver, Balance Due releases the hold and tags the order deposit:paid. That order then appears in your morning digest as ready to fulfil. You can release a hold early from the order at any time, for example to ship a rush job on trust.
Per plan
Holds are on by default and can be turned off per plan. A pre-order plan for stock that is not in yet might not need one; a made-to-order plan almost always does.
Multi-location orders
If an order splits across locations, each fulfilment order gets its own hold and all of them are released together.
Questions
Does the hold stop me editing the order?
No. Edits, refunds and notes work as normal. Only fulfilment is blocked.
What if I release the hold and the customer never pays?
The plan keeps collecting and reminding as before; releasing the hold only affects shipping. The order stays tagged until it is paid, cancelled or waived.
Does it work with third-party fulfilment apps?
Yes. Because it is a Shopify fulfilment hold rather than an app-side flag, any app that fulfils through Shopify respects it.
See the whole flow
The how-it-works page follows one order from the product page to paid in full.