Balance 
Deposits for art commissions
Commissions run on trust in both directions. A deposit at checkout and a balance you trigger when the work is done makes the money part predictable.
At a glance
How most artists set this up.
- Typical deposit
- 50% at order
- Balance charged
- When you mark the work finished
- Outer limit
- 90 to 180 days
- Held until paid
- Yes, shipping and file delivery
- Per-order fee
- None
- Shopify plan
- Any Shopify plan
One plan on your commission products. Prints, originals for sale and anything that ships the same week stay as ordinary products with nothing attached.
Where the money lands
An £850 portrait commission at 50%, balance on completion.
Half up front is the convention because it covers materials and the first sitting of work, and because a client who has paid half tends to answer emails about reference photos. The balance lands before the piece ships or the file is sent.
The deposit is a real payment through your own Shopify Payments or gateway on the day of the order. The balance is charged to the same saved card later and the client does not need to do anything.
The commission, stage by stage
The only manual step is marking the work finished, which is the moment you were going to email them anyway.
- 1
Client orders the commission
£425 taken
They pick the size and type from the variants, choose the deposit option and pay the deposit at checkout. Reference photos and the brief come through the line item properties or a follow-up email.
- 2
Sketch or concept approved
Nothing charged
The back-and-forth about composition happens as it always has. Nothing about the money changes until the work is done.
- 3
Work in progress
Nothing charged
Weeks or months, depending on the piece. If the client goes quiet, nothing is charged and nothing is chased, because the balance is tied to the work being finished rather than to a date.
- 4
Work finished
£425 charged
You mark the order finished in Shopify. Within minutes the balance is charged to the saved card and the client is emailed a receipt.
- 5
Card declines
Payment link sent
The client gets a Shopify payment link that accepts any card, and the charge retries after 1, 3 and 7 days. The piece stays on hold in the meantime.
- 6
Shipped or file sent
Paid in full
The order shows paid in full in your morning digest. Pack the piece, or send the file link, knowing the money is already in.
Selling a commission as a product
The product page does the quoting, so there is no invoice to write.
Portrait
A product with the sizes as variants, A4 to A2, and the medium as a second option. The deposit plan is attached once and applies to every variant.
Pet portrait
The same product shape, usually at a lower price point and a faster turnaround. A separate product so it can carry its own plan and its own outer limit.
Custom illustration
Digital work, delivered as a file. The deposit plan is identical; only the delivery step at the end is different.
Details and reference photos come through the product's line item properties or a follow-up email. The client checks out normally, the deposit is taken and the schedule is set, with no back-and-forth about invoices. Balance Due does not take deposits on draft orders, so the order has to come through checkout.
Setting it up
About fifteen minutes, most of which is setting up the variants.
- In Shopify, check Settings, Payments: capture must be automatic at checkout or manual, not per fulfilment.
- Create a plan in Balance Due: 50% percentage deposit, balance rule when the order is ready, outer limit 120 days, or longer if your waiting list runs past that.
- Attach the plan to your commission products. Prints and originals for sale stay as ordinary products with nothing attached.
- Add the Deposit option block to your product template once, under the buy buttons. It only appears on products that carry a plan.
- Place a test order with Shopify's Bogus Gateway on a development store and watch the schedule email, the hold and the balance charge.
For a large piece you want paid in stages, sell it as two products, a first stage and a final stage, each with its own deposit plan. Each stage then has its own deposit and its own balance.
Physical, digital and in between
The hold works slightly differently depending on what you are delivering.
A painting that ships
The fulfilment hold stops the order being marked fulfilled in Shopify until the balance clears, so a courier is never booked on an unpaid piece. The morning digest tells you which commissions were paid overnight.
- Shopify will not let the order be fulfilled while the balance is open
- Paid pieces appear in the morning digest as ready to ship
- Release the hold by hand if a local client is collecting and paying in person
A digital file
The hold still applies to the Shopify order, and the delivery email or file link is something you send after the balance clears. The client's payment page shows them it is paid, so there is no 'did it go through' email.
- Send the file once the order shows paid in the digest
- The client can pay early from their payment page if they are keen
- A watermarked preview before payment is your call, not the app's
A piece collected in person
Mark ready is yours to press, so press it on collection day, or take the payment in Shopify at the counter and the hold releases itself.
- Take the balance on POS against the order and the plan closes
- No risk of the saved card being charged on top
- The receipt still goes out automatically
Slow months and cancellations
If a client goes quiet after the work is finished, the reminders keep going without you: a notice three days before the balance, retries with a payment link, then an overdue nudge every three days. You are alerted when it goes overdue, and the piece sits on hold rather than in the post.
If they cancel before you have started, cancel the plan from the order and keep the deposit according to your policy. If they cancel halfway through, the same applies, and the deposit is what pays for the half you did.
The deposit pays for the materials and the first week. The balance pays for the rest. Nothing leaves the studio in between.
Policy wording that works
Say in the product description and on your policy page: what the deposit is, that it is non-refundable once work begins, that the balance is taken from the same card when the piece is finished, and what happens if it cannot be taken. Balance Due shows your policy text under every payment email and on the client's payment page.
Commissioned work made to the client's brief is usually outside the 14-day cancellation right in the UK, but only if you have said so before they buy. Put it on the product rather than relying on the policy page alone.
If you offer a round of revisions, say how many are included and that further changes are chargeable. Chargeable changes are an order edit in Shopify and the balance picks up the difference.
What it costs
Nothing per order and nothing per transaction. The Free plan covers three commissions with an open balance at any one time, which suits most working artists, and Starter covers thirty. The limit counts open balances rather than orders a year, so a piece paid in full stops counting the moment it clears.
Deposits taken through Balance Due are ordinary Shopify payments, so your normal gateway rates apply and nothing is deducted by us. See pricing for the plan limits.
Related
Customer payment page
The page clients check instead of emailing.
Deposits for jewellers
The same balance-on-completion pattern.
How it works
One order, start to finish.
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.
Bridal shops
Dresses ordered months ahead: deposit at order, balance before the fitting.
Questions
Can I take the balance before I start rather than on completion?
Yes, use a number of days after the order instead. Some artists take 100% on a fixed date before starting; that is a plan with a short balance window.
Can a client pay the balance early?
Yes, from the pay now button on their payment page.
Do I need Shopify Payments?
For automatic charges, yes, or PayPal Express. On other providers the client gets a payment link on the due date instead.
Can I take a deposit on a commission I have quoted by email?
Yes. Create a product for the commission type with the price set per order through a variant, attach the plan and send the client the link. The order comes through checkout, which is what saves the card for the balance.
What if the client wants changes after I have marked it finished?
The balance is already charged at that point. Small changes are goodwill; chargeable changes are a new, small order with no plan attached.
Does the hold stop me sending a digital file?
No. The hold is on the Shopify order, not on your email. Send the file when the order shows paid, which is the point of the hold.
Can I take different deposits for different sizes?
The percentage is set per plan, so a 50% plan on an A2 portrait takes a bigger deposit in pounds than on an A4. If you want a different percentage, that is a second plan on a second product.
Does the deposit option show on every product?
No. The block only renders on products that carry a plan, so prints and originals for sale look exactly as they do now.
Not on the list?
If your customers commit before the work is done, Balance Due fits. Tell us what you sell and we will suggest a plan.