Balance 
Deposits for bespoke tailoring
Cloth cut to one man's measurements fits nobody else. The deposit is what makes it safe to put the shears through it.
At a glance
How a tailoring house usually sets this up.
- Typical deposit
- 50% on bespoke
- Made-to-measure
- 25% to 30%, a second plan
- Balance charged
- The day of the final fitting
- Outer limit
- 120 days
- Per-order fee
- None
- Shopify plan
- Any Shopify plan
Two plans cover most houses: one for bespoke, where the cloth is cut from scratch, and a lighter one for made-to-measure, where the garment is adjusted from a block. A product carries one plan at a time, so the two are two products.
Where the money lands
A £2,800 two-piece in English worsted at 50%, balance at the final fitting.
Half at order covers the cloth and the cutting. The balance lands when the customer is standing in the suit rather than on an arbitrary date, which is the 'when the order is ready' rule with mark ready pressed on the day of the final.
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 customer does not need to do anything.
Fittings are the schedule
Most houses do a baste, a forward and a final. The money only needs to follow two of them.
- 1
Cloth chosen, order placed
£1,400 taken
The customer checks out through your Shopify checkout, picks the deposit option and pays the deposit. The order lands with the balance recorded against it.
- 2
Cloth ordered and cut
Nothing charged
The deposit is already in your account, so the length is bought and cut with the customer's money rather than yours.
- 3
Baste fitting
Nothing charged
The first fitting. Nothing about the money changes. If chargeable extra work is agreed, edit the order and the balance follows.
- 4
Forward fitting
Nothing charged
Eight to twelve weeks in, and the customer may have changed shape. Alterations within the commission are part of the price; the balance waits.
- 5
Final fitting
£1,400 charged
You mark the order ready on the day. The balance is charged to the saved card while the customer is in the shop, and the receipt follows.
- 6
Collection
Paid in full
The hold releases itself once the order is paid, and the suit leaves with the customer. If the card declines on the day, the payment link and the retries take over and the garment stays with you.
Three kinds of work, three ways to sell them
What the deposit is covering decides the percentage, and whether there is one at all.
Bespoke
Cut from scratch to the customer's pattern. The cloth is the risk, so 50% at order and the balance at the final fitting. The plan most of your orders will use.
Made-to-measure
Adjusted from a block, so less at stake if the order falls through. 25% to 30% is normal. A separate product with its own lighter plan.
Alterations and repairs
Days of work and small sums. Payment in full as you do now, no plan attached, so the plan limit is only used by commissions.
If you sell cloth separately from making, keep them as two products: one for the cloth with payment in full and one for the making with a deposit plan. That also makes your cancellation position much clearer.
Setting it up
About twenty minutes for two plans and two product types.
- In Shopify, check Settings, Payments: capture must be automatic at checkout or manual, not per fulfilment.
- Create the bespoke plan in Balance Due: 50% percentage deposit, balance rule when the order is ready, outer limit 120 days.
- Create a second plan at 25% to 30% for made-to-measure and attach it to those products.
- If you quote in the shop, create a product per garment type with the price set per order through a variant and let the customer check out on the shop iPad or from a link you send.
- 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.
Balance Due does not take deposits on draft orders or POS orders. The order has to come through checkout, which is also what saves the card for the balance.
Weight, cloth and customers who disappear
The three things that go sideways between the first fitting and the last.
The customer changes shape
It is one of the reasons the balance sits at the final fitting rather than at the start. Alterations within the original commission do not change the price; chargeable extra work does, and that is an order edit.
- Alterations in the commission: no change to the balance
- Chargeable extra work: edit the order and the difference is added
- The customer's payment page always shows the current figure
The cloth is discontinued
Mills drop lines between the swatch and the order. Edit the order once a replacement is agreed. A dearer cloth adds to the balance, a cheaper one reduces it.
- Keep the original order so the history is in one place
- The reminder before the charge quotes the new figure
- If the job is cancelled, cancel the plan and handle the deposit under your terms
The customer stops coming to fittings
Nothing is charged while the order sits unready, because the balance only triggers when you press mark ready. If they go quiet for good, you decide when to collect.
- Press mark ready anyway and the balance is charged
- Or press collect now from the order
- The reminders, the retries and the payment link do the chasing
Keeping the garment until it is paid
The fulfilment hold stops the order being closed off in Shopify until the balance clears. It is a backstop rather than a policy: the suit cannot be marked as collected until it is paid, so a busy Saturday does not end with a finished garment and an open balance.
If the customer pays at the counter instead, take the payment in Shopify against the order and the hold releases itself. Balance Due sees the outstanding amount drop to zero and closes the plan, so the saved card is never charged on top.
The balance is taken while the customer is standing in the suit. There is no better moment to ask for it, and the app does the asking.
Consumer law on made-to-measure
Goods made to a customer's specification are generally outside the 14-day cancellation right in the UK, but you have to tell the customer that before they buy, not afterwards. Put it in the product description and on your policy page: what the deposit is, that it is non-refundable once the cloth is cut, that the balance is taken from the same card at the final fitting, and what happens if it cannot be taken.
Balance Due repeats your policy text under every payment message and on the customer's payment page, so the terms are in front of them at the point they are paying rather than in a page they read once.
Made-to-measure sits in a greyer area than full bespoke. If the garment is adjusted from a stock block rather than cut to the customer's own pattern, take advice on whether your cancellation terms hold, and write them accordingly.
What it costs
Nothing per order and nothing per transaction, which matters when the order is £2,800. The Free plan covers three garments with an open balance at any one time, and Starter covers thirty. The limit counts open balances rather than orders a year, so a suit paid for at its final fitting 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
Deposits for bridal shops
The same fitting-led timeline.
Fulfilment hold
Nothing leaves the shop unpaid.
How to take deposits on Shopify
Setup and policy wording.
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.
Questions
The customer stops coming to fittings. What happens?
Nothing is charged while the order sits unready, because the balance only triggers when you press mark ready. If they go quiet for good, press mark ready anyway or collect now, and the retries and reminders do the chasing.
Can I take a deposit on cloth only and bill the making separately?
Yes, as two products: one for the cloth with payment in full, one for the making with a deposit plan. Keeping them separate also makes your cancellation position much clearer.
We take payment in the shop at the final fitting. Is the app still useful?
Yes, for the deposit and the record. Take the balance in Shopify at the counter and Balance Due sees the outstanding amount drop and closes the plan.
Can I take a different deposit on made-to-measure?
Yes. Create a second plan with a lower percentage and attach it to the made-to-measure products. A product carries one plan at a time.
What if the customer wants a second suit from the same cloth?
That is a second order with its own deposit and balance. Keeping each garment on its own order keeps the fittings and the money straight.
Can the customer pay the balance early?
Yes, from the pay now button on their payment page.
What if the card declines at the final fitting?
The customer gets a payment link that accepts any card, the charge retries after 1, 3 and 7 days, and the garment stays with you until it clears. Or take another card in Shopify at the counter.
Does the deposit option show on every product?
No. The block only renders on products that carry a plan, so shirts, accessories and alterations 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.