Balance 
Deposits for upholsterers
You order fabric the week the job comes in, it is cut to the piece, and it cannot be returned. A deposit at checkout means you are never the one funding that.
At a glance
How an upholstery workshop usually sets this up.
- Typical deposit
- 50% on full reupholstery
- Customer's own fabric
- 25% to 30%, a second plan
- Balance charged
- When you mark the piece finished
- Outer limit
- 120 days
- Per-order fee
- None
- Shopify plan
- Any Shopify plan
Two plans cover almost every workshop: one for jobs where you supply the fabric and one for jobs where the customer does. A product carries one plan at a time, so the two job types are two products.
Where the money lands
A £1,400 two-seater reupholstery at 50%, which is roughly what the materials come to.
Half at order is the convention in this trade because it matches the materials almost exactly: fabric by the metre, foam, webbing, trim and thread. If the job is cancelled after the fabric is cut, the deposit is what stops that being your loss.
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, with a reminder three days before and a receipt once it clears.
Why the deposit matters more here than elsewhere
Three things make upholstery different from making a new piece from scratch.
Fabric is cut to the piece
Once it is off the roll it has no resale value. A cancelled job without a deposit is a straight loss of the material plus the time spent, which is why the deposit is normally non-refundable from the moment the fabric is ordered rather than from the moment work starts.
- Say in your terms that the deposit covers the fabric and is non-refundable once it is ordered
- Balance Due repeats your policy text under every payment message
- The customer sees the terms again on their own payment page
The furniture already belongs to the customer
You are holding something that is theirs, so you cannot simply keep the goods until you are paid the way a furniture maker can. The fulfilment hold still earns its place, but the deposit and the written terms do the heavy lifting.
- The hold stops the order being closed in Shopify before the balance clears
- Finished pieces appear in your morning digest as ready to collect
- A dispute about a sofa is settled by your terms, not by the app
Most jobs are quoted after seeing the piece
You cannot price a wing chair from a photograph. The deposit plan has to fit a quote-first process rather than a buy-it-now one, and it does, as long as the order comes through checkout.
- A product per job type, with the price set per order through a variant
- Send the customer the link once they accept the quote
- Balance Due does not take deposits on draft orders
The job, stage by stage
The only manual step is marking the piece finished, which is the moment you were going to ring them anyway.
- 1
Quote accepted, link sent
£700 taken
The customer checks out through your normal Shopify checkout, picks the deposit option and pays the deposit. The order lands with the balance recorded against it.
- 2
Fabric ordered
Nothing charged
The deposit is already in your account, so the metres on order are paid for by the customer rather than by you.
- 3
Piece collected and stripped
Nothing charged
Old frames turn up problems once they are bare. If the price changes, edit the Shopify order and the balance follows it.
- 4
Piece finished
£700 charged
You mark the order finished in Shopify. Within minutes the balance is charged to the saved card and the customer is emailed a receipt.
- 5
Card declines
Payment link sent
The customer gets a Shopify payment link that accepts any card, and the charge retries after 1, 3 and 7 days.
- 6
Collection booked
Paid in full
The piece shows in your morning digest as paid overnight, and the hold releases itself so the order can be closed off when it leaves.
Setting it up
Two plans, two product types, about twenty minutes.
- In Shopify, check Settings, Payments: capture must be automatic at checkout or manual, not per fulfilment.
- Create the first plan in Balance Due: 50% percentage deposit, balance rule when the order is ready, outer limit 120 days. Attach it to the products where you supply the fabric.
- Create a second plan at 25% to 30% and attach it to the customer's own material products, since the deposit there covers labour and sundries rather than fabric.
- Set up one product per job type: two-seater, three-seater, wing chair, set of dining chairs, with the price set per order through a variant.
- 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.
Small jobs, cushion covers and repairs rarely need a deposit at all. Leave those as ordinary products with no plan attached, so your plan limit is only used by the jobs that need it.
Three kinds of job, three ways to sell them
What the deposit is covering decides the percentage.
Full reupholstery, your fabric
Deposit covers the material. 50% at order, balance when finished. This is the plan most of your orders will use.
Customer's own material
Deposit covers labour and sundries only, so 25% to 30% is normal. A separate product with its own lower plan.
Repairs and small work
Re-webbing, a new seat pad, cushion covers. Days rather than weeks, so payment in full and no deposit plan.
If a customer brings their own fabric and it turns out to be too little, you can add the extra metres to the order in Shopify and the balance picks up the difference.
When the fabric is the problem
Fabric gets discontinued between the quote and the order, mills run late, and a customer who chose a velvet in January wants a linen by March. Edit the order in Shopify once a replacement is agreed. If the new fabric costs more, the difference is added to the balance; if it costs less, the balance shrinks. If the job is cancelled altogether, cancel the plan and handle the deposit according to your policy.
The customer's payment page always shows the current figure, so the conversation at collection is about the chair rather than about the invoice.
The deposit is there so that nobody is funding a roll of fabric that only fits one chair.
Collection day
The fulfilment hold means the order cannot be closed as collected in Shopify until it is paid, which is a useful backstop when somebody else is handing the piece over. Release it by hand if a regular is paying at the counter, or take the payment in Shopify and the hold releases itself.
If the customer pays in the workshop, by card or by transfer, record it against the order in Shopify. Balance Due sees the outstanding amount drop to zero and closes the plan, so there is no risk of the saved card being charged afterwards.
What it costs
Nothing per order and nothing per transaction. The Free plan covers three pieces with an open balance at any one time, and Starter covers thirty. The limit counts open balances rather than orders a year, so a sofa 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
Deposits for furniture makers
New pieces rather than reupholstery.
Automatic balance collection
Mark ready, collect now, reschedule.
How to take deposits on Shopify
Setup and policy wording.
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.
Questions
What if the fabric is discontinued after the customer has paid the deposit?
Edit the order in Shopify once a replacement is agreed. If the new fabric costs more, the difference is added to the balance; if it costs less, the balance shrinks. If the job is cancelled, cancel the plan and handle the deposit according to your policy.
Can I take the balance when the customer collects rather than when I finish?
Yes. Mark ready is yours to press, so press it on collection day. If they pay in the workshop instead, take the payment against the order in Shopify and Balance Due closes the plan.
We do quotes before anyone commits. Does that fit?
Quote as you do now, then send the customer the product link once they accept. The deposit is what turns the quote into a commitment, and the app handles everything after that.
Can I take a different deposit on customer's own material jobs?
Yes. Create a second plan with a lower percentage and attach it to those products. A product carries one plan at a time, so keep the two job types as separate products.
What if the frame needs more work than I quoted for?
Edit the order in Shopify and the balance follows the new price. The customer's payment page shows the current figure and the reminder before the charge quotes it.
Can a customer 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 customer gets a payment link on the due date instead of an automatic charge.
Does the deposit option show on every product?
No. The block only renders on products that carry a plan, so cushion covers and small repairs 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.