Balance 
When a balance payment fails
Most failed balances are expired cards, not customers walking away. The process should assume that and make it easy to pay another way.
At a glance
The whole process in one panel.
- First failure
- Payment link sent, order stays on hold
- Retries
- After 1, 3 and 7 days
- After four failures
- Overdue, you are alerted
- Overdue notices
- Every 3 days with the link
- Cost of a failed attempt
- Nothing
- Your options
- Collect now, reschedule, waive, cancel
The order's outstanding amount in Shopify is what everything works from. The moment it reaches zero, by any route, the plan closes and the hold is released.
What happens automatically
Eleven days from the first decline to the overdue flag, with nothing for you to do unless you want to.
- 1
Day 0, the charge is declined
Payment link sent
The customer gets a message saying so, with the next attempt date and a Shopify payment link that accepts any card. The order stays on hold.
- 2
Day 1, first retry
Retry
The saved card is tried again. If it fails, the same message goes out with a fresh link.
- 3
Day 4, second retry
Retry
Three days after the first retry. Most expired-card cases have been settled through the link by now.
- 4
Day 11, third retry
Retry
Seven days after the second. This is the fourth attempt in total.
- 5
Day 11, overdue
You are alerted
The order is marked overdue: the customer gets an overdue notice every 3 days, you get an alert, and the order is tagged deposit:overdue in Shopify.
- 6
Whenever it is paid
Paid in full
If the customer pays through any link, or you take payment another way, Balance Due sees the order's outstanding amount drop, closes the plan and releases the hold.
What you should do
Less than you would think, and later than you would think.
At the first failure: nothing
The email and the retry handle most cases. An expired card is replaced by the customer through the payment link without anybody at the shop being involved.
- The payment link accepts any card
- A customer-initiated payment can pass a bank challenge that an unattended charge cannot
- The order is on hold, so nothing can ship meanwhile
When it goes overdue: one personal message
One email or call. Balance Due's order page shows the last decline reason and every message sent, so you know what they have seen before you write.
- Decline reason on the order page
- Every message and its date, so you are not repeating what they already have
- The customer's payment page link to send them again
When you have agreed something
A new date, a smaller amount, or that the order is off. Each is one action from the order and the reminders follow.
- Reschedule the payment: the reminders restart three days before the new date
- Waive the difference: the order completes and ships
- Cancel the plan: keep the deposit under your policy and cancel or restock the order in Shopify
Common decline reasons
Expired card
The most common by far on anything with a lead time over a few months. The payment link with a new card fixes it in a minute.
Card replaced after fraud
The old number is dead. Same fix: the payment link accepts the replacement.
Insufficient funds on the day
Often cleared by the day-1 retry. The three-day reminder exists so the customer can top up first.
Bank challenge on an unattended charge
Some banks challenge charges the customer is not present for. A customer-initiated payment through Shopify's checkout completes the challenge, which is why the link matters.
Keeping failures down
- Remind three days before, so the customer can top up or swap cards.
- Charge at a sensible hour. Balance Due uses 9am store time.
- Keep balances within a few months of the order where the trade allows; cards expire and circumstances change.
- Use the ready rule for anything with an uncertain date, so the charge never lands before the goods exist.
- Say in your policy what happens if the balance cannot be taken, so the overdue notice is not a surprise.
A long wait is not itself a problem. Luthiers run eighteen-month queues on this process. The card dies, the link goes out, and the customer who has waited a year pays within the hour.
Closing an order that never pays
It happens, rarely. When you have decided the order is off: cancel the plan from the order so nothing further is sent, keep or refund the deposit according to the policy the customer agreed to, and cancel or restock the order in Shopify. The order is tagged deposit:cancelled and drops out of the digest.
If the goods are bespoke and the deposit does not cover what you spent, that is a matter for your terms and, if it comes to it, a small claim. The app's record of every message sent and every attempt made is the evidence that you gave the customer every chance to pay.
Four attempts, a link that takes any card, and a reminder before each one. By the time an order is overdue, the customer has had every chance.
Where the pay-link flow differs
On a store whose provider cannot charge a saved card, there is no automatic charge to fail. The due-date message carries Shopify's payment link from the start, and the nudges every 3 days do the work of the retry ladder. Overdue status, the alert to you and the hold are the same.
Related
Automatic balance collection
The full process.
Reminders and receipts
Every message, in order.
Fulfilment hold
Why nothing ships meanwhile.
How to take deposits on Shopify
The setup, the settings that trip people up, and the policy wording.
Deposits without Shopify Plus
What Basic, Shopify and Advanced stores can do, and what they cannot.
Partial payments on Shopify
Deposits, pay links and BNPL: which partial payment is which.
Questions
Does a retry cost me anything?
No. Failed attempts are not charged by Shopify Payments, and Balance Due has no per-attempt fee.
Can I retry sooner than the ladder?
Yes, collect now from the order tries immediately. You can also change the ladder in settings.
Can I stop the reminders while I talk to the customer?
Reschedule the payment to a later date and the nudges pause until three days before it.
Does the customer have to use the same card?
No. The payment link in every failed-payment and overdue message accepts any card through Shopify's own checkout.
What if the customer pays by bank transfer instead?
Record the payment against the order in Shopify. Balance Due sees the outstanding amount drop to zero, closes the plan and releases the hold. The saved card is not charged on top.
Can the order ship while it is overdue?
Not unless you release the hold by hand. The hold stays on until the balance clears, which is the point of it.
Will the customer be charged twice if a retry overlaps a link payment?
No. Every charge is submitted with an idempotency key, and the app reconciles against Shopify's outstanding amount before each attempt. Once the link payment is recorded there is nothing left to charge.
How do I see which orders are overdue?
Filter your Shopify Orders page by the tag deposit:overdue, or open the Balance Due dashboard, which lists them with the last decline reason.
Ready to set one up?
A first deposit plan takes about ten minutes, and the Free plan covers a real order end to end.