Change quantities on a draft order in Shopify
A customer changes their mind before paying, and the draft has to change with them. A draft order can be edited freely while it is still a draft, so a quantity change is a quick fix, not a new order. This tutorial raises the Trail Crew Tees on a draft for Maya Chen from two to four.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 5 minutes read
The worked example
| Customer | Maya Chen |
| Before: 2 × Trail Crew Tee, $28.00 | $56.00 |
| 1 × Summit Hoodie, $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Subtotal before | $101.00 |
| After: 4 × Trail Crew Tee, $28.00 | $112.00 |
| Subtotal after | $157.00 |
| Increase | $56.00 |
Download the quantity change: draft-quantity-change.csv (94 bytes).
The lines after the change. The two line totals add to the $157.00 subtotal after the change in the slip above.
1Open the draft
From your Shopify admin, go to Orders, then Drafts, and click the draft for Maya Chen. The draft holds two Trail Crew Tees at $28.00 and one Summit Hoodie at $45.00. A draft has no order information locked in, so you can change it before it is paid.
2Raise the tee quantity to 4
Find the Trail Crew Tee line and change the quantity from 2 to 4. The line total changes from $56.00 to $112.00. The hoodie line is untouched at $45.00.
3Check the new subtotal
Read the subtotal on the draft. Four tees at $28.00 is $112.00, plus one hoodie at $45.00, is $157.00. The increase is $157.00 less $101.00, or $56.00. Do not send the invoice until the subtotal matches the change you made.
4Check the inventory shown in the picker
The product picker shows the available inventory for each product. Two more tees need two more units in stock. If a product has no inventory left and overselling is not turned on for it, a warning icon appears next to it. You can still add the product to oversell it, but the customer will see an out of stock error at checkout if the inventory is still zero when they pay.
5Save the draft and send the invoice
Save the draft so the change is stored on the Drafts page. Then send the invoice with the new total. The customer pays $157.00 before tax plus the tax shown on the draft. If the customer already had the old invoice, tell them the total changed and send the new one.
The arithmetic
| Line | Quantity | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trail Crew Tee, before | 2 | $28.00 | $56.00 |
| Trail Crew Tee, after | 4 | $28.00 | $112.00 |
| Summit Hoodie | 1 | $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Subtotal before | $101.00 | ||
| Subtotal after | $157.00 | ||
| Increase | $56.00 |
The increase is $56.00: two more tees at $28.00 each.
Held at the counter
A draft is editable, a paid order is not the same. You can change a draft freely before it is paid. Once the draft converts to a paid order, edits follow the order editing rules instead, and fulfilled items cannot be removed or re-quantified. Make the change while it is still a draft.
An old invoice shows the old total. If the customer already has an invoice for $101.00 before tax, that invoice does not update itself. Send the new invoice after the change, and tell the customer the total moved.
Zero inventory is a checkout error, not a draft error. A draft lets you add a product with no inventory left, and only warns you with an icon. The customer hits the out of stock error later, at checkout. Check the inventory before you send the invoice.
Sources
- Creating draft orders — Shopify's help pages: the full create-draft steps, custom items, inventory warnings, reserving items, and the invoice, payment, and payment-terms options.