Record a partial payment on a draft order in Shopify
A customer pays part of an order now and the rest later. A partial payment records the money received and leaves the balance visible, so nobody has to guess what is still owed. The draft needs payment terms on it first: a draft order with payment terms is eligible for partial payments, and each payment is collected or recorded on the order the draft creates. This tutorial records a $140.00 payment against a $340.00 draft order for five backpacks.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 5 minutes read
The worked example
| Customer | Dana Whitfield |
| 5 × Canvas Backpack, $68.00 | $340.00 |
| Subtotal | $340.00 |
| Paid now | $140.00 |
| Balance owed | $200.00 |
Download the payment record: partial-payment-record.csv (67 bytes).
The payment split for the order: what was paid and what is still owed. The single line total is the $340.00 subtotal in the slip above.
1Open Drafts and create the order
From your Shopify admin, go to Orders, then Drafts, and click Create order. Add the customer and the five backpacks. Five backpacks at $68.00 is $340.00.
2Set payment terms on the draft
In the Payment section, select Payment due later, choose a payment term from the Payment terms drop-down menu, and click Save. The terms are what make this draft eligible for partial payments. Without them, accepting payment on a draft completes it at the full $340.00 and creates the order, with no balance left to collect in parts.
3Collect the $140.00 on the order
Create the order from the draft, then open the order from the Orders page and click Collect payment. To charge a card, click Enter credit card, select Fixed amount in the Amount section, enter $140.00, enter the card details, and click Charge. If the customer already paid another way, such as a bank deposit, click Record payment instead, enter the $140.00, select the payment method, and click Record payment. A manual payment is recorded on the order; Shopify does not capture it.
4Check the payment status
After the partial payment is recorded, the order status changes to Partially paid. The status is the record that $140.00 is in and $200.00 is still owed. If the status still shows the full amount unpaid, the payment was not recorded.
5Write the balance on the order
Add a note to the order with the balance and the date it is due: $200.00 owed on a $340.00 order, with $140.00 paid. A note on the order keeps the next person who opens it from chasing the full amount.
6Collect the $200.00 balance
When the balance is due, open the order and collect the remaining $200.00 the same way, or send an invoice for it. When the full $340.00 has been received, the order's payment status changes to Paid.
The arithmetic
| Line | Quantity | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canvas Backpack | 5 | $68.00 | $340.00 |
| Subtotal | $340.00 | ||
| Paid now | $140.00 | ||
| Balance owed | $200.00 |
The balance owed is $200.00, which is $340.00 less the $140.00 already paid.
Held at the counter
Accepting payment on a draft without terms completes it. On a draft with no payment terms, Collect payment settles the full amount: Mark as paid records a payment you have already received, Credit card charges the card, and either one creates the order from the draft. No balance stays open afterwards, so set the terms first, and record only the $140.00 that was actually received.
A deposit is a set share, not a part-payment you choose. A partial payment can be any fixed amount or percentage each time you collect one. A deposit requirement is different: it fixes a percentage of the total that the customer pays up front, as part of the payment terms, and deposit requirements on draft orders are available only on the Shopify Plus plan. Do not mix the two up in your notes.
Keep the balance in writing. The customer needs to know the $200.00 is still owed and when it is due. If the balance lives only in your head, the next person on the order will chase the wrong amount.
Sources
- Collecting and recording partial payments — Shopify's help pages: collecting and recording multiple partial payments on orders with payment terms, by credit card or manual payment, and the Partially paid status.
- 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.