What workarounds did people try for "How to collect remaining preorder balances without chasing customers"?

Community members documented 18 workarounds: 1. Enabling continue selling when out of stock and changing the add to cart button 2. Using a dedicated Shopify preorder app 3. Manually chasing customers down for remaining balances 4. Unlisting or reserving the item for a specific deadline without a deposit 5. Creating a custom layaway or hold deposit listing for a small percentage of the price 6. Politely refusing the request and telling the buyer to purchase it when they are ready 7. Waiting to collect full payment until the final item in an order is ready to ship 8. Requiring full upfront payment and manually sending invoices for additional shipping charges 9. Managing order splits and refunds manually 10. Recording the payment as a deposit or other asset until the equipment is received and placed in service 11. Classifying the payment as construction in progress based on company standard operating procedures 12. Doing store measurements based on DIY numbers 13. Researching alternative suppliers like Alibaba 14. avoiding pre-orders and buying stock upfront 15. Charging the customer the full amount upfront and dropshipping the item directly from the supplier. 16. Labeling the transaction as a 'reservation' or 'pre-order' with explicitly stated terms and shipping timelines. 17. Only accepting partial payments for highly customized or bespoke items over a certain dollar threshold. 18. Purchasing and holding the physical inventory before listing it for sale.

How to collect remaining preorder balances without chasing customers

Setting up split payments like a 30 percent deposit requires manually tracking remaining balances once items are ready to ship. This manual follow-up stops merchants from automating fulfillment and forces them to figure out confusing preorder setups from scratch.

Overview

Last updated Oct 9, 2026

People affected9 accounts across 5 forums

Workarounds found18 items attempted

Community agreement16 total upvotes

What the numbers show

Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count

The most recent one is from October 2026.
This comes up 62.8× more often in r/shopify than across the site as a whole.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

18 items+ Contribute

Found another way around this?

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1
Enabling continue selling when out of stock and changing the add to cart button
Did this help you?
2
Using a dedicated Shopify preorder app
Did this help you?
3
Manually chasing customers down for remaining balances
Did this help you?
4
Unlisting or reserving the item for a specific deadline without a deposit
Did this help you?
5
Creating a custom layaway or hold deposit listing for a small percentage of the price
Did this help you?
6
Politely refusing the request and telling the buyer to purchase it when they are ready
Did this help you?
7
Waiting to collect full payment until the final item in an order is ready to ship
Did this help you?
8
Requiring full upfront payment and manually sending invoices for additional shipping charges
Did this help you?
9
Managing order splits and refunds manually
Did this help you?
10
Recording the payment as a deposit or other asset until the equipment is received and placed in service
Did this help you?
11
Classifying the payment as construction in progress based on company standard operating procedures
Did this help you?
12
Doing store measurements based on DIY numbers
Did this help you?
13
Researching alternative suppliers like Alibaba
Did this help you?
14
avoiding pre-orders and buying stock upfront
Did this help you?
15
Charging the customer the full amount upfront and dropshipping the item directly from the supplier.
Did this help you?
16
Labeling the transaction as a 'reservation' or 'pre-order' with explicitly stated terms and shipping timelines.
Did this help you?
17
Only accepting partial payments for highly customized or bespoke items over a certain dollar threshold.
Did this help you?
18
Purchasing and holding the physical inventory before listing it for sale.
Did this help you?

Tried another approach not listed above?+ Share your workaround ↑

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/shopify4 people · September 2026 – October 2026

“I'm preparing a product launch on Shopify and I'm expecting the first batch to sell out fairly quickly. I've been looking into Shopify preorder options, but I'm realizing there are quite a few different ways to handle it and I'm not sure which setup makes the most sense.”source ↗

Deborah0O5Davis48 · r/shopify · 6 upvotes

“When customers place a pre-order, when does the money hit so I can use the funds to buy the MOQ my manufacturer requires?”source ↗

Little-Wing6189 · r/shopify · 4 upvotes

“for those of you using deposits for preorders, how are you handling the remaining balance? I'm considering something like 30% upfront and the remaining 70% once the product is ready to ship, but I'm not sure what the best way is to collect that second payment without having to manually chase customers down”source ↗

Nancy038edward · r/shopify · 1 upvotes

“10??? oh good lord”source ↗

Little-Wing6189 · r/shopify · 1 upvotes

“when people place orders containing several pre-orders with release dates months apart i cant really collect payment until everything is ready to ship, since shopify basic doesn't support splitting payments as each items is fulfilled.”source ↗

“If i attempt to collect payment once Item A Releases, it will collect payment for all items, including the added shipping.”source ↗

“Meaning i have wait to charge until Dec. when the final item is ready to ship leaving me to pay and sit on product, for potentially months.”source ↗

GamerMan762 · r/shopify

r/Accounting1 person · September 2026

“Does it make sense to record a piece of equipment as prepaid if it wont be delivered/installed until the next fiscal year? Does it really make a difference if it goes into construction in progress vs prepaid?”source ↗

mysterious_papaya007 · r/Accounting · 2 upvotes

r/Etsy2 people · September 2026

“I've had people ask me that and then ghost me; I've also had some come through, but my trust level on this is weak.”source ↗

Competitive-Top4520 · r/Etsy · 1 upvotes

“I would say no. You can miss out on selling it without a deposit or something”source ↗

Ok-Amphibian-6834 · r/Etsy · 1 upvotes

r/smallbusiness1 person · October 2026

“I don't want to purchase the TV for this customer if he's not serious about buying it.”source ↗

East_Sentence_4245 · r/smallbusiness · 1 upvotes

“What retail stores have products that require a down payment to make sure that the customer is serious about buying it?”source ↗

“I want to post an $800 TV on our website (it costs me $500), but I don't want to buy it unless the customer makes a $200 (25%) down payment.”source ↗

East_Sentence_4245 · r/smallbusiness

r/HomeImprovement1 person · September 2026

“They mentioned that I would need to put a deposit down to have someone come out and measure?”source ↗

LouSevens · r/HomeImprovement