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.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Enabling continue selling when out of stock and changing the add to cart button
- 2Using a dedicated Shopify preorder app
- 3Manually chasing customers down for remaining balances
- 4Unlisting or reserving the item for a specific deadline without a deposit
- 5Creating a custom layaway or hold deposit listing for a small percentage of the price
- 6Politely refusing the request and telling the buyer to purchase it when they are ready
- 7Waiting to collect full payment until the final item in an order is ready to ship
- 8Requiring full upfront payment and manually sending invoices for additional shipping charges
- 9Managing order splits and refunds manually
- 10Recording the payment as a deposit or other asset until the equipment is received and placed in service
- 11Classifying the payment as construction in progress based on company standard operating procedures
- 12Doing store measurements based on DIY numbers
- 13Researching alternative suppliers like Alibaba
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“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 ↗
“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 ↗
“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 ↗
“I would say no. You can miss out on selling it without a deposit or something”source ↗
“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 ↗
“They mentioned that I would need to put a deposit down to have someone come out and measure?”source ↗
“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 ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Why won't contractors take credit cards for large deposits?
- 4Why are Shopify payouts held and put on a rolling reserve?
- 2Why do clients take 30, 60, or 90 days to pay invoices?
- 2Why does the bank hold checks for so long?
- 4When is it too early to send save the dates?
- 4How to set up automated payment processing for a small business