Managing Preorder Partial Payments in Shopify with Essential Preorder App

Payment Options in the Essential Preorder App

With the Essential Preorder app, you can choose between two payment options for preorders:

1. Full Payment

Customers pay the entire order amount immediately.
Shopify Payments is not required for full payments.

2. Partial Payment

Customers are charged immediately for the downpayment.
You can set a date for the remaining balance and collect it manually in Shopify's admin order detail pages

You can also collect the remainder in bulk: open Preorder → Preorders, tick the orders and choose Collect payments. Needs the Lite plan or higher. Step by step in Collect remaining balances.

The downpayment can be set to 0, allowing customers to secure a preorder without an upfront charge.
You can set different partial payment amounts for different products by creating multiple preorder campaigns.
Shopify Payments is required for this option.
Important! Don't use bulk 'capture payment' in Shopify's order list. This option does not collect payments. It marks orders as paid and removes the customer data needed to collect the balance later.

Orders & Payment Status

How do orders with partial payments appear in Shopify’s order dashboard?

When a customer places a preorder through the Essential Preorder app, the order will appear in your Shopify dashboard with a payment status of either "Paid" or "Partially Paid," depending on the payment option selected:

Full Payment: The entire amount is charged immediately, and the order status will be marked as "Paid."
Partial Payment: The customer is charged only for the downpayment, and the order status is "Partially Paid."
IMPORTANT: you need to collect remaining payment balance in Shopify's admin order detail pages when the payment is due, or at any time before that.

If you set the downpayment to 0, the order will still be marked as "Partially Paid," and you need to collect full amount later.

How should I manage fulfillment when only a deposit has been paid?

Shopify does not block fulfillment based on payment status, so you will need to track this manually. Best practices include:

Checking the order’s payment status before fulfilling.
Adding order tags like "Deposit Paid" or "Balance Due" to keep track.
Holding fulfillment until the order is fully paid, if necessary.

Refunds & Cancellations

How do refunds work for partially paid orders?

You can issue refunds for either the deposit or the full payment. Shopify allows you to refund any collected amount and cancel the remaining scheduled payment if necessary.

Can I make the initial deposit non-refundable?

Shopify does not enforce non-refundable deposits. If you want deposits to be non-refundable, you should clearly state this in your product descriptions, preorder terms, or store policies.

Can customers cancel their preorder?

Yes, customers can cancel their order at any time before fulfillment if it contains a preorder item. This ensures flexibility while maintaining trust with your customers.

Customer Communication

Does the Essential Preorder app notify customers about their remaining balance and due dates?

The app sends a preorder confirmation email and a shipping update email (sent by you from the Preorders list with Send shipping update). It does not send automatic reminders about the remaining balance. When you collect balances in bulk, you can tick If payment collection fails, send invoice to customers so Shopify emails an invoice to anyone whose card could not be charged.

Can I customize the emails sent for follow-up payments?

The app does not send its own reminder emails. The invoice sent after a failed collection is Shopify’s invoice email, customised in your Shopify admin notification settings. The preorder confirmation email and shipping update email are customised in the app under Preorder → Settings → Notifications. See Preorder emails.

Reporting & Tracking

How can I track which preorders are fully paid and which still have an outstanding balance?

You can track your preorder payments directly from the Shopify Orders dashboard by filtering orders by Payment Status:

"Partially Paid": Orders where the deposit has been collected, but the final payment is still pending.
"Paid": Orders where the full balance has been collected.

Adding order tags (e.g., "Deposit Paid" or "Balance Due") can help with tracking.

Can I generate reports on how many partial payment orders were placed?

Shopify does not provide a built-in report specifically for partial payments. However, you can:

Export order data to CSV and filter by "Partially Paid" status.
Use Shopify Analytics to track preorder revenue and sales trends.

By leveraging these features, you can efficiently manage preorder payments while keeping customers informed and orders organized. Stay tuned for upcoming updates, including automated email reminders for due balances!