Cart-level deposit option

The cart-level deposit option feature lets customers choose to make deposit and balance payments for all line items by clicking a single button in the cart.

It's an alternative to letting customers select a deposit option on individual product pages as they add items to their cart. 

This guide goes over the ideal use case, requirements, and how the feature works step-by-step.

On this page:

Ideal use case

Requirements

How it works

Ideal use case and benefits

The ideal use case for the cart-level deposit option is for offering your customers an experience like layaway across your whole store. The more you treat it as a way to help people afford products without credit checks or loans, the better it works.

Some of the key benefits include:

• Seeing the amount for the whole cart lower can boost customer confidence and average order value.
• It only takes customers one click to apply a deposit purchase option, which is much less friction than selecting it for multiple products.
• It's easy for merchants to assign Downpay to all products, minus any exceptions, with the whole store product option. 
• If customers want to leave checkout and choose a different payment method after creating a cart, they don't have to remove and re-add products.

Requirements

• One percentage-based deposit purchase option applied to your whole store, with any exceptions defined
• Messaging on your product pages indicating the deposit option is available and that any items not eligible for deposits will be charged upfront
• You wait to ship orders until all the products are ready

How it works

This is how customers experience the feature:

1. Customers see your messaging on product pages that a deposit option is available and that any exceptions will be charged upfront.

2. They add products to their cart. There are no additional options they need to select at this point.
3. They visit their cart.

• Note that the deposit due only at checkout text and subtotals do not appear in the cart as they do for product-level deposit options, as the purchase option has not yet been applied.
• In this example, the yellow couch is defined as an exception that will be charged upfront.

4. In the cart, the customer clicks the customizable Proceed with deposit button. 
5. Downpay applies the deposit purchase option (in this case a 50% deposit) to the line items that are not defined as exceptions.
6. When the checkout loads, it includes the subtotal and due today and due later payment details, just like the product-level deposit option feature.

• The deposit only due at checkout text appears next to the line items with purchase options but not next to any exceptions.

7. Customers continue to complete checkout.
8. If they want to choose a different payment method before committing, they return to step 3, where they can choose a deposit option or not.

Updated on: 03/11/2025