Downpay deposit orders explained: statuses, payments, and fulfillment
A Downpay deposit order is one Shopify order where the customer pays part of the total at checkout and the balance is collected later from their stored payment method. This guide follows one through to fulfillment.
On this page:
Overview of the order life cycle
Stage 1: The customer places the order
Stage 2: The order arrives in your Shopify admin
Stage 3: When should you collect the remaining balance?
Stage 4: How do you release the fulfillment hold?
Stage 5: Fulfill the order
Automating the full life cycle
Overview of the order life cycle
A Downpay deposit order is a single Shopify order. The customer pays a deposit at checkout, their payment method is stored on file, and you collect the remaining balance before you fulfill. It is not a draft order, and it is not split into two separate orders. Every transaction stays attached to the same order.
This is the pattern behind most preorder, made to order, and booking setups on Shopify.
Every order placed with a Downpay purchase option moves through the same five stages:
- The customer checks out and pays a deposit. Their payment method is stored on file.
- The order lands in your Shopify admin as Partially paid and On hold.
- You collect the remaining balance, either by charging the card on file, by sending an invoice or marking the order as paid if processed outside of Shopify.
- The fulfillment hold is released and the order moves to Unfulfilled.
- You fulfill and ship the order exactly as you would any other Shopify order.
Life cycle quick reference
Stage | Payment status | Fulfillment status | Your action |
|---|---|---|---|
Order placed | Partially paid | On hold | None |
Balance due | Partially paid | On hold | Collect payment or send invoice |
Balance collected | Paid | On hold | Release the fulfillment hold |
Hold released | Paid | Unfulfilled | Fulfill the order |
Order shipped | Paid | Fulfilled | None |
Stage 1: The customer places the order
What the customer pays at checkout
The customer adds a preorder or deposit product to their cart, selects the purchase option you created in Downpay, and proceeds to checkout. At checkout they pay only the deposit amount you configured in the purchase option, either a fixed amount or a percentage of the product price.
Their payment method is stored on file so you can collect the remaining balance later. Downpay stores payment details indefinitely, so the balance does not have to be collected on the due date.
Taxes and shipping are deferred on orders that contain only partially paid products. If the cart mixes deposit products with pay in full products, taxes and shipping are charged on the deposit payment at checkout.
What the customer receives
The customer gets their standard Shopify order confirmation email. Two optional additions are worth setting up before you go live:
- A Pay Now button in the order confirmation email, which lets the customer pay their balance themselves at any time.
- The customer order portal, which lets customers view their order, update their card details, and, if enabled, cancel their order.
Stage 2: The order arrives in your Shopify admin
The order appears in your normal Shopify orders list with two statuses that are specific to deposit orders: Partially paid and On hold. The order is also tagged with the Name of the purchase option you set in Downpay.
Payment status
- Partially paid when a deposit was collected at checkout.
- Pending payment when the deposit was set to $0.
- Authorized when a hold has been placed on the card on file.
- Paid once the full order total has been collected.
Fulfillment status
- On hold when the purchase option uses
Days after checkoutorOn fulfillmentfor the balance due date. - Scheduled when the purchase option uses
On a specific date. This moves to Unfulfilled automatically on that date. - Unfulfilled when the item can be fulfilled, or when On hold has been disabled in Downpay.
The On hold status is intentional. It stops the order from being picked up by your fulfillment workflow or your 3PL before you have collected the balance. Should you wish to auto release holds when orders are created, you may do so with this Shopify flow template.
Stage 3: When should you collect the remaining balance?
Collect the balance before you fulfill. Collecting first means the money is in your account before the product leaves your warehouse, and it means a declined card costs you a delay rather than a loss.
Option A: Charge the card on file
Use this for most orders. The customer accepted the balance payment terms at checkout, so the card on file can be charged directly. Best practice is to pair this with a payment reminder sent a few days ahead, giving the customer time to update their card if it has expired.
- Open the order from the Shopify orders page.
- Find the Collect payment button inside the payment breakdown box.
- Click Collect payment, choose the payment method, and confirm the charge on the next screen.
The payment status changes to Paid.
To collect for many orders at once, select the orders in your Shopify order list, click ..., choose Manage in Downpay, reselect the orders, and click Collect Payments.
Automate collection with Shopify Flow
Once you are collecting balances regularly, automate the charge instead of opening each order. Downpay's Shopify Flow integration can collect the remaining balance on the payment due date, when a tag is added to an order, or on any other trigger that fits your business.
The reminder and the charge can run in the same workflow. The Send payment reminder 1 day before attempting payment collection template sends the notice, waits a day, then attempts the charge on the card on file.
Option B: Send an invoice
Use this when the card on file has expired or been cancelled, when a collection attempt has failed, or when you would rather have the customer complete the payment themselves.
Invoices are sent from the order in your Shopify admin. Review Shopify's send an invoice to a customer guide for the steps.
Automate invoices when a charge fails
An automated charge will sometimes fail, usually because the card expired, was cancelled, or has insufficient funds. Rather than finding these orders yourself, set up a workflow that reacts to the failure and asks the customer to complete the payment.
The Send balance invoice and notify team when payment collection fails template uses Downpay's Payment collection failure trigger to email the customer an invoice for their remaining balance, and emails a staff member at the same time so someone is aware the order is stalled.
If you authorize balances rather than collecting them, the Send balance invoice when balance authorization fails template does the same on the Payment authorization failure trigger.
Option C: Authorize instead of collecting
If your business model requires shipping before the balance is collected, for example try before you buy or rentals with an incidentals hold, authorize the remaining balance rather than collecting it.
An authorization confirms the card has sufficient funds and reserves the amount. Authorization periods vary by payment provider and Shopify plan, and last 7 days on non Shopify Plus plans.
Stage 4: How do you release the fulfillment hold?
Once the order is Paid, the fulfillment hold still needs to be released before the order can be fulfilled. This does not happen automatically unless you set up a workflow to do it.
Releasing the hold manually
- Open the paid order in your Shopify admin.
- In the fulfillment section, choose Release hold.
- Confirm.
Releasing the hold automatically with Shopify Flow
If you collect balances regularly, release the hold automatically instead of doing it order by order.
- Install the Release fulfillment hold when order is fully paid Flow template.
- Review the workflow and adjust any conditions to suit your store.
- Turn the workflow on.
The workflow checks for a fully paid status and releases the fulfillment hold, moving the order to Unfulfilled with no manual step from you.
If you ship before collecting payment, use the Release fulfillment hold when order is created template instead.
Stage 5: Fulfill the order
Once the hold is released, the order moves to Unfulfilled and behaves like any other Shopify order.
From here you fulfill as normal: pick, pack, add tracking, and mark the order fulfilled. Your 3PL, shipping app, or fulfillment service will now see the order in its queue.
Downpay is no longer involved at this stage. The order is fully paid, the fulfillment hold is gone, and nothing about the order is treated differently by Shopify.
Automating the full life cycle
Most merchants start by handling every stage manually, then automate as volume grows. A common end state combines three workflows:
- Send a payment reminder a set number of days before the due date, so the customer expects the charge. Reminders can be sent manually from the order, or automatically with a Flow workflow
- Collect the remaining balance on the due date, or when the order is tagged, or when a proof is approved, depending on your business.
- Release the fulfillment hold when the order becomes fully paid.
Add a fourth workflow that emails your team when collection fails, so a declined card never leaves an order sitting unnoticed.
Updated on: 26/08/2026
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