Downpay overview
🎉 Welcome to Downpay! 🎉
This article will help you understand if Downpay is right for you, and how to get started.
On this page:
Ways to use Downpay for deposits
- Where Downpay works
- Preorders
- Made to order
- Bookings
- Out of stock
- High end products
- Try before you buy
- Rentals
How to get started
There are three ways to get started with Downpay:
Ways to use Downpay for deposits
Downpay enables partial and deferred payments on Shopify, storing a payment method on file for each order so you can collect the remaining balance easily. That single capability supports a range of selling strategies. The most popular ones are below.
Where Downpay works
Downpay supports two places where orders are created:
- Online store. Customers select a deposit purchase option on your product page and pay the deposit at checkout. This is the standard setup for preorders, out of stock items and high end products.
- Draft orders and manual orders. You build the order in your Shopify admin, send the customer a secure link to add a card, then charge the deposit and remaining balance from the order page. No checkout is needed. This suits quotes, phone orders and bespoke work.
Preorders
What it is: Customers pay a deposit to reserve a product that has not launched yet.
Why merchants use it: A preorder deposit lets you gauge demand before committing to a production run. It also manages customer expectations, which matters when the ship date is months away and a full charge upfront would feel risky to the buyer.
Best for: New product launches, drops and limited releases.
Made to order
What it is: Customers pay an upfront deposit on a custom or commissioned product, and the balance when it is ready to ship.
Why merchants use it: The deposit funds materials and production before work begins, and confirms the customer is committed before you start building something you cannot resell.
Best for: Custom furniture, fine jewelry, bridal, commissioned art and any made-on-demand product.
Bookings
What it is: Customers pay a deposit to secure a spot, with the balance charged closer to the date.
Why merchants use it: A deposit reduces no-shows and confirms attendance, while letting customers pay the bulk of the cost nearer the time. You can set the balance to be charged the day before the booking.
Best for: Workshops, classes, travel packages, retreats and events.
Out of stock
What it is: Customers pay a small deposit on an out of stock product to hold their place in line.
Why merchants use it: Back in stock notifications rely on the customer returning to buy. A deposit captures the sale now and saves their payment method, so you can charge the balance and ship as soon as stock arrives.
Best for: Restocks, popular SKUs and anything with a reliable return date.
High end products
What it is: Customers split a large purchase into a deposit and a balance, like a layaway.
Why merchants use it: Paying in full at checkout is a real conversion barrier on high ticket items. Splitting the payment makes the purchase easier on the customer's wallet. It works especially well when a high price is paired with a long shipping time.
Best for: Furniture, fine jewelry, luxury goods and anything with a high average order value.
Try before you buy
What it is: Customers receive the product before being charged, and payment is deferred for a set window.
Why merchants use it: Removing the upfront charge lowers the barrier to trying a product. You charge only if the customer does not return it within the window.
Best for: Apparel, eyewear, cosmetics and any category with high try-on intent.
Rentals
What it is: An authorized hold is placed for a set amount while the customer has your product.
Why merchants use it: The hold covers damage or loss without charging the customer upfront, and is released if the item comes back in good condition.
Best for: Equipment, formalwear, furniture and event rentals.
Key features
Downpay includes many features to help enable payment flexibility with many more on the way. Some features will only be available for certain pricing plans.
Downpay key features:
- Deposits based on % or $ price of a product on your store or offering deferred payment per product
- Payment method on file per order
- Storefront purchase options design and content customization
- Order tags by purchase option name and scheduled order status for future fulfillments
- Customer payment method changes and/or cancellations
- Customer purchase options cancellation policy at checkout
Compatibility notes
It’s important to be aware of certain limitations when using any kind of partial or deferred payment on Shopify.
- Deposits are available for stores using the following Payment Gateways: Shopify Payments, Paypal Express, Stripe and some Authorize.net setups. Adyen is also available on Shopify Plus.
- Deposits are only available to be paid using a credit card or Paypal account.
- Local payment methods are not available yet and once Shopify enables these, Downpay will be compatible.
- Deposits with payment vaulting are only available on the Online store channel. For Downpay orders placed on the online store, POS can be used to collect the remaining balance. Downpay's Checkout Links integration also offers a POS workflow that may work for your business.
- Deposits with Downpay is not available for Facebook Commerce and Google Merchant Center
- Some bundles apps like Shopify Bundles are not compatible of deposits due to a Shopify limitation related to the cart transform API not having support for partial payment yet. Review our compatibility list to find one that works for your brand.
- Discount codes are always applied to the remaining balance.
- Deposits don’t support “Buy x, get y” Shopify discounts due to a Shopify limitation however many apps like Dollarlabs and Abra support Downpay for this type of discount.
- Only one future payment collection is available for orders with deposits. The exception is merchants included in our partial pay beta, who are able to collect more than one balance.
- Buy now, pay later and subscription purchase options do not support deposits but can be used as separate options on the same product
- Orders with deposits do not support Shopify's tipping functionality due to a Shopify limitation
- Shopify Store credit cannot be used for paying a deposit due to a Shopify limitation. It can be used for paying a remaining balance.
- Gift cards cannot be used for paying a deposit due to a Shopify limitation. It can be used for paying a remaining balance.
Pricing plans
Pricing can be reviewed our our Shopify app store page or website.
Contact us directly at sales@hypehound.io to discuss custom pricing plans for brands processing more than $100k per month.
Updated on: 17/09/2026
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