Partial payment on Shopify best practice guidelines
In this guide you will learn the best practices for offering partial payments on your Shopify store.
Core principles
- Communicating expected timelines
- Communicating payment terms
- Writing a cancellation policy
We have several core principles we will cover in this guide to ensure you can drive success partial payments on Shopify and ensure reduced risk of charge backs and customer confusion.
Shopify also has their own requirements and restrictions to review as well.
Build times or release dates should be clearly communicated where possible and if they change
Customers should understand payment terms in each step of their buying journey (ie: product page, cart page, checkout)
The store's cancellation/preorder/deposit policy should include all respective terms related to purchasing a product with a partial payment
Customers understanding expected timelines for their orders is critical to reduce chargebacks, support tickets and held payouts by Shopify.
Some of our advice includes:
State the timelines on the product page for each respective product that will not be shipped right away. (This is a requirement in most countries in Europe)
- For timelines that are exact, use Downpay's release date feature
- For range timelines, consider including the range in the product's description of a separate field on your product template
Where possible, limiting timelines to 120 days (4 months) will reduce issues with held payouts. (If you are an established business on Shopify, this may not apply to your brand)
- If timelines are longer than 4 months, consider taking 0$ deposits (ie: backorders)
Adjust language on checkout to match the type of expect timelines your products have
- By default, Shopify displays the date set in Downpay which works well for exact release dates. For date ranges, refer to Modify date and content display about deposits on your theme
If the expected timeline changes, notify customers
- Email customers with new expected timelines and ensure the cancellation policy is clear
Communicating how the remaining balance will be collected will ensure customers can plan their money. Decide which type of payment collection you will be using for the remaining balance of orders (ie: sending an invoice, automatically collecting payment from the card on file)
Include the details of balance payment collection in the Downpay product customer help text, checkout agreement and policy page
The purchase option cancellation policy can be edited to suit the types of partial payment orders you will be taking such as preorders, products with build times, or more.
Adjust the boilerplate policy using the customer cancellation policy guide.
If deposits will be non-refundable, ensure this has been clearly stated on the product template either in Downpay or in another block
Consider linking your cancellation policy on your product page.
- The URL will be yourstore.myshopify.com/policies/subscription-policy.html
On this page:
Core principles
- Communicating expected timelines
- Communicating payment terms
- Writing a cancellation policy
Core principles
We have several core principles we will cover in this guide to ensure you can drive success partial payments on Shopify and ensure reduced risk of charge backs and customer confusion.
Shopify also has their own requirements and restrictions to review as well.
Build times or release dates should be clearly communicated where possible and if they change
Customers should understand payment terms in each step of their buying journey (ie: product page, cart page, checkout)
The store's cancellation/preorder/deposit policy should include all respective terms related to purchasing a product with a partial payment
Communicating expected timelines
Customers understanding expected timelines for their orders is critical to reduce chargebacks, support tickets and held payouts by Shopify.
Some of our advice includes:
State the timelines on the product page for each respective product that will not be shipped right away. (This is a requirement in most countries in Europe)
- For timelines that are exact, use Downpay's release date feature
- For range timelines, consider including the range in the product's description of a separate field on your product template
Where possible, limiting timelines to 120 days (4 months) will reduce issues with held payouts. (If you are an established business on Shopify, this may not apply to your brand)
- If timelines are longer than 4 months, consider taking 0$ deposits (ie: backorders)
Adjust language on checkout to match the type of expect timelines your products have
- By default, Shopify displays the date set in Downpay which works well for exact release dates. For date ranges, refer to Modify date and content display about deposits on your theme
If the expected timeline changes, notify customers
- Email customers with new expected timelines and ensure the cancellation policy is clear
Communicating payment terms
Communicating how the remaining balance will be collected will ensure customers can plan their money. Decide which type of payment collection you will be using for the remaining balance of orders (ie: sending an invoice, automatically collecting payment from the card on file)
Include the details of balance payment collection in the Downpay product customer help text, checkout agreement and policy page
Writing a cancellation policy
The purchase option cancellation policy can be edited to suit the types of partial payment orders you will be taking such as preorders, products with build times, or more.
Adjust the boilerplate policy using the customer cancellation policy guide.
If deposits will be non-refundable, ensure this has been clearly stated on the product template either in Downpay or in another block
Consider linking your cancellation policy on your product page.
- The URL will be yourstore.myshopify.com/policies/subscription-policy.html
Updated on: 04/09/2024
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