Exactly, well suited to basic things but beyond that it’s a pain. The only reason we haven’t moved is the time and cost currently is too significant, but the cost of managing around 20 add-on apps plus a lot of manual processing is getting higher and will soon outweigh the change over cost. It’s such as shame as these things seem easy for Shopify to sort out
Topic summary
Merchants are requesting the ability to accept partial payments (deposits/down payments) on draft orders and manual orders, similar to functionality available in Shopify POS, Square Invoice, and PayPal Invoice.
Core Need:
- Accept initial deposits (e.g., 50%) when sending draft order invoices to customers
- Collect remaining balance later via email link or follow-up invoice
- Properly track partial payments within a single transaction for accounting purposes
Current Limitations:
- Partial payments work in Shopify POS but not in admin/draft orders
- Shopify support suggests creating multiple separate draft orders for each payment installment
- This workaround creates accounting reconciliation issues and inflates transaction counts
Workarounds Mentioned:
- Opening draft orders through POS on iPad to process partial payments
- Third-party apps: Wholster, Downapy, Manual Partial Payments
- Processing deposits outside Shopify (QuickBooks, PayPal) and marking orders as “paid outside of Shopify”
Status:
This remains unresolved despite years of merchant requests. Multiple users express frustration that this “foundational” e-commerce feature hasn’t been prioritized, with some considering switching platforms. The discussion reflects ongoing dissatisfaction with Shopify’s response to what merchants view as basic B2B functionality.
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