How long does Afterpay approval take?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

A merchant asks how long an Afterpay application review typically takes, noting the stated 2–3 days has stretched to 5 days and customers are waiting.

  • A Shopify employee explains they cannot speak for Afterpay’s internal processes, but suggests a long weekend likely caused the delay and expects a response after the weekend.
  • Afterpay is a “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) service that lets customers pay in installments; the merchant is seeking to offer this partial payment option.
  • The employee invites the merchant to share goals for using Afterpay, indicating they may provide helpful suggestions or alternatives within Shopify’s ecosystem.

Outcomes and status:

  • No confirmed timeline from Afterpay and no resolution yet.
  • Practical action: wait until after the long weekend for a potential update; consider discussing goals to explore other payment solutions if needed.

Unanswered questions:

  • Maximum review time for Afterpay applications.
  • Any direct escalation path or support channel with Afterpay for faster approval.
Summarized with AI on January 29. AI used: gpt-5.
2

Hey there, @emaboz . Thanks for taking the time to come to the Shopify Community with your question around Afterpay. It’s nice to meet you!

As I’m a Shopify employee, I can’t comment too much on what goes on over at Afterpay. However, this weekend is a long weekend for many folks, so I would be confident in suggesting that the long weekend would be why you haven’t heard back yet from them regarding your application. I suspect you’ll be hearing from them once the weekend is over!

Do you mind me asking about why you’re looking to use Afterpay in your store? Are you looking to offer your customers a partial payment solution? I’d love to know more about your goals - I may be able to make some helpful suggestions!