Merchant set up pre-orders expecting to authorize cards at checkout and capture payment only when items ship months later, but is receiving warnings that authorizations will expire soon.
Authorization vs capture: authorization temporarily reserves funds; capture charges the card. With Shopify Payments, the authorization period is 7 days. If not captured within 7 days, the authorization voids and you may need a new authorization from the customer.
Implication: long lead pre-orders cannot rely on a single authorization until fulfillment. Either capture within 7 days or use a flow that re-authorizes later.
Pre-order app approach: an app provider describes workflows for extended pre-order periods, including partial deposits and scheduling the remaining payment for a specific future date, plus automated invoices/notifications and optional stock reservation.
Key question raised: how can an app “hold” or extend authorization beyond Shopify’s 7-day window? Is payment collected outside Shopify’s checkout or via a new authorization? This technical feasibility remains unclear in the thread.
Status: No final resolution. Actionable path is to capture within 7 days or use deposit/re-authorization via a pre-order app; confirmation on extending authorizations with Shopify Payments is pending.
Summarized with AI on December 19.
AI used: gpt-5.
Recently set up my Shopify site and had some friends place orders but product will not arrive until late June/Early July. I used the option "Automatically when the entire order is fulfilled
Authorize payment at checkout and capture once the entire order is fulfilled"
I am now receiving an email notification if I don’t capture the payments by Tuesday and payments will expire.
I thought I could accept the payments and for their CC to be authorized but I wouldn’t capture the payments until I ship the product.
I did notice the App EZ Pre-orders and installed this. Is this how I should have initially set up these “orders”? Do the orders get handled differently when a user places the order via the Pre order option?
I hope I am explaining myself properly, trying to figure out how I can handle placing orders but not processing the CC until it ships like I said it seems like I may have done something incorrectly since I am getting the warning I need to capture payment.
The credit card authorization period for capturing payment varies depending on your payment provider. For example, Shopify Payments provides an authorization period of 7 days for credit card payments. You will want to capture payment within the authorization period, as after the authorization period ends, you might be unable to collect any money for the order. You can learn more about manual capture methods here - Dirk
Owner of a pre-order app here. Some pre-order apps like ours (Early Bird) are designed to handle the complexities of partial (deposit) payments and extended pre-order periods.
As Dirk mentioned, if you’re using Shopify Payments and don’t authorize the payment within 7 days, the authorization becomes void. You’ll need to request a new authorization from the customer (in this case, your friends) to complete the remaining payment.
We’ve actually been talking to different stores who share similar frustrations. Our pre-order app can automate capturing the remaining payment on a specific date of your choice, beyond 7 days.
Capturing partial deposit is becoming more popular as it helps avoid losing sales on customers who prefer not to pay in full.
How our app might work for your pre-order flow:
Set up a Pre-order campaign (sell as many as you’d like, or in limited quantities)
Option to pay in full (you can offer discounts separate from Shopify’s promo codes)
Option to capture a partial deposit (% or $ amount)
Select final payment due date (after X days or at a specific date & time)
Select expected fulfilment/shipping date to display to your customers (A specific date or just set as ASAP/Not sure yet)
Choose to reserve your stock when the pre-order is placed, or when it’s fulfilled
Auto-capture the final payment and auto-send your customers the invoice receipt on your selected due date
If you’d like to manually capture a specific customer’s payment before the automated capture date, you’ll still have control to do so
If the supplier has shipment delays, just update the estimated shipping date and our app can auto-send a pre-order delayed email for you to inform your customers too
Would love to hear your feedback, as I’m always learning what different businesses need when managing pre-orders.
If this is relevant to what you need, our pre-order app has a Free Plan available with no commission fees.
Happy to send you some screenshots of what we’ve done for other stores, or share two 5-minute videos to show you what the partial deposit and remaining payment capture process looks like.
Is your app able to hold the authorization period longer than 7 days even if the merchant is using Shopify payments? Does the customer enter payment information outside of Shopify’s checkout in another payment provider? I don’t understand how you can hold the authorization for so long.