Wholesale buyers often expect to pay after the goods arrive, not at checkout. Shopify handles this with payment terms, which set the date payment is due on an order. This guide covers the term types, where to set them, and what happens when the due date passes.
The term types
Shopify's documentation lists four kinds of payment terms. Pick the one that matches what you agreed with the buyer.
| Term | When payment is due |
|---|---|
| Due on receipt | The date you send the invoice |
| Due on fulfillment | The date you fulfill all items in the order |
| Net term | Net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 |
| Fixed term | A specific date |
For a company location, Shopify says net terms start on the day the order is placed. Net 30 means 30 days from the order date.
Set terms on a single order
For a one-off deal, add terms to the draft order. In the Payment section of the draft, Shopify's instructions are to select "Payment due later" and then choose a term. The order is created with payment pending, and you send the customer an invoice to pay from.
- Good for: A quote you built by hand for one buyer
- Fixed date: Shopify says this option is for individual draft orders, not company locations
- Existing orders: Terms can also be added to an order with the Payment pending status
Set terms for a wholesale account
If you use Shopify B2B, you can set payment terms on a company location, so every order from that buyer uses them. Shopify also lets you set terms for a whole company or for several companies at once. The default is no payment terms, which means payment is due immediately.
- Plan: Shopify's B2B features by plan page lists net terms on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus at the time of writing. Check your plan, because this changes
- Deposits: Requiring a percentage deposit is listed as Shopify Plus only
- Paying: The buyer can log in to their customer account, open the order and pay any time up to the due date
What happens at the due date
Terms do not collect the money for you. Shopify states that payments are not captured automatically when terms expire, even if the customer saved a card.
- Overdue: If the order is not paid by the due date, its status becomes Overdue
- Still payable: The customer can still pay after the due date
- Reminders: You can create up to five payment reminder emails, sent on the due date or up to 30 days after it
- Where: Payment reminders are managed under Settings, then Notifications
Before you offer terms
Terms are credit. You ship first and wait for the money, so decide who qualifies before a buyer asks.
- ✅ Write down which accounts get terms and which term
- ✅ Start new accounts on payment up front, then extend terms once they have paid on time
- ✅ Turn on reminders before your first terms order
- ❌ Do not agree terms by email and then forget to set them on the order
Doing this at scale
Terms sit on the order, and the order starts with a quote. QuoteWeaver reads a buyer's free-text request, matches each line to a real catalog SKU, prices it against your B2B list, and builds the Shopify draft order and a drafted reply for you to review. See QuoteWeaver.