You clicked Send invoice on a Shopify draft order, but the customer says it never arrived, the invoice option isn't there, or the checkout link doesn't let them pay. Shopify doesn't show one error for this, so you need to check a few things in order. This guide covers the causes and the fix for each.
What it means
A draft order invoice is an email with a secure checkout link. The customer pays through that link, and the draft becomes an order on the Orders page, marked Paid. If any step breaks, the email doesn't arrive, or it arrives but the customer can't finish checkout.
Common causes
These come straight from Shopify's help center on draft orders and notifications.
- Send not finished: The flow has two steps. Click Review invoice, then Send invoice in the second dialog
- No contact details: Shopify says to add the customer's email or phone number before completing the draft
- Spam folder: Shopify's first troubleshooting step for missing notifications
- Sender email: If your sender domain isn't authenticated, Shopify rewrites your sender address to a shopifyemail.com address
- No-reply wording: Shopify warns that some email hosts reject sender addresses containing "no-reply," "do-not-reply" or "noreply"
- Marked as paid too early: Shopify says the invoice link won't work if the draft is marked as Paid before payment
- Currency and terms: For a draft with payment terms in a local currency other than your store currency, you can't send an invoice
- No stock: Customers see an out-of-stock notice and can't complete checkout if products have no available inventory
Find the problem
Check the draft, then your email settings.
- Draft: Go to Orders, then Drafts, open the draft and confirm a customer with an email is attached
- Status: Confirm the draft isn't already marked Paid
- Sender email: Go to Settings, then Notifications, and check the Sender email section and its authentication status
Fix it step by step
Work through the causes in order.
- Step 1: Add or correct the customer's email on the draft
- Step 2: In the Payments section, click Send invoice, enter your message, click Review invoice, then click Send invoice
- Step 3: Ask the customer to check spam. If it still doesn't arrive, Shopify suggests an alternate email address with a different provider
- Step 4: As a backup, click Share, then Copy link, and send the checkout link yourself
- Step 5: If stock is the problem, add inventory and reserve the products, or process payment in the admin
- Step 6: Authenticate your sender domain under Settings, then Notifications. Shopify says changes can take up to 48 hours
Prevent it
A few habits stop most failed invoices.
- ✅ Attach a customer with an email to every draft you plan to invoice
- ✅ Authenticate your sender domain and keep one DMARC record
- ✅ Reserve stock on quotes that will take time to approve
- ❌ Don't mark a draft as Paid before the money arrives
- ❌ Don't use a no-reply sender address
See Shopify draft orders explained for the basics.
Doing this at scale
QuoteWeaver reads a buyer's free-text quote request, matches each line to a real catalog SKU with a confidence score and prices it against your B2B list. It builds the Shopify draft order and a drafted reply, flags low-confidence lines for you, and never invents a SKU or price. See QuoteWeaver.