Deposit Payments

Let people order without paying the full amount

If your product is a big-ticket item, or customers need to order in advance, you can often increase conversion rates by only asking them to pay a deposit rather than the full amount up-front. Shopify typically works by charging customers the full price of a product when they order online so custom development or a third-party app is needed to allow customers to place orders without paying the full amount.

BayTub Softubs, a spa dealer selling spas costing upwards of $6,000, used this approach to increase conversions by only requiring a $1,000 deposit to place an order. See it in action →

Cape LaHave Adventures used this feature for kayak tours because their guides rely on tips, so it was important to ensure clients still had a balance to pay on the day to give them an opportunity to add a tip. See it in action →

How it works

When someone reaches checkout whatever you set as the product price is what they will pay; so the simplest approach is to set product prices as the required deposit amount and then add a custom field for the "full price". Product pages and the cart can then be customised to show customers the full price alongside the deposit amount to pay now.