--- title: "How to sell made-to-order products with a deposit on Shopify" description: "Use EZ Preorder's Always rule and partial payments to take a deposit at checkout and charge the balance a set number of days later. Professional plan." url: https://docs.ezpreorder.com/guides/sell-made-to-order-products-with-deposits plan: Professional last_verified: 2026-11-11 --- # How to sell made-to-order products with a deposit on Shopify To sell made-to-order products with a deposit on Shopify, put the products on preorder with EZ Preorder & Back In Stock using the **Always** rule, then turn on partial payments with a deposit and a payment completion date of **Number of days after checkout** set to your production time. Shoppers pay the deposit at checkout, and EZ Preorder charges the remaining balance to their saved payment method automatically when the days are up. Partial payments need the Professional or Scale plan and Shopify Payments or PayPal Express. **Available on:** Professional and Scale plans. The preorder steps work on every plan; the deposit needs Professional or Scale. **Where to find it:** EZ PreOrder → **Preorders**, and **Configuration** → **Partial Payments** → **Configure**. ## Before you start - Your store is on the Professional or Scale plan. See [What each EZ Preorder plan costs and includes](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/plans-and-billing/plans-and-pricing). - Your checkout uses Shopify Payments or PayPal Express. Other payment providers cannot charge the remaining balance later. - The **Pre order theme extension** app embed is on. See [How to install EZ Preorder and enable the app embed](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/getting-started/install-and-enable-the-app-embed). ## Step 1: Put the made-to-order products on preorder 1. In EZ PreOrder, open **Preorders** and click **Select products**. Choose your made-to-order products. 2. Click **Edit** on each product. Under **Pre-order rules**, choose **Always** so the preorder button shows whatever the stock. Tick **Apply settings for all variants** to set every variant at once. 3. In **Custom Note**, tell shoppers how long production takes, for example "Made to order. Ships in 3–4 weeks." The note shows above the preorder button. 4. Click **Save**. **Always** turns on **Continue selling when out of stock** for the variants, so checkout accepts orders with no stock. See [What the preorder rules do](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/preorders/preorder-rules). ## Step 2: Turn on a deposit with a balance due after production 1. Go to **Configuration** → **Partial Payments** (under **Conversion**) → **Configure**. 2. Turn on **Enable/Disable Partial Payments**. 3. Under **Deposit options**, choose **Percentage of the total product price** (for example `50`) or **Exact amount**, and enter it in **Deposit amount**. 4. Optional: tick **Give customers the option to pay in full** so shoppers can also pay everything now. 5. Under **Payment completion date**, choose **Number of days after checkout** and enter your production time in days. This is the option the app recommends for made-to-order products. 6. Click **Save**. Full details of every setting are in [How to take deposits and partial payments on preorders](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/payments-and-conversion/partial-payments-and-deposits). ## What the shopper sees On the product page, the shopper sees the payment options above the preorder button: pay a deposit now or, if you allowed it, pay in full. At checkout, Shopify shows the deposit due today and the date the balance will be charged. The order appears in your Shopify admin as **Partially paid** until the balance is collected. ## How the balance is charged EZ Preorder charges the remaining balance automatically to the payment method the shopper used at checkout, on the payment completion date. Charges for orders due that day are run once, within a day. If a charge fails, collect the balance from the order in your Shopify admin. See [How remaining balances are charged on preorder deposits](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/payments-and-conversion/how-remaining-balances-are-charged). ## Optional: hold orders until they are made Turn on **Configuration** → **Fulfillment Order Status** to put new preorder orders **On hold** in Shopify, so nothing ships before the item is ready. Release the hold when production is done. See [How to put preorder orders on hold until you can fulfill them](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/preorders/hold-preorder-fulfillment). ## Limitations - The deposit setting applies to every preorder product in your store; you cannot set a different deposit per product. - **Number of days after checkout** is the same for every product. If production times vary a lot, use the longest one, or collect early balances manually. - Deposits work only with Shopify Payments and PayPal Express. - Turning partial payments off stops new deposit orders; balances already owed are still collected. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I take a deposit for custom orders on Shopify? Yes. With EZ Preorder & Back In Stock on the Professional or Scale plan, put custom products on the **Always** preorder rule and turn on partial payments. The shopper pays a percentage or fixed deposit at checkout and the balance is charged later automatically. ### When is the balance charged for made-to-order products? When you choose **Number of days after checkout**, EZ Preorder charges the balance that many days after each order, to the shopper's saved payment method. Each order gets its own due date. ### Can shoppers pay the full price instead of a deposit? Yes, if you tick **Give customers the option to pay in full** in the partial payment settings. Shoppers then choose between the deposit and paying everything at checkout. ### Do made-to-order products need inventory in Shopify? No. With the **Always** rule, EZ Preorder turns on **Continue selling when out of stock**, so checkout accepts orders at 0 or below. Keep **Track quantity** on so Shopify records how many you have sold. ## Related articles - [How to take deposits and partial payments on preorders](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/payments-and-conversion/partial-payments-and-deposits): every deposit setting. - [How remaining balances are charged on preorder deposits](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/payments-and-conversion/how-remaining-balances-are-charged): when and how the balance is collected. - [What the preorder rules do](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/preorders/preorder-rules): why made-to-order uses **Always**. - [How to add a custom note to preorder products](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/preorders/add-a-custom-note-to-preorder-products): show production times. - [How to put preorder orders on hold until you can fulfill them](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/preorders/hold-preorder-fulfillment): stop early shipping. - [How to take preorders on Shopify](https://docs.ezpreorder.com/guides/how-to-take-preorders-on-shopify): the basics.