Shopify Draft Orders Explained: Invoices, Deposits, and Where Drafts Go Wrong

A draft order is a hand built checkout

A draft order lets staff build an order in the admin, line by line, with custom prices, discounts, shipping, and taxes overridden where needed, then send it to the customer as an invoice with a secure checkout link. Shopify Help Center positions drafts for phone orders, wholesale and B2B invoices, and replacements, and that is the correct mental model: a draft is the tool for every sale that does not fit the storefronts fixed rules.

The common jobs are unglamorous and valuable. A phone customer who will not use the website. A wholesale account on negotiated pricing. A replacement shipment at zero charge that still needs a paper trail. A deposit invoice for a custom order. Each of these forced through discount codes and notes instead becomes untrackable. In a draft, the sale carries prices, terms, and a customer record from the start.

Payment terms, deposits, and the partial payment reality

Drafts can be sent as invoices payable on receipt or with payment terms such as net 30 for B2B accounts, and they can collect a deposit or partial payment with the balance due later, a flow Shopify supports for draft orders on eligible plans. Used for custom and pre order work, deposits change the risk shape of the business: materials get bought with the customers money committed, not your cash float.

The discipline is in the follow through. An unpaid draft is not an order and should not be picked, packed, or promised a ship date. Staff need one rule they can repeat: work starts at deposit received, not at draft sent. Stores get burned when a well meaning team member treats a sent invoice as a sale and starts production on a job the customer never paid a cent toward.

Where drafts quietly corrupt your data

Three traps recur. Drafts can reserve or ignore inventory depending on settings and timing, so a store that builds drafts days ahead can oversell a scarce item the storefront sold in the meantime. Draft discounts applied by hand bypass the discount code reporting the owner uses to judge promotions, so margin leaks invisibly. And abandoned drafts pile up in the admin until nobody trusts the list, including drafts that represent live B2B quotes a customer is about to pay.

The cleanup is a weekly habit, not a project: review open drafts, close the dead ones, check inventory on anything live, and keep a naming convention so a draft explains itself at a glance. Draft orders reward the same thing the rest of Shopify rewards. A boring, consistent process run by people who know which numbers the tool is quietly moving.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Shopify draft order used for?

A draft order is an admin built order with custom lines, prices, discounts, shipping, and taxes, sent to a customer as an invoice with a checkout link. Stores use drafts for phone orders, wholesale and B2B sales, deposits, and replacement shipments.

Can a draft order collect a deposit?

Yes. Draft orders can collect a deposit or partial payment with the balance due later, on eligible plans and setups. That makes drafts the standard tool for custom and pre order work where materials should not be bought before the customer commits money.

Does a draft order reserve inventory?

It depends on the draft settings and when payment completes. Drafts handled loosely can contribute to overselling, so stores should check inventory on live drafts and treat an unpaid draft as a quote, not a sale to be fulfilled.

What is the difference between a draft order and a discount code?

A discount code changes the price inside a normal storefront checkout and reports as a promotion. A draft order builds the whole transaction by hand, including prices and terms, and suits negotiated, phone, and B2B sales. Hand discounts in drafts do not appear in discount code reporting.