Shopify's draft order feature is a convenient tool that lets a store administrator create an order on behalf of a customer. Using this feature makes it possible to handle flexible situations, such as when a quote is needed or when selling at a special price.
This guide walks through the full flow, from creating a draft order, to sending the invoice, to how the customer pays — so you can smoothly handle special transactions on your Shopify store.
What Is a Draft Order?
A Shopify draft order is a feature that lets the store create an order on behalf of a customer. With a draft order you've created, you can send an invoice to the customer, and collect payment once the customer receives the invoice and pays directly.
It's useful when a quote is needed, or when you want to sell at a special price.
How to Create a Draft Order
This section covers the steps for creating a draft order.
(1) From the Shopify admin, go to Orders > Drafts
(2) Click "Create order"
(3) Once the order creation screen appears, add products from the Products section
ℹ️ We selected an existing product here, but you can also add a custom product.
(4) Change the product quantity
(5) Select a customer from the Customer section
ℹ️ We selected an existing customer here, but you can also register a new customer's data.
(6) Set the shipping fee and any discount from the Payment section
(7) Review the order details and click "Save"
That completes creating the draft order.
How to Bill a Draft Order
This section covers how to send an invoice for a draft order to the customer.
(1) From the Shopify admin, go to Orders > Drafts
(2) Open the detail page for the draft order you want to invoice
(3) Click "Send invoice"
(4) In the popup that appears, check the recipient and sender
(5) (Optional) Edit the subject line or custom message
(6) Click "Review invoice"
(7) An email preview will be shown — review the content
(8) Click "Send invoice"
That completes sending the invoice. The invoice is sent to the recipient by email.
How to Pay a Draft Order
This section covers how a customer who receives an invoice pays for the draft order.
(1) Open the invoice email
ℹ️ When you send the invoice to the customer as described above under [How to Bill a Draft Order], an email like the one shown in the attached image arrives for the customer.
(2) Click "Complete your purchase"
(3) You'll be taken to the payment screen — choose a payment method from the Payment section
(4) Once you've entered your payment information, select "Pay now"
How to Restrict Payment Methods for Draft Orders
Using a Shopify app that can hide payment methods lets you hide specific payment methods under specific conditions.
For example, you could hide bank transfer when an order contains a specific product, or hide cash on delivery when the order total is ¥20,000 or more.
The blog article below introduces recommended Shopify apps for hiding payment methods. Feel free to check it out for reference.
Finally
Making use of Shopify's draft order feature gives you the following benefits:
- You can create orders customized for each customer
- You can handle special pricing or quote-based transactions
- You can offer a payment process through an invoice
If you want to customize your payment methods, you can also install a dedicated app from the Shopify App Store to show or hide payment methods under specific conditions.
We hope this guide is useful for running your Shopify store. If you have any questions, be sure to make use of Shopify's support pages as well.
