Short answer: at checkout, Shopify charges only the deposit (or nothing, or the full price, depending on how the pre-order is set up) and stores the customer's payment method. Shopify does not charge the remaining balance on its own. Your pre-order app has to charge it at the right time and handle the failures.
What the customer pays at checkout
A pre-order can collect full, partial or no payment when the order is placed. Collecting a payment stores the customer's payment method, so you can collect the remaining payment at a later date (Shopify Help: Pre-orders).
Shopify's developer documentation shows both shapes. In one example 10% of the total is charged as a deposit at checkout and the remaining amount on a set date. In the Try Before You Buy example there is no deposit at all: the full amount is charged 14 days after checkout (Shopify developer docs: pre-order and Try Before You Buy).
When the balance falls due
The remaining balance can be due on a specific date, or a number of days after checkout. Each order carries a payment term that says when the remaining amount is due. An order can have only one deferred payment due date: when a cart holds several pre-orders with different dates, the earliest date applies (developer docs).
Who charges the balance
Shopify stores the payment method so that the merchant can collect the balance without contacting the customer again. The charge itself does not happen on its own: the documentation says it is the app's responsibility to schedule the charge at the right time and to automate any process around payment failures (developer docs). In practice that means either charging each order yourself when it is due, or using a pre-order app that does it for you.
What can go wrong
- A payment fails. A card can be declined, expired or closed by the time the balance is due. Someone has to notice, try again and contact the customer. In the Shopify admin you can send the customer a link to update their card (Customers, then the payment methods section) (Shopify Help: managing pre-orders). A bank can also challenge a later charge, in which case Shopify emails the customer a link to confirm the payment.
- The order changed. If the order was cancelled or is already paid, there must be nothing left to charge. The order is worth checking before every charge.
- The customer was not told. A charge the customer does not expect can lead to disputes. State the due date and the amount on the product page and in the order confirmation. Shopify specifically warns that collecting a payment early, when the customer is not expecting it, could result in a chargeback (Shopify Help).
How Dropsoon handles it
Dropsoon charges the remaining balance automatically after it falls due, using the payment method Shopify stored at checkout. We tested the full flow on Shopify test stores: the balance was charged to the stored payment method with no manual step, and the customer received a receipt. Every balance and its status is listed in the app.
Before you launch a pre-order
- Decide the deposit (none, a share of the price, or the full price) and the due date.
- Say both on the product page, in plain words.
- Check which payment providers pre-orders support in your store: Shopify lists them in the developer documentation, and the list is short.
- Place a test pre-order and read the "due today" and "due later" lines at checkout.
Last checked: 14 October 2026. Sources: Shopify Help, Shopify Help: managing pre-orders, Shopify developer docs.