To send a checkout or payment link for a draft order in Shopify, go to Orders > Drafts, open the draft, and click Send invoice to email the link or Share checkout link to copy it and send through any channel. If you don’t need a full draft order, the standalone Payment Links feature under Settings > Payments creates a flat-amount payment link in seconds.

This guide walks through every method for sending a Shopify payment link, including the SMS and WhatsApp workflow, partial payments, multi-currency draft orders, and the most common reasons a payment link stops working.

Key Takeaways
1
Draft orders let you create manual orders in Shopify and send a payment link or invoice to your customer.
2
You can send an invoice email or share a direct checkout link. Both methods give the customer a secure page to pay.
3
Shopify’s Payment Links feature (launched 2024) creates a payment link for a flat amount without building a full draft order first.
4
Partial payments are supported. You can collect a deposit up front and the remaining balance later, which is useful for B2B and made-to-order work.
5
Checkout links stay valid until the order is paid, deleted, or the draft is auto-archived after 90 days inactive.

What Is a Draft Order?

A draft order is a manual order you build inside the Shopify admin. Unlike regular orders that customers create by adding items to their cart and checking out, a draft order is one you put together on behalf of the customer.

You pick the products, set quantities, apply discounts or custom pricing, choose shipping, and add the customer’s details. Once the draft order is ready, you send the customer a payment link so they can pay and complete the purchase.

Draft orders are useful in several situations:

  • Phone and email orders. A customer calls in wanting to place an order. You build it as a draft and email them a checkout link.
  • B2B and wholesale. You negotiate pricing with a business buyer, then create a draft order with their custom rates.
  • Custom or made-to-order products. Items not listed in your store can be added as custom line items with a set price.
  • Invoicing for services. If you offer services alongside physical products, draft orders work as simple invoices. For full invoicing workflows, see our guide on how to email the invoice on Shopify.
  • Pre-orders. Accept payment for products before they’re available in your store.

How to Create a Draft Order in Shopify

Before you can send a payment link, you need a draft order to attach it to. Here’s how to set one up:

Step 1: Open Draft Orders

Log into your Shopify admin. Go to Orders in the left sidebar, then click Drafts. Click the Create order button in the top-right corner.

Step 2: Add Products and Customer Details

Search for existing products in your catalog, or click Add custom item to enter a product name, price, and quantity manually. Custom items are helpful when selling something that isn’t listed in your store.

Next, add the customer. You can search for an existing customer or create a new one by entering their name and email. Adding the customer here is important because Shopify needs their email address to send the invoice.

Step 3: Set Discounts and Shipping

Apply any discounts by clicking Add discount. You can set a percentage or fixed amount. For shipping, click Add shipping and select a rate, enter a custom rate, or mark the order as free shipping.

You can also add notes or tags to the order for internal tracking. Once everything looks right, click Save to create the draft order without sending it yet.

Option 1: Send an Invoice Email

Sending an invoice is the most common way to share a Shopify payment link. The customer gets an email with a button that takes them straight to a checkout page where they can pay.

Step 1: Open the Draft Order

From your Shopify admin, go to Orders > Drafts and click on the draft order you want to send.

Step 2: Click Send Invoice

Click the Send invoice button. A dialog box opens where you can:

  • Confirm or change the recipient email address
  • Add a custom subject line
  • Write a personal message to the customer
  • Add BCC recipients (useful for sending yourself a copy)

Step 3: Review and Send

Click Review invoice to preview what the customer will receive. If everything looks correct, click Send invoice. The customer gets an email with a link to a secure checkout page.

Important: Do not mark the order as paid before the customer completes payment. Marking it paid removes the checkout link, and the customer won’t be able to pay.

Option 2: Share a Checkout Link Directly

If you’d rather send the link through a channel other than email, like SMS, WhatsApp, or social media, you can copy the checkout link and share it yourself. This is the cleanest way to share a Shopify draft order checkout link when email deliverability is an issue.

Step 1: Open the Draft Order

Go to Orders > Drafts in your Shopify admin and select the draft order.

Step 2: Copy the Checkout Link

Look for the Share checkout link option (on desktop) or the share icon (on the Shopify mobile app). Click it to copy the URL to your clipboard.

Step 3: Send the Link

Paste the link into a text message, chat app, email, or any other channel. When the customer clicks it, they land on a checkout page with the order details pre-filled. They just need to enter payment information and confirm.

SMS, WhatsApp, and Short-Link Workflow

The native checkout URL is long, which looks suspicious in an SMS or WhatsApp message. A few practical tactics:

  • Use a URL shortener like bit.ly or Rebrandly. Customers are more likely to tap a short branded link than a 90-character checkout URL.
  • Send through Shopify Inbox if you already use it. Inbox lets you paste the checkout link directly into an active chat, and the customer recognizes your store as the sender.
  • Include the order total in the message so the customer knows exactly what they’re paying before they click. This cuts back-and-forth and reduces drop-off.
  • Test on mobile first. Some checkout links display oddly when previewed in iMessage or WhatsApp. Click your own link from a phone before sending it to the customer.

Option 3: Shopify Payment Links (No Draft Order Needed)

In 2024, Shopify introduced a Payment Links feature that creates a payment link without setting up a full draft order. This is useful for quick transactions like collecting a flat fee for a service, selling a single item over the phone, or requesting a specific amount from a customer.

To create a payment link:

  1. Go to Settings > Payments in your Shopify admin.
  2. Look for the Payment Links section.
  3. Click Create payment link.
  4. Enter a description and the amount to charge.
  5. Copy and share the generated link with your customer.

The customer clicks the link, enters their payment details, and completes the transaction. No product listing, no cart, no draft order, just a direct payment page.

This feature is especially useful for service-based businesses that don’t need line-item detail on every transaction. A few things to know before relying on it:

  • Availability is region-locked. Payment Links rolled out first in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and parts of Europe. Other regions may not see the option in Settings yet.
  • No inventory or tax linkage. Unlike a draft order, a flat-amount payment link doesn’t deduct stock or auto-calculate tax. You’re responsible for setting the right total.
  • Requires Shopify Payments or a compatible processor. If your store uses a third-party gateway only, you may not see the Payment Links feature. Our guide on adding a payment gateway to Shopify covers compatible options.

Customizing the Invoice Email

The invoice email that Shopify sends can be customized to match your brand. Go to Settings > Notifications in your admin and find the Draft order invoice template.

You can edit the subject line, body text, and include your logo and brand colors. If you know HTML, you can make deeper changes to the template layout. Personalizing this email helps it look professional and reduces the chance that customers ignore it or mistake it for spam.

Partial Payments and Deposits

Shopify supports partial payments on draft orders. This is useful when you want to collect a deposit before starting work or manufacturing.

When creating or editing a draft order, you can set the payment terms. Options include:

  • Due on receipt. Full payment when the invoice is sent.
  • Net 7, Net 15, Net 30. Payment due within 7, 15, or 30 days.
  • Custom deposit. Collect a specific amount or percentage up front.

When partial payment is enabled, the customer pays the deposit amount through the checkout link. The remaining balance shows as outstanding on the order. You can send a follow-up invoice for the rest when the time comes.

This is especially helpful for B2B orders, custom manufacturing, and high-value items where full payment up front isn’t practical. For a deeper walkthrough of deposit workflows, see how to take deposits on Shopify.

Multi-Currency and Cross-Border Draft Orders

Sending a payment link across borders adds a few wrinkles worth knowing before you click Send:

  • Currency locks at draft creation. When you create the draft order, Shopify locks the currency based on the customer’s billing country or your store’s primary currency. The checkout link will display that currency, even if the customer’s local currency differs.
  • Shopify Markets affects pricing rules. If you use Markets to set localized pricing, draft order totals follow the primary market’s rates, not the customer’s local market. To send a localized price, set up the customer in their target market first, then create the draft.
  • Payment processors must support the currency. If your gateway only accepts USD, a EUR draft order will fail at checkout. Verify your processor’s supported currencies in Settings > Payments before sending an international link.
  • Tax calculation may be off. Cross-border tax rules (UK VAT, EU OSS, US state nexus) don’t always apply correctly on draft orders. Double-check the tax line manually for any international invoice.

Automating Draft Orders With Apps

If you send dozens of payment links a week, the manual draft-order workflow gets tedious. Several app categories help:

  • Invoice and quote apps. Apps in this category auto-generate draft orders from a quote form, attach branded PDFs to the invoice email, and track quote-to-paid conversion. See our roundup of the best Shopify invoice apps.
  • B2B and wholesale apps. If most of your payment links go to repeat business buyers, a dedicated B2B app handles tiered pricing, net terms, and bulk quote-to-order conversion better than the native draft order flow.
  • POS-to-link automation. Shopify POS can convert an in-person cart into a draft order with a single tap. Useful for trade shows and pop-ups where the customer wants to pay later.

Tips for Sending Payment Links

A few things to keep in mind when using Shopify payment links for draft orders:

  • Don’t mark the order as paid manually. This disables the checkout link and the customer can’t complete payment.
  • Check the email address. If the invoice bounces, the customer never sees the link. Double-check the address before sending.
  • Set clear payment terms. For B2B orders especially, setting explicit due dates avoids confusion later.
  • Follow up if unpaid. You can resend the invoice from the draft order page. There’s no limit on how many times you can send it.
  • Use custom items for non-listed products. You don’t need to add a product to your store just to invoice for it. Custom line items work fine on draft orders.
  • Test the link yourself first. Before sending to a customer, open the checkout link in an incognito window to make sure everything displays correctly.

Troubleshooting Payment Links That Stop Working

Even when the workflow is right, payment links break in predictable ways. Here are the most common failures and fixes:

  • “Order is no longer available” when the customer clicks. This usually means the draft was marked paid, deleted, or auto-archived. Drafts that sit idle for 90 days are archived. Recreate the draft order and send a fresh link.
  • Customer says they never received the email. Check spam folders first. If your sending domain has missing SPF or DKIM records, Shopify’s invoice emails get filtered. Verify your sender authentication in Settings > Notifications > Sender email.
  • Payment captured but order not marked paid. Refresh the order page. If status still shows unpaid after 10 minutes, check Settings > Payments for a pending payout or a flagged transaction. Some gateways hold high-risk orders for manual review.
  • Draft order disappeared from the list. Filter by status: drafts older than 90 days move to Archived. Click the status filter and select Archived to find it.
  • “Payment method not supported in your country.” Your gateway doesn’t accept cards from the customer’s billing country. Either switch to a multi-region processor or create a new draft order with the customer’s billing address set to a supported country.
  • Stock-out at checkout. Draft orders don’t reserve inventory. If a product sells out between draft creation and the customer clicking the link, the checkout fails. Convert popular draft items to a hold, or send the link quickly after creating the draft.