How to send a Shopify draft order payment link by text message

Share the link from the Shopify app on your phone

The Shopify app is your store admin on your phone (not Shopify POS), included with your plan. It’s the quickest route because the phone that copies the link also sends it. The customer taps the link and pays on your store’s checkout.

1. Open the Shopify app, tap the menu icon, then Orders > Draft orders.
2. Open the draft, or tap + to make one.
3. Tap the ⋯ menu, then Share.
4. Go through the link settings to check.
5. Tap Copy link.
6. Paste it into a text or WhatsApp message and send it.

The app can’t turn on discount codes, so use the admin if the customer has one.

Copy the checkout link from the Shopify admin

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Orders > Drafts (Shopify’s steps).
2. Open the draft, or click Create order.
3. Click Share and check the settings.
4. Click Copy link.
5. Get the link onto your phone and text it.

From a Shopify POS cart, save it as a draft first

In Shopify’s POS help, the only ways to send a customer their cart are by email: Send cart (in the cart’s ⋯ menu) or Email to customer (on a saved draft). POS texts receipts only after payment. So save the cart as a draft order and share it from the Shopify app.

1. Build the cart in Shopify POS.
2. Tap the ⋯ menu at the top of the cart, then Create draft order.
3. In the Shopify app, open Draft orders. Drafts saved in POS appear there too.
4. Open it and follow the app steps above from step 3.

Sharing needs a Shopify login with the draft orders Create and edit permission. POS app-only staff (PIN sign-in) can’t, so someone with that permission shares the link.

Send a Quick Sale payment link instead of a draft

Since December 2025, Quick Sale in the Shopify app has made payment links without a draft.

1. In the Shopify app, tap the menu icon, then Quick Sale.
2. Add products or a custom amount.
3. Tap Collect, then Payment link.
4. Tap Share link and pick your messaging app, or tap Copy link.
5. Tap Done to save the sale as payment pending. Reopen it from Pending links in the transaction history.

The catches: you re-enter any order already in a POS cart, you can’t attach a customer profile until the sale completes, staff need the Quick Sale permission, and where Shopify Payments is available you must use it.

Check these before you send the link

• Leave Product prices locked. It’s the default. With the lock off, the draft picks up later price changes to those products.
• Settle pickup or delivery. With no shipping on the draft, the customer picks a method at checkout. For pickup, turn on Pickup in store for your location (Settings > Shipping and delivery > Pickup in store). Then, in the Shopify admin, add it to the draft before sharing: Add shipping or delivery > Pickup in store, your location, Apply. Shopify’s help doesn’t give this step for the app.
• Check stock. The customer can’t check out an item with no available stock. Add stock if needed, then reserve the items from the draft’s ⋯ menu (Reserve inventory in the admin, Reserve items in the app) so nobody else buys them.
• For a customer abroad, add their address first. The market for their shipping address sets the invoice currency. Shopify says that since October 31, 2025, product prices may change if they update it at checkout, depending on your Markets settings.
• Don’t mark the draft Paid early. The link stops working and the customer can’t check out.
• Re-check shipping after edits. Adding products doesn’t update shipping rates. Fix the shipping line, and if you’ve sent the link, tell the customer the new total.

What to put in the text

An unexpected link from an unknown number can look like a scam. Name your store, the order and the total, and say the link opens your store’s checkout. A florist might send:

Send it from the store’s phone if you can, so replies reach you. Never ask a customer to text card details back; with a link, you never handle their card. See taking card payments over the phone.

After the customer pays

The paid order appears under Orders. If the customer checked out with a phone number and their profile has no email address, Shopify texts them the order confirmation. That needs your checkout to accept phone numbers (Settings > Checkout > Customer contact method) and your business address to be in a country Shopify supports for SMS notifications.

An unpaid link doesn’t expire on a set date (how long payment links last). To withdraw it, delete the draft and check Orders before and after: deleting won’t undo a paid order, and a checkout already under way can still go through.

Where it gets awkward

• It’s manual, across three apps. From a POS cart, POS saves the draft, the Shopify app copies the link and your messaging app sends it. On a busy counter, any hand-off can get skipped. Keep your own note of which drafts you’ve texted. Third-party apps and their prices are in the comparison of payment-link apps and Quick Sale.
• Reports may not show who made the sale. Shopify’s help says orders started as drafts show as “Draft Orders” in sales-by-channel reports, but not whether they’re credited to a store or staff member. For orders paid online by link, it documents that only for POS Send cart (below).

Where Pay Link fits

Pay Link, from Countermade (the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios), is for POS Pro stores that take orders by phone and want the payment link made from the Shopify POS cart, where staff already build the order.

The customer pays on Shopify’s own secure checkout, so staff never see or type card details. Staff see the total before the link goes out, with a note when shipping will be added at checkout. A double tap makes one link, not two, and staff can see whether it’s paid.

Shopify’s checkout asks for a delivery address and may add shipping, so turn on Pickup in store (see above). Compare Pay Link with POS’s native options or read more about Pay Link, our Shopify POS payment link app.

Next step

Open your next draft order in the Shopify app, tap the ⋯ menu, then Share. If you’d rather make the link from the POS cart, with the total shown up front, join early access and we’ll email you when Pay Link is ready for your store.