How to know when a Shopify draft order or payment link is paid

What happens in Shopify when a customer pays a draft order link?

Shopify marks the draft completed and creates a regular order from it on the Orders page of your Shopify admin, with its payment status set to Paid automatically. You can check that page, or have Shopify tell you through the New order staff notification.

Don’t mark the draft as Paid yourself before the money arrives. If you do, the invoice link stops working and the customer can’t complete checkout (what to do if it happens).

To check the admin at a glance, filter Orders by payment status and date, and save that filter combination.

For how each link is made, see each kind of Shopify payment link and where its order lands.

How do I get a notification when a Shopify draft order is paid?

Add yourself, or whoever needs to know, as a recipient of the New order staff notification in your Shopify admin. Shopify emails it when a customer places an order. A paid draft becomes an order, so this is the email that covers paid links; pay one test link to confirm it arrives. You need the Orders and Manage settings permissions to change order notifications.

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications > Staff notifications.
2. In the Recipients section, click Add recipient.
3. Choose Email address and enter it, or choose a staff member.
4. If you’re asked for a location, choose All so the notification covers every order.
5. Click Add recipient to save.
6. Click Send test notification to check the email reaches you, then pay your test link.

Why didn’t the “New draft order” notification tell me the link was paid?

Shopify sends the New draft order email when a customer submits a draft order, and only to the store owner. A customer paying your link isn’t submitting a draft, so this email won’t tell you the money is in. Use New order instead.

How do I get a push notification on my phone when a payment link is paid?

Turn on New orders in the Shopify app’s store notifications, and the app alerts you when a new order comes in. The same test link confirms it. Turn on notifications for the Shopify app in your phone’s own settings as well.

• iPhone: in the Shopify app, open the menu and tap Settings, then Store notifications (under App settings), and turn on New orders under Push notifications.
• Android: open the menu, tap Settings, then Store notifications, and turn on New orders.

Why isn’t my paid payment link order showing in Shopify POS Orders?

Open Orders in Shopify POS and set Sale type to Online. By default, the Orders screen shows only orders sold on POS at the location you’re signed in to. A draft paid by its link is paid online, so its order sits under Online.

Or search for the customer’s name or the order number. Search ignores the filters.

Look in Orders, not the Drafts screen. See working with drafts in Shopify POS. For a draft that’s missing before it’s paid, see why a draft order isn’t showing in POS.

How do I check if a Quick Sale payment link has been paid?

In the Shopify app, open Quick Sale, tap More actions, then Transactions. A link waiting for payment sits under Pending links; once the customer pays, the Quick Sale moves to the Paid tab. If you’re still on the link screen when they pay, the Order summary appears so you can send a receipt.

For when Quick Sale suits better than POS, see Shopify Quick Sale vs Shopify POS.

How do I set up a Shopify Flow alert for a paid draft order?

Use the Order created trigger, not Draft order created. Order created starts a workflow when a customer places an order, and when a draft order is marked as paid and converted to an order. There’s no trigger named for a paid draft, so start from Shopify’s own template:

1. Install the Shopify Flow app from the Shopify App Store (free on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus).
2. Start from Shopify’s template Tag customer and order when created from draft order. It runs on Order created and checks whether the order came from the app named Draft Orders.
3. Keep that condition and add a second check, joined with AND, that the order’s payment status is Paid (in Flow, order.displayFinancialStatus is PAID). The email then goes out only for orders that are already paid.
4. Add the action Send internal email, and keep the tag action too if you want paid link orders tagged.
5. Fill in Email address, Subject (for example, “Phone order paid: start the build”) and Message. Separate several addresses with commas.
6. Turn the workflow on and run one test.

Before you rely on the workflow:

• A draft that staff mark as paid by hand, for example cash taken at the counter, also starts it, so the email isn’t only for link payments.
• Send internal email goes only to the addresses you type, not to whoever made the draft.
• If the first email doesn’t arrive, check that your email client isn’t filtering your store’s sender address. Without extra domain authentication, the sender may show as “via shopifyemail.com”.

Why does the person at the counter miss that a payment link was paid?

The New order email goes to whoever is on the recipient list, and the push goes to whoever turned on New orders in their own Shopify app. Neither may be the person at the counter who sent the link. The alert also says only that an order came in, so staff still match it to the customer by name or order number.

If a link sits unpaid, see what to do when a link sits unpaid. For which staff member a link order counts toward, see who gets credit for a link order.

Can staff see from Shopify POS whether a payment link is paid?

With Pay Link, from Countermade, the person who sent the link checks that link in Shopify POS, not an inbox or a separate app. Staff make the link in POS, where they built the order, and see from there whether it has been paid. A double tap makes one link, not two.

The customer pays on Shopify’s own secure checkout, so staff never see or type card details. Pay Link runs on Shopify POS Pro and collects the full amount at checkout, as an online order paid by link.

Staff see the total up front, with a note when checkout will add shipping. Turn on local pickup at your store so a customer collecting in person can choose pickup at checkout; see turning on local pickup for payment links. To weigh it up, see native POS options vs Pay Link.

Next step

Set up the New order notification and pay a test link yourself today. For getting the link to customers, see texting a draft’s checkout link and the whole phone-order workflow.

Pay Link isn’t on the Shopify App Store yet. Join early access and we’ll email you when it’s ready to try.