How to chase an unpaid Shopify draft order invoice

Does Shopify send reminders for an unpaid draft order invoice?

No, not while it’s still a draft. Payment terms such as Net 30 and Due on fulfillment only start once the order is created or fulfilled, so Shopify’s reminders don’t reach an open draft link. To chase one, resend it yourself or automate it with Shopify Flow.

Merchants have asked how to automate this; older forum answers saying Flow can’t email customers are out of date. For the whole phone-order workflow, see taking phone orders without card details.

How do I resend a Shopify draft order invoice?

Open the draft in your Shopify admin and click Send invoice again; you can send it more than once. To text it instead, use Share > Copy link (see sending a Shopify payment link by text). On a POS Pro location, you can also email it from Shopify POS.

From the Shopify admin:

1. Go to Orders > Drafts and open the draft.
2. In the Payments section, click Send invoice.
3. Add a short message (see customizing the draft order invoice email).
4. Click Review invoice, then Send invoice.

From Shopify POS:

1. Tap the Order icon, then Load Drafts.
2. Tap the vertical menu next to the draft.
3. Tap Email to customer.

If you edited the draft, check the total before you resend. Adding a product doesn’t update shipping already calculated, and prices stay locked by default (see when a payment link’s price changed). If the first email never arrived, see why a Shopify invoice email isn’t received.

When should I resend, call or cancel an unpaid payment link?

Shopify sets no schedule, so here is a simple one. Resend the next day, in case the email was missed; call on day three, because a conversation finds problems a resend can’t; and on day seven, or when your stock reservation ends, keep the draft open or delete it.

For example, a framing shop sends a US$1,250.00 link for a custom frame on Monday:

1. Tuesday: resend once, by the channel the customer actually reads.
2. Thursday: call. Ask what’s stopping them: price, shipping, a wrong address. Fix the draft and resend.
3. The next Monday: decide. Agree a new date and keep the draft open, or delete it.

Note each contact on the draft itself, and before each one, check whether the link is paid. Drafts are removed after a year without an edit, and any edit resets that timer (see drafts removed after a year).

How do I turn on Shopify’s automatic payment reminders?

Turn them on under Settings > Notifications, in the Payment reminder section. They apply to orders with payment terms: up to five, timed for the due date or up to 30 days after. They suit trade customers who buy on terms, not a one-off link.

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.
2. In the Orders section, under Payment reminder, click Manage payment reminders.
3. Click Add payment reminder, choose when it goes out (on the due date or when payment is overdue), then click Turn on.

On a draft, set terms under Payment due later in its Payment section (due on receipt, on fulfillment, net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 days, or a fixed date), then send the invoice or accept payment, as with adding terms to an existing order. Reminders start once the draft becomes an order with terms; until then it gets none. Unpaid on the due date, the order shows as Overdue.

Can Shopify Flow resend an unpaid draft invoice automatically?

Yes. Shopify Flow, free on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, has a Send draft order invoice action and a Wait step of up to 90 days, the pieces for an automatic resend. The action needs a recipient email, such as the draft’s customer email.

The wait counts from when the draft was created, not when you sent it, so this suits drafts you invoice as soon as you make them. Flow gives you these pieces:

• Draft order created, the trigger. It fires only for new drafts with products, not ones made before the workflow.
• Wait, for example two days.
• A condition on the draft’s status, so the email goes only to drafts that still aren’t paid.
• Send draft order invoice, sent from the store email or a staff account email.

Turning the workflow off stops runs that are still waiting.

How do I cancel an unpaid Shopify payment link?

Delete the draft order. It’s the only way to stop the link; Shopify has no paused or expired state for one. Anyone opening it afterwards sees “This invoice is not available”; to sell again, send a fresh invoice from a new draft. A customer already paying can still finish, so check Orders before you tell them the sale is off.

• Shopify admin: go to Orders > Drafts, open the draft, click Delete draft order and confirm.
• The Shopify app on your phone: open Draft orders, tap the draft, open the menu, tap Delete draft order and confirm.
• Shopify POS: tap the Order icon, then Drafts, tap the vertical menu next to the draft, and tap Delete draft.

If a payment slipped through, the order’s timeline says it was created from a deleted draft order. For other reasons a customer can’t pay, see when a customer can’t pay a Shopify draft order invoice.

Does an expired reservation release the stock and cancel the link?

It releases the stock, not the link. When a reservation expires, Shopify puts the units back, but the draft stays open and its link still opens a checkout. A customer could pay after you’ve sold those units. Deleting the draft also returns any reserved stock.

When you reserve stock (Reserve inventory in the admin), set the expiry to the day you’ll decide, so you review the stock and the link on the same day. See holding an item for a customer.

Which apps send automatic reminders for unpaid draft orders?

As of October 2026, Remindly (free) emails reminder sequences for unpaid orders and drafts. B2B Draft Order Invoices adds scheduled reminders from its US$9.99/month Growth plan, by email or (its claim) SMS through Klaviyo. A Mechanic task emails a follow-up 24 hours after a draft invoice.

If you also need a tax invoice document, see whether you need an invoice app or just a payment link.

Check a link is paid before you call, with Pay Link

With Pay Link, from Countermade (the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios), staff check from the counter whether a link has been paid before they pick up the phone, so they call only the customers who still owe. A double tap makes one link, not two, so an accidental second tap never leaves a duplicate to chase or cancel.

Pay Link starts from the POS cart and shows staff the total up front, with a note when checkout will add shipping, so staff can tell the customer before the link goes out. The customer pays on Shopify’s own secure checkout, so staff never see or type card details. Pay Link needs Shopify POS Pro; turn on local pickup at the store so the customer can choose pickup.

Next step

Open Orders > Drafts and, for each open draft, resend it, call the customer or delete it, and set the day you’ll decide.

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