--- title: "Collect remaining preorder payments" description: "Charge the outstanding balance on partial-payment preorders from STOQ Reports or an offer's Orders tab." url: https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/collect-remaining-preorder-payments/ product: "Preorders" section: "Managing offers" last_updated: 2026-09-28 --- # Collect remaining preorder payments > Charge the outstanding balance on partial-payment preorders from STOQ Reports or an offer's Orders tab. Use this guide if a preorder offer collects deposits manually and you need to charge the remaining balance. By the end, you'll have charged customers' saved cards for one order, many orders, or a whole offer, and know what customers see if a charge fails. If the offer is set to **collect automatically** instead, STOQ charges the balance for you on the due date or at fulfillment, so you don't need this page. See [Set up payment for preorders](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/set-up-payment-for-preorders/). ## Before you begin | Requirement | Detail | |---|---| | Partial-payment offer | Only orders with an outstanding balance can be charged | | Shopify Payments | Balances are charged through the customer's saved payment method | | Unpaid orders | The Collect payment action is available only when selected orders are not already paid | > **Warning** > > Don't use the **Capture payment** button in the Shopify admin's **Orders** section to collect a preorder balance: it marks the order **paid** without charging the customer's card. Always collect through STOQ, or have the customer pay through a payment link, so the card is actually charged. ## What customers will see When a charge succeeds, the order updates to **Paid**. STOQ doesn't send the customer any email on success, but Shopify sends its own payment receipt (a "Your payment has been processed" email) to the customer, the same as for any other charge. There's nothing for the customer to do. STOQ only emails the customer when a charge fails, so they can retry. If a charge fails, what happens depends on the **Send email notifications to customers if payment fails** checkbox in the Collect payment confirmation, which is ticked by default: - **Ticked**: STOQ sends a merchant alert to your store with the order name, customer details, balance, and failure reason, and emails the customer a **"Payment collection failed"** message with a direct link to Shopify's secure payment page so they can pay the balance themselves. The customer email only goes out if Shopify returns a payment link for the order; if it doesn't, STOQ skips the customer email but still sends you the alert. - **Unticked**: STOQ attempts the charge silently. No emails go to you or the customer. The same pair of emails fires automatically when STOQ collects on a due date or at fulfillment for an automatic-collection offer, since there's no checkbox to tick for that flow. To customize the customer email, go to **Preorders → Settings → Notifications → Payment collection failed** and edit the subject line, header, message body, and button text. If you use Klaviyo, you can route the failure notification through a Klaviyo flow instead: see [Connect Klaviyo for preorders](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/connect-klaviyo-for-preorders/). ## Get notified when payments are collected By default, STOQ doesn't email you when a collection succeeds; it only alerts you on failure. To also get a confirmation each time a balance is collected, turn on **Notify me when payments are automatically collected for partially paid preorders**: 1. In the left menu bar of the STOQ app, click **Reports**. 2. Click **More** in the top right, then click **Settings**. 3. Turn on **Notify me when payments are automatically collected for partially paid preorders**, then click **Save**. With it on, STOQ emails a "Payment Successfully Collected" summary to your report address whenever it collects a preorder balance. This is a merchant notification only; it doesn't change anything customers receive. [Image: The STOQ Reports page with markers: 1 Reports in the left menu, 2 the More dropdown, 3 Settings in the More menu](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-1.png) [Image: The STOQ Reports Settings page with marker 1 on the Notify me when payments are automatically collected for partially paid preorders checkbox](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-2.png) ## Set it up On a phone, this menu is collapsed. In the **Shopify mobile app**, tap the **STOQ** logo at the top of the screen to open it, then choose the section named below. There is no hamburger icon. See [Finding the STOQ menu](https://help.stoqapp.com/general/getting-started-with-stoq/#finding-the-stoq-menu). ### Collect for many orders at once Use this to charge across all your preorder orders. 1. **Open the preorder orders report** 1. Open the **STOQ** app. 2. Click **Reports**. 3. Click **Preorders**. 4. Click **Orders**. [Image: STOQ Reports Preorders Orders view with markers: 1 Reports in the left menu, 2 the Preorders toggle, 3 the Orders tab, showing the preorder orders table](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-3.png) 2. **Select the orders** Tick the checkbox on each order, or the header checkbox to select all. Only orders with a balance can be charged. 3. **Click Collect payment** With orders selected, **Collect payment** appears in the action bar at the top. Click it. [Image: The preorder orders table with one order selected and marker 1 on the Collect payment button in the action bar](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-4.png) 4. **Confirm in the popup** 1. Leave **Send email notifications to customers if payment fails** ticked, or untick it if you don't want failure emails sent. 2. Confirm the charge (a short countdown on the button helps prevent charging the wrong orders). STOQ then charges each customer's saved payment method and the orders update to **Paid**. [Image: The Collect payment confirmation popup with marker 1 on the ticked Send email notifications to customers if payment fails checkbox and marker 2 on the Collect payment button](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-5.png) ### Collect for one offer Use this to charge only the orders from a single offer. 1. **Open the offer's orders** 1. From the left menu, click **Preorders**. 2. Choose the offer. 3. Open its **Orders** tab. [Image: A preorder offer detail page with marker 1 on Preorders in the left menu and marker 2 on the offer's Orders tab, showing the offer's orders](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-6.png) 2. **Select the orders** Tick the orders you want to charge. [Image: The offer's Orders tab with an order selected (marker 1) and the Collect payment action available](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-7.png) 3. **Click Collect payment and confirm** 1. Click **Collect payment**. 2. Confirm in the popup. STOQ charges the selected customers. [Image: The offer's Orders tab with the order selected and marker 1 on the Collect payment button](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-8.png) [Image: The Collect payment confirmation popup for the offer's order with marker 1 on the Collect payment button](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-9.png) ### Collect for a single order Opening one order gives you the most control. As well as the full balance, you can collect just part of it: a specific amount, or only the products that are ready to ship. 1. **Open the order** Click into the order from **Reports → Preorders → Orders** or the offer's **Orders** tab. 2. **Click Collect payment** Click **Collect payment** on the order. The **Collect payment** panel opens on the page, showing how much you're about to charge ("You are about to collect ... of ... outstanding"). [Image: A single preorder order detail page with marker 1 on the More actions menu and marker 2 on Collect payment, and the Collect payment panel showing the outstanding balance](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-11.png) 3. **Choose what to collect** Pick one option: - **Collect full balance**: charge the entire outstanding amount. Always available, and the default. - **Collect a specific amount**: enter a figure in the amount field to charge only part of the balance. - **Collect for specific products**: tick the line items you want to charge for, for example the ones ready to ship. STOQ adds up their totals for you. [Image: The single order's Collect payment panel with Collect full balance selected and marker 1 on the Collect button showing the amount](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/collect-remaining-preorder-payments-10.png) 4. **Confirm the charge** 1. Leave **Send email notifications to customers if payment fails** ticked, or untick it. 2. Click **Collect [amount]**. The button stays disabled until the amount is more than 0 and no more than the outstanding balance. STOQ requests the charge from Shopify in the background. Click **Refresh** on the order once it settles to see the updated balance and status. **Collect a specific amount** and **Collect for specific products** are partial-collection options. They need **Shopify Plus** and are switched on per store on request, so contact support if you'd like them and currently only see **Collect full balance**. Partial collection is per order; the many-orders and one-offer flows above always charge the full balance. Every collection is recorded on the order's timeline, for example "Payment of $20.00 was successfully collected (collected manually)", and a failed attempt is logged there too. ## Check your setup Select an unpaid preorder order and click **Collect payment**. Confirm in the popup and check that the order updates to **Paid**. If you left the notification checkbox ticked, force a failure with a test card to confirm the merchant alert and customer email arrive as expected. ## Troubleshooting ### Collect payment is greyed out The selected orders don't have an outstanding balance. Already-paid orders can't be charged. ### A charge fails The customer's saved card was expired, declined, or removed. The order stays unpaid so you can retry or send the customer a link to pay. See [When payment collection fails](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/preorder-payment-collection-fails/). ### The customer never got a failure email Shopify didn't return a payment link for that order. You still received the merchant alert, so follow up with the customer manually. ### No one got a failure email The **Send email notifications to customers if payment fails** checkbox was unticked when you confirmed the charge. ## Limitations STOQ makes a single charge attempt per collection action. It doesn't automatically retry a failed charge. ## FAQ ### Can I collect from many orders at once? Yes. In **Reports → Preorders → Orders**, or an offer's **Orders** tab, select multiple orders (or all of them) and click **Collect payment**. ### Can I collect only part of the balance? Yes, on a single order. Open the order, click **Collect payment**, and choose **Collect a specific amount** or **Collect for specific products** instead of **Collect full balance**. These partial options need **Shopify Plus** and are switched on per store on request, so contact support if you only see **Collect full balance**. ### Can I charge just the products that are ready to ship? Yes. On a single order, choose **Collect for specific products** and tick those line items. STOQ charges only their combined total and leaves the rest of the balance outstanding. ### Can I collect the balance before the due date? Yes. In manual mode you can charge whenever you're ready, the due date is what the customer sees, not a limit on when you collect. ### Does collecting payment fulfill or ship the order? No. It only charges the balance and marks the order Paid. Fulfilling and shipping are separate steps in Shopify. ### Do I collect manually if the offer is set to automatic? No. Automatic-collection offers charge the balance on the due date or at fulfillment on their own. Manual collection is only for offers set to collect manually. ### The customer's card won't charge, can they pay themselves? Yes. If the saved card is expired or declined, send the customer a link to pay the balance. See [When payment collection fails](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/preorder-payment-collection-fails/). ## Related guides - [Set up payment for preorders](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/set-up-payment-for-preorders/): Payment types, deposits, and choosing manual vs automatic collection. - [When payment collection fails](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/preorder-payment-collection-fails/): Retry failed charges and send payment links. - [Payment collection failed email](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/preorder-payment-failed-email/): Customize the email customers receive when their card is declined.