Overdue invoices in Shopify B2B
When a wholesale invoice passes its due date, Shopify marks it overdue and waits. Here is what that means for you, and what to do about it.
In short
- Shopify marks the order overdue, lets you filter for it and lets you send a reminder by hand. Nothing else happens.
- The buyer can keep ordering on terms, and nobody checks what they already owe.
- A simple five-step process, run on a schedule, collects most overdue invoices without a phone call.
- Terms Due runs that process for you and blocks the next order when it reaches the hold step.
What Shopify does
- Marks the order's payment status as overdue once the due date passes.
- Lets you send the buyer a payment reminder email with a link to pay.
- Lets you filter orders by payment status so you can find overdue ones.
- Shows the due date and the terms on the order page.
What it does not do
- Stop the buyer placing another order on terms.
- Check how much the buyer already owes before a new order goes through.
- Send a reminder before the due date, or more than one after it without you clicking.
- Escalate reminders over time or send them by text.
- Charge a saved card automatically when an invoice falls due.
- Produce an aging report of outstanding balances.
- Add late payment interest.
Finding overdue orders today
In Shopify admin, open Orders and filter by payment status: Overdue. You will see every order on terms past its due date, newest first. Open one and the right-hand panel shows the terms, the due date and a Send reminder button, which emails the buyer's contact a pay link.
What you cannot see from that list is the total per company, how many days late each one is, or whether the same company has just placed another order. For that you export to a spreadsheet, which is where most merchants' credit control lives until it stops working.
A simple overdue process
Run this by hand on a fixed day each week, or let Terms Due run it daily.
- Day -5
Heads-up
Send a friendly reminder with the amount and a pay link. Most late payments are forgotten payments, and this step prevents most of them.
- Day 0
Collect or remind
Collect from the saved card if you can. If not, send a due-today reminder by email and text.
- Day 7
Overdue notice
A clear overdue notice by email and text, with the invoice attached and the date new orders will pause.
- Day 14
Hold
Put the account on hold and tell the buyer that new orders wait until the balance is paid.
- Day 30
Final notice
Send a final notice, phone the buyer, and for UK businesses add statutory interest and compensation. Decide whether this is now a recovery case.
Running it by hand, and letting the app run it
By hand, weekly
- Export orders, sort by due date, work out days late.
- Send reminders one by one from each order page.
- Edit company terms to stop reorders, then remember to restore them.
- Keep a note of who was chased when.
- Miss a week and the sequence slips for everyone.
Terms Due, daily
- Every open invoice checked every day against the schedule.
- Email and text sent on the right day with the right wording.
- Hold applied at the grace period and lifted on payment.
- Every message and payment on the invoice timeline.
- You look at the aging report when you want to, not because you have to.
Worked example
Three late invoices, three different buyers
On Monday the aging report shows three invoices past due. Northgate Deli is 4 days late on $1,150: a forgotten payment, cleared by the day-7 text before anyone looks at it again. Lune Street Salons is 16 days late on $2,240: the hold went on at day 14, the owner saw the message when she tried to reorder and paid on the spot. Copper Kettle is 95 days late on $4,610 with no reply to five messages: that one needs a phone call and a decision, and it is the only one that needed a person.
Without the process, all three would have been phone calls, and the first two would have been made a fortnight later than the text.
When overdue becomes a dispute
Some overdue invoices are not late payments but unanswered questions: a short delivery, a damaged carton, a price the buyer did not expect. The reminder sequence should make replying easy, and when a buyer does reply, pause reminders for that invoice while you sort it out. A dispute chased as a debt turns a good account into a lost one.
If the buyer simply will not pay, our guide on what to do when a wholesale customer will not pay covers payment plans, final notices and formal recovery.
Questions
Does Shopify send automatic reminders for overdue B2B invoices?
Shopify can send payment reminder emails, but it does not escalate them, text the buyer or block further orders.
How do I find all overdue orders in Shopify?
Filter the orders list by payment status. For a view grouped by buyer and days late, use an aging report.
Can I stop an overdue buyer from ordering in Shopify?
Only by editing the company location's payment terms by hand and changing them back later. Terms Due blocks checkout automatically and restores terms on payment.
Does an overdue invoice affect the buyer's other orders?
Not in Shopify. In Terms Due, an overdue invoice past your grace period puts the company on hold, which pauses new orders on terms until it is paid.
How late is too late?
Most merchants treat 14 days as the point to stop supplying and 60 days as the point to start formal recovery. The right numbers depend on how often the buyer orders and how much is at stake.
Related
Credit holds
Put Shopify B2B companies on credit hold automatically when an invoice is overdue or they pass their limit. New orders are blocked at checkout until they pay.
Read moreChasing unpaid invoices
A practical process for chasing unpaid B2B invoices: timing, tone, channels, when to stop supplying, and reminder wording you can copy.
Read moreEmail and text reminders
Send automatic email and text reminders for Shopify B2B invoices before and after the due date, with a one-tap pay link and firmer wording as invoices age.
Read moreStop chasing wholesale invoices by hand
Install Terms Due, set a credit limit for each buyer and let the app hold, remind and collect.
Install on Shopify