Partial Payments: Collecting a Portion of an Order Balance

You can easily collect a portion of a balance due. Take a deposit on a large order, apply a payment on equipment, or record a payment for a lower amount than the balance due — all of these scenarios are easy to do with our partial payments.

The order records that payment, stays open for what's remaining, and continues to accept payments until the balance hits zero.

How to record a partial payment

Same steps whether you're charging a card, running an ACH debit, or recording a check.

1. Open the order and click the “Pay…” button to open the payment drawer.
2. Select the Payment Method you'd like to use.
3. Select the Partial Payment button.
4. Type in the amount you're collecting in the box for Partial Payment Amount.
5. Click Charge (card, ACH) or Record (check, cash, EFT, external).

The order now shows what's been paid and what's still owed.

Recording a check or cash payment?

The optional Payment reference field is right there in the drawer — use it for a check number or a note. Your customer can see it.

Collecting the full balance?

Leave the amount field alone and pay as you always have. Nothing about that flow changed.

Collecting the full balance from two payment methods?

Follow the steps above for each payment method to collect the full balance.

What a partially paid order looks like

The order shows the remaining balance due on the main order page, and the invoice displays the total, the amount paid and the remaining balance due.

It also will display each payment separately in the payments section on the left side.

Every payment is listed separately with its own amount, date, and method:

Keep taking payments against the remaining balance — any method, any number of times — until the order is fully paid. Mix freely: check, card, cash — however you can get payment from your customer.

Payment terms and due date don’t change. A partially paid order still has a balance, and it still has a due date. Your terms apply exactly as they would on an unpaid order.

Convenience fees

Creating a partial payment with a convenience fee

1. Select the payment method — note that it is clearly indicated that a fee applies.
2. There is an estimate of the fee for the entire balance due if it is paid by the selected credit card.
3. Select the Partial Payment button.
4. Type in the amount you're collecting in the box for Partial Payment Amount.

5. When you enter the partial payment, a fee is calculated based on the amount you're collecting right now — not the whole order.

   (Example below, the fee of $2.89 is calculated based on the $100 you are collecting now.)

6. Review the total of what the charge will be for the amount noted + the fee ($100 + $2.89 = $102.89).
7. Click Charge (card, ACH).
8. When the remaining balance is paid, another fee will be charged if it is paid using a credit card.

The order will show a single convenience fee line with the total in fees.

Select the “i” next to the convenience line to see the allocation of payment and fee.

Refunds and deleting a partial payment

Refunding a partial payment

The refund will reopen the balance for that amount. The order goes back to Partial — or Unpaid, if that was the only payment — and you can collect again. Refunds work per payment, so you can refund one payment and leave the others alone.

Refunding a partial payment that included a convenience fee

Refunding a payment that includes the convenience fee will refund both the payment and its convenience fee. The refund will reopen the balance for the amount paid toward the order.

Deleting an offline partial payment (a check you recorded by mistake) also reopens the balance. See Reverting a Cash or Check Payment.

What your customer sees

Emails

Order invoice emails state the actual remaining balance instead of the order total. A customer who's paid $40 of $103 sees the $63 they still owe, along with what they've already paid.

Payment receipt emails show the amount of that specific payment.

Portal

On the invoice page in the billing portal, the customer will see a payment status of Partial — noting that a partial payment has been collected:

When viewing the invoice from the billing portal, the customer will see:

1. The payment status of Partial.
2. The list of payments that have been made, the method, and the date.
3. The total amount paid toward the order.
4. The balance due.

From here they can initiate a payment for the balance due.

Accounting sync

Partial payments can be synced to your accounting platform.

For current accounting connections, each partial payment syncs separately and is applied to the same invoice.

Depending on your Accounting settings, payments already recorded when you sync the invoice may be queued to sync automatically. Payments recorded after the invoice has synced can be synced from the order or from Sales → Payments.

Note: Legacy QuickBooks Online connections (connected before January 2026) handle partial payments differently.

Amount rules

• You can't collect more than the balance due. The drawer tells you before you submit. (Overpayments and account credits aren't supported yet but are coming soon)
• Card and ACH have a minimum because your payment processor won't accept charges below it. Offline payments don't — a one-cent check payment is valid.

Limitations: What partial payments can't do yet

• Collect more than the balance due. Overpayments and account credits are coming later.
• Pay the total balance with a “Split” payment. "Split" here means using two payment methods to pay the total balance all in one pass. To use two methods, initiate two partial payments.
• Customer-initiated partial payments in the wholesale portal. Currently only users can initiate partial payments on the Tool side.

Troubleshooting

I don't see an amount field in the payment drawer. Try a hard refresh. If it's still missing, reach out and we'll take a look at your account.

"Card and bank payments must be at least $1.00." Your payment processor won't accept card or ACH charges below this amount. Collect a larger amount, or record it as an offline payment if the money arrived by check or cash.

"That amount no longer matches this order." The balance changed while your drawer was open. The message shows the current balance — re-enter your amount and try again.

Related articles

• RoasterPay: How to Process Payments
• Customer Payment Terms, Methods and Creating Payments
• Reverting a Cash or Check Payment