What are draft orders in Shopify?
A draft order in Shopify is an order created by a store admin or staff member, rather than by a customer through the storefront. It exists in an incomplete state until it is confirmed, either by the customer completing payment through a sent invoice link, or by a staff member marking it as paid directly.
Draft orders can include any combination of products, custom line items, discounts, shipping charges, and taxes. They can be assigned to an existing customer account or to a one-off buyer. Once confirmed, they convert to live orders and move through fulfillment like any other Shopify order.
For merchants on Shopify Plus with B2B enabled, draft orders carry additional weight. When you create a draft for a buyer linked to a company profile, Shopify automatically applies that company's price list, payment terms, and credit settings. The rep building the order does not need to look up what that customer's pricing is or remember their net terms, it comes through automatically.
How draft orders work
The core mechanic is straightforward. A staff member goes into the Shopify admin, opens Orders, and selects "Create order." They search for and add products, apply any discounts or custom pricing, assign the order to a customer, and save it as a draft.
From there they have a few options:
- Send an invoice. Shopify generates a secure payment link and sends it to the customer by email. The customer clicks through, reviews the order, and completes checkout. Once payment is processed, the draft converts to a confirmed order automatically.
- Mark as paid manually. If payment was taken outside Shopify, by phone, bank transfer, or in person, the staff member marks the draft as paid directly in the admin. It converts to an order without the customer going through checkout.
- Collect a deposit. For Shopify Plus B2B merchants, draft orders support deposit collection. A rep can send a draft that only collects a portion of the total at checkout, useful for large or build-to-order purchases where commitment is needed before fulfilment begins.
- Charge a vaulted card. If the customer has a saved payment method on file, a rep can charge it directly from the draft order without sending an invoice link. This removes the checkout step entirely for repeat buyers.
How to create a draft order in Shopify
To create a draft order in the Shopify admin:
- Go to Orders in the Shopify admin sidebar.
- Click Create order in the top right.
- Search for and add products using the product search. You can also add custom line items for products not in your catalog.
- Search for and select the customer. For B2B company accounts, this is where the price list and payment terms apply automatically.
- Adjust pricing, add discounts, set shipping, and apply any taxes as needed.
- Save the draft, or proceed to send an invoice or mark as paid.
Draft orders are available on all Shopify plans, though B2B-specific features like automatic price list application and deposit collection require Shopify Plus.
How to see draft orders on Shopify
Draft orders live in the Orders section of the Shopify admin. At the top of the orders list, select the Drafts tab to see all orders currently in draft state.
Each draft shows the customer name, the draft total, the date it was created, and its current status (draft, invoice sent, or partially paid if a deposit has been collected). You can search and filter by customer, date, or status from this view.
On Shopify Plus, staff accounts can be given permissions scoped to specific companies, so sales reps only see the accounts they manage rather than the full account base.
How do I turn a draft order into an order on Shopify?
There are three ways to convert a draft order to a confirmed order:
- Customer completes the invoice. Send the customer a payment link from the draft. When they complete checkout, the draft automatically converts to an order.
- Mark as paid. If payment has already been collected outside Shopify, open the draft and click "Mark as paid." The order is created immediately without going through checkout.
- Charge a vaulted payment method. For customers with a saved card on file (Shopify Plus), you can charge the card directly from the draft order screen.
Once converted, the order moves to your standard order management flow. It can be fulfilled, partially fulfilled, or cancelled the same way as any other Shopify order.
Using draft orders for B2B sales-assisted ordering
Sales-assisted ordering, where a rep builds an order on behalf of a buyer rather than the buyer placing it themselves, is how a significant portion of B2B revenue moves. Phone orders, email purchase orders, trade account orders with negotiated pricing, these all require someone on the seller side to create the order.
Draft orders are Shopify's native tool for this workflow. For B2B merchants on Shopify Plus, the experience is materially better than using draft orders on a standard Shopify plan. When the rep assigns the draft to a company-linked customer, all account-specific data populates automatically: the correct price list, the correct payment terms, any catalogue restrictions for that account. The rep is building an accurate order without needing to cross-reference anything externally.
Shopify also supports customer impersonation for B2B, where a rep can log into the storefront as the specific buyer and navigate the front end exactly as that customer would. This lets reps replicate the customer's storefront experience when helping them through a complex order, rather than building from the admin's product search.
For straightforward rep-assisted ordering at moderate volume, this covers the basics well.
What is the difference between draft and unlisted on Shopify?
These are two different things that occasionally get confused.
A draft order is an order in progress. It has products, pricing, and a customer assigned. It is waiting to be confirmed through payment or manual action. Draft orders live in the Orders section of the admin.
An unlisted product (or unlisted page) is a visibility setting for products or pages in Shopify. An unlisted product is not shown in your storefront or search results but can be accessed via a direct URL. Merchants use unlisted products to share specific items with selected buyers, or to set up products for manual orders without making them publicly browsable.
The two concepts are separate. A draft order can include listed or unlisted products. The draft/unlisted distinction is about order status vs. product visibility.
Where draft orders have limits for serious B2B operations
Draft orders work. They also have a ceiling, and B2B operations at real scale tend to hit it.
ERP disconnection. A rep building a draft order in Shopify admin works from whatever Shopify knows: the last synced price list, the last inventory update. If your pricing lives in NetSuite, Dynamics, or another ERP, and that sync runs nightly, the rep is building an order on data that is hours old. Price discrepancies between the draft and what the ERP shows are a common source of errors in rep-assisted workflows, and those errors, once they reach a buyer, cost credibility.
No workflow management layer. Draft orders are individual records. A rep managing forty active accounts with weekly reorders and ongoing quote negotiations has no queue, no status view, no way to see at a glance what is waiting for approval and what was sent three days ago without a response. The Shopify admin was built for order processing, not rep productivity. Most teams build their own layer on top: a spreadsheet, a shared inbox label, a Slack channel for flagging open drafts. That works until it doesn't.
Limited buyer collaboration. A draft order sent as an invoice link is functional, but there is no shared workspace where buyer and seller can go back and forth. If the buyer wants to change a quantity, add a note about delivery requirements, or negotiate a line item, the process becomes an email thread attached to a Shopify link. For simple orders this is fine. For anything that requires back-and-forth, the friction accumulates.
No ERP-enforced credit or compliance logic. On a standard draft order workflow, a rep can build an order that exceeds a customer's credit limit or violates their account terms without any warning. The ERP knows the limit. Shopify doesn't, unless someone has built a custom integration to surface it.
These are not arguments against using draft orders. For many B2B merchants, draft orders handle rep-assisted ordering cleanly and cost-effectively. But for manufacturers and distributors whose sales-assisted workflows are central to revenue, not edge cases, the gaps above describe real operational cost.
How Uncap extends sales-assisted ordering beyond draft orders
The infrastructure that removes the gaps above is purpose-built ERP integration combined with a dedicated sales-assisted ordering layer. That is what Uncap's Dealroom and Self-Serve Portal provide.
Dealroom is the collaborative workspace where the sales-assisted order actually happens. A rep builds an order against live ERP data, so pricing reflects what the ERP holds at that moment, not a synced version of it from last night. The buyer can review the order in the portal, request changes, or confirm. The accepted order flows to the ERP without re-entry.
The Self-Serve Portal is the buyer-facing side: the experience your customers log into to place their own orders, view their account history, or review a rep-prepared order waiting for their confirmation. For buyers who want to complete an order on their own terms rather than clicking through an invoice email, the portal gives them that context.
Together they handle the scenarios draft orders don't: complex accounts with active ERP pricing, multi-party approval before an order confirms, and rep workflows that need visibility across a full account base rather than individual order records.
The result is a sales-assisted ordering process that makes a different impression on the buyer. An order that comes back fast, with their correct pricing, with their account terms applied, and with a clean experience to confirm it, that is an order that builds the relationship rather than straining it.
Frequently asked questions
What are draft orders in Shopify?
Draft orders are orders created by store staff in the Shopify admin on behalf of customers, rather than by customers through the storefront. They can be sent to customers as invoice links for payment, marked as paid manually, or charged against a saved payment method. On Shopify Plus, draft orders for B2B company accounts automatically apply the customer's price list and payment terms.
How do I find draft orders in Shopify?
Go to Orders in the Shopify admin and select the Drafts tab at the top of the orders list. All current draft orders are listed there with status, customer, date, and total. You can filter by customer or date to find specific drafts.
How do I turn a draft order into an order in Shopify?
You can convert a draft order by sending the customer an invoice link and having them complete checkout, by marking the order as paid manually if payment was taken outside Shopify, or by charging a vaulted payment method directly from the draft. All three methods convert the draft to a confirmed order that moves into your standard fulfillment flow.
Can sales reps place orders on behalf of customers in Shopify?
Yes. Shopify Plus supports draft order creation by staff accounts and customer impersonation, where a rep logs into the storefront as a specific buyer. Both methods apply the buyer's B2B account pricing and payment terms automatically from their company profile.
What is the difference between a draft order and an unlisted product in Shopify?
A draft order is an unconfirmed order in progress. An unlisted product is a product with its visibility restricted, it does not appear in storefront search or collections but can be accessed via direct URL. The two are separate concepts. Draft orders can include both listed and unlisted products.
Do draft orders work with Shopify's B2B features?
Yes. On Shopify Plus with B2B enabled, draft orders integrate with company profiles. When a draft is assigned to a buyer linked to a company, Shopify applies that company's price list, payment terms, and catalogue settings automatically. Shopify Plus also adds deposit collection and vaulted card charging to the draft order workflow.
When are draft orders not enough for B2B ordering?
Draft orders work well for straightforward rep-assisted workflows at moderate volume. They become limiting when ERP pricing accuracy is critical (draft orders reflect synced data, not live ERP data), when reps manage large account bases that need workflow visibility across multiple open orders, or when the sales process involves negotiation that requires a shared buyer-seller workspace rather than an invoice email chain.
What is Shopify's native B2B quoting capability?
Shopify does not include a built-in request-for-quote workflow. Draft orders can be used for manual quoting, a rep assembles a draft, shares it with the buyer, and adjusts before sending an invoice, but there is no structured RFQ process, negotiation thread, or quote-to-contract flow in native Shopify. Merchants who need formal quoting add it through third-party apps or purpose-built solutions like Uncap's Advanced Quote Management.
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