Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce - Pro

Taking the deposit is easy, collecting the rest is the hard part

You sell something expensive or made to order and ask for part of it up front. The customer pays, you note what is left in a spreadsheet and, weeks later, someone has to remember to write to them. Meanwhile the order shows as a sale and the money is not there yet.

A deposit turns a sale into an account receivable. That is why what decides whether it works is not the pay-a-part button, but what happens to the balance on the day it falls due.

Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce Pro, by Acowebs, covers both halves: how the price is split between today and later, and how you follow what is still to come in.

How the price is split between today and later

• Fixed amount or percentage of the product price.
• Amount chosen by the customer, within the limits you set.
• Payment plans by days, weeks, months or years, with several possible plans on a single product.
• Deposit at checkout, applied to the cart total and above each product's rules.
• Mandatory deposit, which removes the option to pay everything at once.
• Rules by category and user role, plus the option to turn deposits off for certain roles.
• Variable products and coupons, both accepted alongside deposits.

What happens to the balance on the day it falls due

The plugin sends email reminders for the outstanding balance and notifies the customer and the admin when a deposit is created or a payment comes in.

A dedicated dashboard brings together the revenue timeline, overdue payments, upcoming due dates and customer payment data. That shows who owes what without opening order after order.

With Stripe, the remaining amount can be charged automatically on the scheduled date. You can also put a time limit on deposits, decide how taxes, fees, shipping and coupons are treated on these orders, and manage stock based on the deposit.

Stripe, refunds and non-payment: the limits

• Automatic charging only appears tied to Stripe. With any other gateway, count on the reminders and on the customer logging in to pay. Check the behaviour with a test order before promising it to anyone.
• Deposit refunds are done by hand from the order.
• A partial payment decided by the customer creates a new scheduled order for what is left. Your accounting has to allow for that second order.
• Its features do not include credit checks or a financing contract. It splits the payment and tracks collection, and the risk that someone does not pay the rest stays with you.

What you need and how to set it up in WooCommerce

It requires WooCommerce 3.6 or higher and PHP 5.6 or higher. It is compatible with WPML and Polylang, and works with the Elementor builder.

A sensible order to start with:

1. Decide what can be paid in parts: the whole store, one category or specific products.
2. Create a payment plan and its schedule, and set whether the deposit is optional or mandatory.
3. Limit the gateways available for these orders and adapt the text the customer sees from the admin area.
4. Place a full test order, including the balance payment, and review the emails each side receives.

Other ways to charge in parts within the catalog

YITH WooCommerce Deposits and Down Payments Premium solves the same problem, with a fixed or percentage deposit and a balance collected online or outside the store.

If you want to sell before you have the product, WooCommerce Pre Orders charges at reservation or at launch and emails everyone who pre-ordered. And if the charge repeats with no end date, WooCommerce Subscriptions turns it into a weekly, monthly or yearly fee.

Questions about deposits, balances and instalments

Can the customer choose how much to pay up front?

Yes. They can enter their own amount within the limits you configure.

Can a deposit be made mandatory?

Yes. When you force it, the full payment option is no longer available.

Is the balance collected on its own?

Automatic charging is tied to Stripe. Without it, the balance depends on the reminders and on the customer paying, so it is worth testing the whole journey.

Can deposits be refunded?

Yes, but the refund is done manually from the order.

Does it work with coupons and variable products?

Yes.

Does it suit a store in several languages?

It is compatible with WPML and Polylang, and its text can be translated and customised.