Implementing a Layaway Program with Shopify Plus, Stripe, and Plaid

Extensions
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Hi,
We’ve just onboarded our first Shopify Plus customer, and they’re looking to implement a custom Layaway program using Shopify Checkout Extensions, with integration to Stripe and Plaid.

I have a few questions regarding this:

  1. Does Shopify’s native Layaway functionality support integration with Stripe and Plaid (specifically for ACH payments)?
  2. How can we enable and access the Layaway functionality in a Shopify development store for testing?

Use Case:
At checkout, customers should have the option to select a checkbox indicating their interest in Layaway. Upon selection, they would pay an initial deposit. After completing the payment, they should be redirected to the Thank You page, where an ACH setup flow via Stripe and Plaid would be initiated.

Could you please advise on the best approach to achieve this within Shopify’s ecosystem?

1 Like
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Hey @mukesh, congrats on onboarding your first Plus customer!

Before we dive in to this, can you clarify specifically which feature you are talking about? If you can share the docs you’re looking at that will help me better clarify the integration features you’re looking for.

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Hey @mukesh, Are you still experiencing this issue, or can I mark this as solved?

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Hi @KyleG-Shopify , thanks for your response!

Yes, I’m still trying to figure this out. I’m working on the following layaway payment flow, but I’m unsure about the feasibility of some parts—especially how to handle partial payments and update order status through Shopify. I came across this Shopify blog that mentions layaway programs, which inspired the approach:
:link: How to Start A Layaway Program in 4 Steps - Shopify

Here’s the flow I’m trying to implement:

  1. Customer visits the checkout page and selects a checkbox to opt into layaway payments.
  2. Using a Checkout UI extension or the GraphQL API, the product price is dynamically adjusted to 25% of the total.
  3. Customer pays this 25% via Shopify Payments. Ideally, the order should be marked as partially paid.
  4. Customer is redirected to the Thank You or Post-Purchase page.
  5. On this page, the customer enters their bank details using a Plaid integration.
  6. A Plaid token is exchanged with Stripe to initiate an ACH setup.
  7. Weekly ACH debits are used to collect the remaining amount.
  8. Once the full amount is paid, the order should be updated to fully paid.

Steps 5–8 happen completely outside of Shopify Payments. My challenge is understanding how to update the order status in Shopify accordingly. The Shopify Payment API documentation isn’t very clear on how to manage this kind of hybrid flow.

Main question:
In step 3, how can I charge only 25% of the order total and have the order recorded as partially paid in Shopify? And later, is it possible to update the order status once the remaining payment is completed externally?

Any guidance or best practices would be greatly appreciated!

(I used an LLM to correct the grammatical mistakes.)

Thanks again,
Mukesh

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Hey Mukesh,

Thanks for sharing that. It’s an interesting use case.

One thing that stands out to me is steps 5-7 may not comply with our API terms, so you’ll want to be considerate of that (consulting a legal professional if necessary):

not use an alternative to Shopify Checkout for web checkout or payment processing, or register any transactions through the Shopify API in connection with such activity, without Shopify’s express written authorization;

What I would recommend is to look in to the current options available through purchase options to enable vaulting the payment for the recurring payments:

The docs link to a form you can fill out for apps that don’t quite fit within the specified categories.

You could also look in to utilizing Draft orders to send the invoices for partial payments incrementally, or set payment terms

^ A great use for language models :slight_smile: