Paying your suppliers in the Shopify Collective app

When a customer places an order in your store, you receive full payment for that order. From that payment, you need to pay your supplier for the cost of the product sold, and for the cost of shipping.

Shopify Collective automatic payments

Automatic payments are turned on when you install Shopify Collective, if you meet requirements. It's the recommended way to pay your suppliers for products and shipping. There are no extra charges for using Shopify Collective's automatic payments feature.

When automatic payments are turned on for you and your supplier in Shopify Collective, the cost price of any Shopify Collective product you sell is automatically debited from your Shopify Payments balance. The funds then transfer to your supplier's Shopify Payments account automatically when they mark the order as fulfilled.

You can view and keep track of Shopify Collective payments directly in the Shopify Collective app.

If you're not approved to make automatic supplier payments, or you choose to turn off the feature, then it's your responsibility to agree with each of your suppliers how you'll pay them for the cost of any products that you purchase from them. For example, your supplier could send you an invoice.

Requirements for using automatic payments in Shopify Collective

To use automatic payments in Shopify Collective, you need to have an active Shopify Payments account in your store.

To use automatic payments with a new connection, they must also be eligible for the feature. You and your supplier must both meet the following criteria:

• Both stores must be located in the United States or Canada.
• Both stores must have a matching store currency of USD or CAD.
• Both stores must have matching Shopify Payments payouts currency.
• Both stores must have Shopify Collective automatic payments turned on.

You can check whether Shopify Collective automatic payments are turned on in your Collective (Retailer) app.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. From the Collective (Retailer) app, click Payments.

5. In the Automatic payments section, check that automatic payments are turned on.

Considerations for using automatic payments in Shopify Collective between stores you own

If you use Shopify Collective as both a retailer and a supplier, then you can use automatic payments to pay the supplier store you own for orders. To send all the funds (minus payment fees), set a discount of 0%, or add a different percentage discount to send a percentage of the funds.

In the same way that automatic payments work with a supplier store you don't own, funds will be collected immediately and held until the order is shipped. You can turn automatic payments off between stores you own so that no funds are deducted from your retail store to pay your supplier store, and payment isn't put on hold pending shipment.

Turn automatic payments on with a supplier

If automatic payments are on in your Collective (Retailer) app, then you can view which of your suppliers you're paying using this feature.

You can turn on automatic payments with a supplier directly from your Collective (Retailer) app, and the supplier will be notified of the change by email.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. From the Collective (Retailer) app, click Suppliers, then Connected.

5. In the Automatic payments column, view whether automatic payments are on or off with each supplier.

6. To turn on automatic payments with a supplier, click the relevant supplier, and then click the dropdown in the automatic payments section and select On.

7. Click Turn on. The change is made immediately, and your supplier is notified that their payments for future orders will be automatic.

Turn automatic payments off with a supplier

Only suppliers can turn off automatic payments when they're on. Contact them directly to request this.

View your Shopify Collective payments

You can view your Shopify Collective payments on the Payments page of the Shopify Collective app. Payments are displayed only for fulfilled orders.

You can view the following information about your payments:

• payment date
• order number
• supplier that was paid
• payment status
• amount that was transferred to the supplier for the product and shipping

You can also view Shopify Collective payments together with all your store's payouts in your Shopify admin.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. From the Collective (Retailer) app, click Payments.

5. In the Order payments section, view Shopify Collective payments.

Insufficient funds

Shopify Collective will continuously try to collect funds for payment to the supplier until it is successful, but sometimes there are insufficient funds in your Shopify Payments account. Insufficient funds can occur when customers pay you using alternative payment methods such as PayPal, when your payouts are frequent, or when you have a high number of refunds after a payout.

To avoid future issues or shipping delays with Shopify Collective orders, consider these options:

• Use Shopify Payments as your only payment method at checkout.
• Set your payout schedule to weekly or monthly to help ensure that you have a positive Shopify Payments balance for Shopify Collective to debit from, and pay your suppliers.
• Find ways to minimize refunds and chargebacks