Shopify B2B Credit Limits and Customer Statements: Your Options

Once trade customers buy on Net 30, a new question appears every Monday: who owes us what, and who should we stop selling to on terms until they pay? In a spreadsheet that question is answered by whoever updated it last. In Shopify it is answered by orders with a payment status, if you know where to look.

This guide covers what Shopify B2B gives you natively for terms and unpaid orders, what it doesn’t, and three ways to handle credit limits and customer statements, from a spreadsheet to an app.

What Shopify B2B gives you natively

On every plan that includes B2B (Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus), Shopify’s B2B features by plan page lists:

• Net terms: Net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90, set per company location, for several companies at once from the Companies page, or on a draft order. Due on fulfillment and, on draft orders, a fixed date are also available (payment terms).
• Payment reminders for orders on terms.
• Vaulted credit cards and, in the US, ACH.
• Draft order to invoice, checkout to draft and PO numbers.

How unpaid orders behave, from Shopify’s payment terms page:

• An order on terms stays Payment pending until it is paid or you record a manual payment in the admin.
• After the due date it shows as Overdue in the customer’s account. Shopify does not charge a saved card automatically when terms expire; you charge it from the admin.
• Buyers can pay early from their customer account.

So the raw data is all there: each unpaid B2B order, its company location and its due date.

What the plan page doesn’t list

Two things trade sellers often ask for are not on Shopify’s B2B features list:

• A credit limit per company: “stop or warn when this customer owes more than €3,000”.
• A customer statement: one document per company per month that lists what they bought and what is still open.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have them, only that you build the routine yourself or use an app. The App Store has several apps for credit limits and receivables; compare how each one enforces the limit (at online checkout, in POS, or only as a warning) before you choose.

Option 1: a weekly routine in the admin

For a handful of trade accounts this works:

1. In Orders, filter by payment status Payment pending and Partially paid, and look at the orders of your trade customers.
2. Sort by date and note the orders past their due date.
3. Add up the open amount per company and compare it with the limit you keep in a sheet or a company note.
4. Send a reminder for overdue orders, or call.
5. When a payment arrives, record it on the order so the balance stays right.

Its weak spots: the limit lives outside Shopify, so nobody sees it when a new order comes in, and a statement means copying orders into a document by hand.

Option 2: Shopify Flow and metafields

If you are comfortable with automation, you can store a credit limit in a company metafield and use Shopify Flow, which works with B2B objects on all B2B plans, to tag or alert when a company’s open orders pass it. Blocking an order at checkout needs more than Flow, usually a checkout validation built as a custom app. Plan for testing: a rule that blocks the wrong buyer costs you a sale.

Option 3: an app for balances and limits

An app makes sense when you have more accounts than you can check by hand, or when staff take trade orders in person and need to see the balance before they sell. Questions to ask:

• Where is the limit checked? Online checkout, POS, draft orders, or only on a dashboard?
• Where does the balance come from? Ideally from Shopify’s own unpaid orders, so a payment recorded in Shopify is reflected.
• Does it take payments or lend money? For most shops you want the app to track, not to become a payment or financing provider.
• Statements: per month, per company, as a PDF the buyer can file?

What goes on a customer statement

Whatever tool you use, a useful monthly statement shows:

• the company and location, and the statement month;
• every order placed that month, with date, number and amount;
• every order still unpaid, with its due date, and which ones are overdue;
• the total balance.

Statements are not tax invoices. Invoices still come from your invoicing setup.

Where Tradeo: B2B Trade Accounts fits

Tradeo: B2B Trade Accounts is an app for wholesale applications and selling on account. For balances and limits:

• Accounts lists every company location with its Outstanding and Overdue amounts, Next due date, Payment terms and Credit limit, with badges for overdue orders and accounts over their limit. Balances are read from your Shopify orders each time you open the page.
• Credit limits: a default limit in Settings, or one per account. The limit is checked when staff charge a sale to the account in Shopify POS: over the limit, POS asks for a Reason for going over the limit, which is saved on the order. The app does not block orders placed at your online checkout.
• Send reminder on an unpaid order emails Shopify’s invoice for that order, with a payment link, to the account’s contact.
• Monthly statement: pick a month and download a PDF with the orders placed that month and every unpaid order with the balance, in English, German or French.

It does not take payments or lend money. Payments are collected in Shopify, by collecting the payment or marking the order as paid, and the balance updates the next time you open the account. See Tradeo: B2B Trade Accounts.

FAQ

Does Shopify B2B have credit limits?

Shopify’s B2B features by plan page lists net terms, payment reminders and vaulted cards, but not credit limits. Shops add them with a routine, an automation or an app.

Can I see overdue B2B orders in Shopify?

Yes. Orders on terms stay payment pending until paid, and after the due date they show as overdue in the customer’s account. Filter your orders by payment status to see them in the admin.

Does Shopify charge the buyer’s saved card when terms expire?

No. According to Shopify’s payment terms page, payments aren’t captured automatically when terms expire; you charge the saved card from the admin.

Is a customer statement the same as an invoice?

No. A statement summarises orders and the open balance for a period. Invoices are separate documents from your invoicing setup.