Introduction
What Is the Layaway App?
The Layaway app lets you set aside products for customers who want to pay later or over time. When a customer picks out items, you can create a layaway that:
Reserves the inventory so the items are held for the customer until a fixed deadline.
Captures a deposit right away if the customer wants to put money down to pay in multiple deposits until the layaway expiration.
Tracks payments as the customer pays over time — in-store at POS or in full via invoice
Tracks the timeline with an expiration date you choose
Sends notifications before a layaway expires so nothing slips through the cracks
The Layaway app is primarily a Shopify POS application. Creating layaways, collecting payments, and managing day-to-day operations all happen on the POS device. The web admin dashboard complements POS by providing store-wide visibility, reporting, and settings — but the core workflow lives at the register.
Think of it as a digital layaway system built right into your Shopify POS — customers can reserve items for later, or put a deposit down and pay over multiple visits.
Key Concepts
Concept | What It Means |
|---|---|
Layaway | A record that ties together a customer, a set of items, and a time window for them to pay |
Reservation | When you create a layaway, the app moves inventory from "available" to "reserved" at your location so those items cannot be accidentally sold |
Deposit | An optional upfront partial payment captured at the time of layaway creation. This creates a Shopify order immediately. |
Expiration | Every layaway has a deadline. If the customer does not fully pay by then, the layaway expires |
Order Linking | When a deposit is captured or the customer pays at POS, the resulting Shopify order is automatically connected to the layaway |
Status | Each layaway moves through a lifecycle -- from Reserved, to In Progress, to Completed (or Expired, Canceled, Restocked) |
How It Fits Into Shopify POS
The app adds tiles to your POS home screen. Your staff uses these to:
Create a new layaway from the current POS cart — with two options:
Reserve Items -- reserve items with no payment (customer pays later)
Collect Deposit -- create the layaway and proceed to checkout to collect a deposit
Update an existing layaway (change items, dates, or notes)
Browse a customer's existing layaways
Everything else -- tracking payments, fulfillment, expiration, and notifications -- happens automatically in the background through Shopify's order and inventory systems.
You can browse and manage layaways from two places:
On POS: The Layaway Orders tile on the POS home screen lets you browse layaways at your current location and load them into the cart (to edit or pay).
On the web: The admin dashboard (accessible from the Shopify admin) gives you a full view of all layaways across all locations, with stats, filtering, settings, and anything that needs attention.
[Image placeholder] POS home screen showing the Layaway tiles
Before You Start
Install the app from the Shopify App Store.
Configure your settings -- at minimum, set your default expiration period and notification preferences. See Settings.
Make sure the POS tile is visible on your POS home screen. The app adds it automatically during installation.
Train your staff on the basic flows: create a layaway (with or without a deposit), customer makes payments over time at POS, and complete the sale when fully paid.